did you pay deposit? Sometimes for some premium dates such as Xmas Eve/ New year's eve musicians can get double/triple or sometimes even more than what they usually get. A deposit might be a solution. In case of the musicians cancel after recieved the deposit, they have to pay the penalty which is a full amount (not only returning the deposit). And by the way, most of, not all, good and reliable musicians have a booking agent, so that client will not have to experince hassles of communication