How Much Does It Cost To Book Your Favorite Band/Artist For A Private Concert?

July 31, 2024

Do you have a big birthday coming up? Maybe you're planning a party and need some live entertainment? Well, instead of hiring your local cover band to setup a stage in your backyard or living room, why not hire the real deal?! Deadmau5, Dave Matthews, Madonna, Taylor Swift, Tiesto, Ellie Goulding, Katy Perry… they can all be yours. But as with anything in life that is awesome, being serenaded by massive stars at a private backyard concert will come with a price. And up until today, those prices have been relatively unknown. We actually published an article listing the price rappers charge a while back, but now we're finally getting some insight into what all kinds of artists and bands cost to book for one show.

Today, a blog called priceonomics published a pretty thorough list of what it costs to hire dozens of major bands and artists. The list ranges from Madonna ($1 million), to the Ying Yang Twins ($10-$15k) to a bunch of bands I never even heard of until today. Priceonomics claims that this information was leaked to them anonymously from a high-level celebrity booking agent. Also, the prices you are about to see are "pre-expense", meaning if you hire one of these acts, you might also have to pay for things like airfare, hotels, food, a pound of weed, bowls of green M&Ms etc…

I just studied the list below for the better part of an hour, and I definitely feel like some of these fees must be negotiable. For example, I couldn't help but notice that it would supposedly cost $20,000 to hire Coolio. That doesn't exactly match up with what I saw on a trip to Mexico recently. Me and a buddy were walking through a town called Playa Del Carmen and we noticed this poster advertising an upcoming Coolio appearance at a bar. And this wasn't a huge awesome bar with capacity for a thousand people. It was a tiny beach shack with a three foot stage. This bar could MAYBE fit like 25 people. Maybe this was their annual summer blowout? Does Coolio really still command $20k? At the very least, please note how MISERABLE Coolio looks in the promotional poster. Also note the mustache that was slapped on in photoshop:

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Ok enough beating around the bush. Let's get to the numbers. Below you will find what are the reported fees required to book dozens of major artists. As you dig into the lists, I'd love to know your thoughts. Does anyone seem surprisingly expensive or inexpensive? If you had the money to burn, which band/bands would you hire for your ultimate dream backyard concert? Let me know in the comments down below!

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