Gig ripoff

[Damo]

Originally Posted by mr_dreadlocks

People need to stop *****ing about only getting two hundred as opposed to three hundred and get on with it.

The money has little to do with it in this case - Its about a broken agreement.

Even then, its all well and good to say that the money shouldnt matter, but for serious bands making a living out of what they do, money is often the deciding factor in which gig to play, especially if you are turning down other offers for it.
Case in point: a few years ago we turned down a show worth $1450, as we were also offered a show on the same night (albeit further from us) for an agreed fee of $1700.
After the show, the promoter paid us $1300 and said that the turnout wasnt as good as he expected. (As you can see, now we had travelled further out of town and were expected to take $150 LESS than we would have on the same night at a local show)
Too bad for him. He eventually had to honour his original contract as we had it all in writing.

Two of the members in my band do it as their fulltime business, in which they use said money to pay mortgages and feed their kids.
Promoters ripping off musicians is no different to working your *** off all week and then recieving 25% less than your promised payrate. I should and WOULD be upset over it.

[gunar]

Were you expected to bring a crowd? Did you scare people out of the bar?

[skeld-the-wicked]

Ah Brit humor. Does your band live in a shoe box in the middle of the road?Gifted. Sorry I didnt ask your permission to do a little complaining.

[Damo]

Originally Posted by gunar

Were you expected to bring a crowd? Did you scare people out of the bar?

It wasnt stated in the contract that we needed to do either of those things, but we had a decent following anyway and people did show up. Actually, IIRC it was actually quite busy that night. The bar owner may not have sold as much in drinks if everyone was simply watching the bands instead of drinking, but his statement didnt make a lot of sense anyway, which kinda made his excuse even more irrelevent.

[mr_dreadlocks]

All I'm, saying is that you should be lucky that you get these gigs at such a high rate. I just dislike that going on about how much they'll be hearing from you is cutting off your nose to spite your face. Fair enough if you've got dozens more places lined up but if you want to go back simply 'arrange' an amount next time and get on with it.

[gunar]

Originally Posted by mr_dreadlocks

All I'm, saying is that you should be lucky that you get these gigs at such a high rate. I just dislike that going on about how much they'll be hearing from you is cutting off your nose to spite your face. Fair enough if you've got dozens more places lined up but if you want to go back simply 'arrange' an amount next time and get on with it.

Start booking your own gigs then. My band just put a local show together in one of the biggest local clubs around. This place can hold 700+ people easily, but we are only trying to bring 150 - 250 people. If we bring 250 through the door, it's going to be $1900 to split between about 8 people. Would anyone ever ask my band to do this?? NO. We set it up ourselves.

[bighairbigdrums]

Originally Posted by mr_dreadlocks

All I'm, saying is that you should be lucky that you get these gigs at such a high rate. I just dislike that going on about how much they'll be hearing from you is cutting off your nose to spite your face. Fair enough if you've got dozens more places lined up but if you want to go back simply 'arrange' an amount next time and get on with it.

People like you are the reason you cant make a living as a musician anymore. Because of bands who would play for exsposure and let the bar owners rape them, clubs went from paying $1000 a night down to $300. If more bands stood up and demanded a decent wage from these crooks, we could get the pay scale back to the way it was before Nirvana. All the older working guys will know exactly what Im talking about.

[gunar]

Originally Posted by bighairbigdrums

People like you are the reason you cant make a living as a musician anymore. Because of bands who would play for exsposure and let the bar owners rape them, clubs went from paying $1000 a night down to $300. If more bands stood up and demanded a decent wage from these crooks, we could get the pay scale back to the way it was before Nirvana. All the older working guys will know exactly what Im talking about.

Nope. It's the DJ culture that killed the market. I help a handful of local DJ's with promotion and identity... there is still money in entertainment. Most bands don't get to see it. But even a decent DJ can earn a big paycheck by having the right crates/playlists.

Granted, I'm not an 'older working guy,' but my dad has been playing music for 47 years. He brought me into the business side as soon as I asked about it.. which was about 15 years ago.

[bighairbigdrums]

Up until around 1989/90 bands could make great money playing the clubs. But along came Nirvana and grunge. All of a sudden there were 10 000 000 bands of 16 year olds who could barely play thier insturments, that would go into a club that paid $1000 a night and would play for $100. All of a sudden bands had to try and compete with people willing to under cut them by 90%. No business can compete with that.

[skeld-the-wicked]

Mr Dredlocks your an Idiot!

[gunar]

Originally Posted by bighairbigdrums

Up until around 1989/90 bands could make great money playing the clubs. But along came Nirvana and grunge. All of a sudden there were 10 000 000 bands of 16 year olds who could barely play thier insturments, that would go into a club that paid $1000 a night and would play for $100. All of a sudden bands had to try and compete with people willing to under cut them by 90%. No business can compete with that.

Business' with standards can.

[Blisco]

care to divuldge the location/establishment?


see my previous post