Jonny Venvell
Last year, we asked Encore musicians which piece of music admin they’d like to have taken off their plates, and by far the most frequent response was – you guessed it – chasing payments.
So we decided to fix the problem.
No more queuing at the bank to cash cheques, no more clients forgetting to bring cheque books on the day, no more time spent writing and sending invoices.
Just one simple, streamlined payments system. Here’s how it works:
- When a musician accepts a booking enquiry, the client secures the booking by paying a deposit* that is instantly paid out to the musician.
- 14 days before the event, Encore charges the client the remainder of the performance fee and holds it securely.
- 48 hours after the event date, the performance fee is paid out to the musician.
*You may have also noticed that we’ve introduced deposits, so that you can have complete peace of mind when accepting Encore bookings. Learn more about them here.
We didn’t stop there though. You’ll instantly receive a detailed invoice for your records, and you can view a detailed breakdown of your payments at any time on your Payments dashboard.
Here’s an example to show you exactly what happens every step of the way.
(You can also view this example as a handy infographic)
1st of March 2017: New enquiry
Greg, a guitarist, receives an Encore alert about a wedding gig on the 2nd of July 2017. Emma wants a versatile guitarist to play classical music during her wedding ceremony, and then upbeat Spanish music during the reception.
Greg is the perfect guitarist for the gig, and sends his quote to Emma:
2nd of March 2017: Conversation
Emma and Greg discuss the finer details of Greg’s repertoire through the Encore messenger.
3rd of March 2017: Booking Request
Emma sends a booking request, which Greg promptly accepts.
5th of March 2017: Deposit Paid
Emma pays the 25% (£50) deposit and Greg instantly receives 15% of his Performance Fee (£30) in his bank account.
18th of June 2017: Remainder Paid
Two weeks before her wedding, Emma pays the remaining amount through Encore Pay.
This amounts to 75% of the Performance Fee (£150) and the travel expenses (£40), which combine to give £190.
1.30pm, 2nd of July 2017: Performance
Greg delivers a stunning performance. Emma’s guests will be raving about his playing for weeks to come.
1.30pm, 4th of July 2017: Automatic Payment
Greg receives the remainder of his earnings (£140) and his travel expenses (£40) automatically, as well as a 5-star review from Emma later that day!
Throughout the whole process, Greg never had to think once about:
- invoices
- deposits
- manual bank transfers
- cashing cheques at the bank
- when he might get paid, or
- what to do if his payment never arrived
With Encore, Greg only had to focus on delivering an outstanding performance, and Emma could enjoy her day knowing that Greg’s payment was already sorted.
To start benefitting from these changes, download the latest version of the Encore app on Android and iOS or head to the updated website.
George Gretton
