Sell them tickets...
If you've been reading the blog section on the Organ Fanzine MySpace recently, you'll know that Sean Organ is making a stand against the kind of deal that seems very common on the live music circuit these days, where the promoter expects bands to sell tickets to their own gig.
Sean's blogs have obviously ruffled a few feathers. One of his blog entries was deleted by MySpace after he mentioned by name one particular promoter who does the bands-sell-tickets thing, and one (fairly large and mainstream) festival, which requires bands to shift over a thousand pounds' worth of tickets as part of the deal.
Somebody obviously didn't want this information generally known. A complaint was made and the entry got pulled. He's now returned to the fray, with names deleted, and you can see the latest stuff in the Organ Zine's MySpace Blog.
I thought this was worth mentioning, because I know that the bands-sell-tickets deal is becoming an increasingly common method of putting a gig together. I never did this back in my showbiz days - call me old fashioned if you will, but I believe that it's the promoter's job to sell tickets. But these days it does seem usual for promoters to load all the risk (and a large chunk of the workload) onto the bands.
Anyway. There's the stuff if you want to read it, or even add your own experiences as a few bands have done already. (I'm interested in the comments regarding venue hire fees in Glasgow - by London standards that's absurdly cheap. I think I'll move to Glasgow and become a promoter!)
Rock 'n' roll photos from Leipzig will be back shortly...
Sean's blogs have obviously ruffled a few feathers. One of his blog entries was deleted by MySpace after he mentioned by name one particular promoter who does the bands-sell-tickets thing, and one (fairly large and mainstream) festival, which requires bands to shift over a thousand pounds' worth of tickets as part of the deal.
Somebody obviously didn't want this information generally known. A complaint was made and the entry got pulled. He's now returned to the fray, with names deleted, and you can see the latest stuff in the Organ Zine's MySpace Blog.
I thought this was worth mentioning, because I know that the bands-sell-tickets deal is becoming an increasingly common method of putting a gig together. I never did this back in my showbiz days - call me old fashioned if you will, but I believe that it's the promoter's job to sell tickets. But these days it does seem usual for promoters to load all the risk (and a large chunk of the workload) onto the bands.
Anyway. There's the stuff if you want to read it, or even add your own experiences as a few bands have done already. (I'm interested in the comments regarding venue hire fees in Glasgow - by London standards that's absurdly cheap. I think I'll move to Glasgow and become a promoter!)
Rock 'n' roll photos from Leipzig will be back shortly...