Andy
Honorary Member
Ok, two other bands & a venue have just really pissed me off.
We played a big outdoor event earlier this year. It was a charity biker bash for about 6,000 people. The organisers hired a venue (name withheld to protect the cheap ass b&^^&*s). That venue contacted us a few weeks ago on fee + availability for a gig next November for a similar size crowd. We confirmed availability & quoted £400 ($660) based on everything being provided (it's about a 1 hour haul from my house). This is a commercial money make for the venue but with a token charitable donation (another misrepresentation deal that annoys me too). Anyhow, that's a very good price for a band of our standing.
Wind forward to our gig in the same out of town area last Saturday night. I got speaking to some guys who came to see us play. They're from a very good band local to the area. I mentioned the gig call for next November, & they told me they got the same call. They confirmed they'd put in about the same fee range as us. They've heard that two other (mediocre, if I'm being kind) bands got the gig ahead of us, on the basis they charged £50 ($66). WTF!!!!!
Ok, so WTF do these bands think they're doing? We're talking about doing a gig for a major commercial operation that's going to gross over $60,000 for the event, & they put in a joke fee like that??? Two parties at fault here;
1/ The venue for cheaping out on a show of this size. Frankly, at the fee we appropriated, same with the other band too, they would have got two of the very best acts around at a bargain price, & a show worthy of the event. Because of their dime pinching, they're getting a couple of barely passable pub/cabaret acts (one of the "bands" uses a drum machine). Makes no commercial sense in terms of promoting patronage of future events, that's for sure.
2/ The cheap ass "bands" for putting in a joke of a fee just to get the gig. In these circumstances, there was absolutely no need to cheap out so badly. They're ruining it for all musicians, & sending the worst possible message to venues that live music is disposable/valueless.
We don't need the gig, but man, the principals at play here really disappoint me on so many levels.
We played a big outdoor event earlier this year. It was a charity biker bash for about 6,000 people. The organisers hired a venue (name withheld to protect the cheap ass b&^^&*s). That venue contacted us a few weeks ago on fee + availability for a gig next November for a similar size crowd. We confirmed availability & quoted £400 ($660) based on everything being provided (it's about a 1 hour haul from my house). This is a commercial money make for the venue but with a token charitable donation (another misrepresentation deal that annoys me too). Anyhow, that's a very good price for a band of our standing.
Wind forward to our gig in the same out of town area last Saturday night. I got speaking to some guys who came to see us play. They're from a very good band local to the area. I mentioned the gig call for next November, & they told me they got the same call. They confirmed they'd put in about the same fee range as us. They've heard that two other (mediocre, if I'm being kind) bands got the gig ahead of us, on the basis they charged £50 ($66). WTF!!!!!
Ok, so WTF do these bands think they're doing? We're talking about doing a gig for a major commercial operation that's going to gross over $60,000 for the event, & they put in a joke fee like that??? Two parties at fault here;
1/ The venue for cheaping out on a show of this size. Frankly, at the fee we appropriated, same with the other band too, they would have got two of the very best acts around at a bargain price, & a show worthy of the event. Because of their dime pinching, they're getting a couple of barely passable pub/cabaret acts (one of the "bands" uses a drum machine). Makes no commercial sense in terms of promoting patronage of future events, that's for sure.
2/ The cheap ass "bands" for putting in a joke of a fee just to get the gig. In these circumstances, there was absolutely no need to cheap out so badly. They're ruining it for all musicians, & sending the worst possible message to venues that live music is disposable/valueless.
We don't need the gig, but man, the principals at play here really disappoint me on so many levels.