Havent Made Enough Behind The Bar

[tauzero]

8 hours ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

I *may* have just submitted a tripadvisor review…

 

I found the two Tripadvisor reviews that mentioned the venue's treatment of bands useful. 😁

[lowdown]

38 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

I found the two Tripadvisor reviews that mentioned the venue's treatment of bands useful. 😁

 

I have just seen them as well.

[JohnH89]

To be fair , I wouldn't leave until I've been paid . I'm not easy to say no to , and can be a proper pain in the arse if necessary . 😁

[Raymondo]

I finally gave up playing for a living (that sounds like I had done it for ages...what I mean is, when I lived in Tenerife I played for a living!), in Tenerife, because this kept happening.

 

It was 2008 when things were a bit tough but some of the places we played we had been working for three years ...getting our fee regardless of the amount of people in the venue but somehow we were expected to turn up,set up...play to see if enough people came in and then pack up and go home with a very reduced fee,or sometimes nothing at all, if they didn't!

 

I have never experienced it in this country...I have been paid more because we had a great crowd, sold lots of beer over here ( my local is brilliant for that) which is nice.

 

Glad to see you got the money in the end.

 

 

[Geek99]

On 07/04/2024 at 09:13, Burns-bass said:

Take them to court. A small claim will cost you about £35 and is worth doing. It shows you’re serious and also that you won’t settle for less. 
 

When they settle (which they will) they’ll pay your costs back. I run a small business and have done this several times.

It’s 110£ these days 

 

 

edit I stand corrected by @fretmeister - likely between £35 & £80 depending on your fee and losses 

Edited April 8 by Geek99

[Supernaut]

The Brickhouse in Slough is the pub in question. On my avoid list. 

[TheGreek]

Even though they made good on the fee eventually I'd still name and shame on as many social media sites as I could. 

The next band they try it on with might not be forceful as you,  or worse, be EXTREMELY forceful.

Alternatively you can always suggest that they discuss the matter with your extremely experienced lawyers at MU who deal with matters like this all the time. 

[fretmeister]

15 hours ago, Geek99 said:

It’s 110£ these days 

 

No it isn't.

 

It's based on the amount in question ranging from £35 to £10,000

 

Page 3, Part A. So it depends what the band fee was.

 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65b2818b26a40f00117ac1a7/Full_list_of_fees___May_2023.pdf

[acidbass]

On 07/04/2024 at 00:31, Hobbayne said:

Sorry but people have not spent enough behind the bar so we cant pay you the full agreed amount

This would be the last time I ever darkened the door of said venue, and well done for naming and shaming so that others can avoid the embarrassment.

[neepheid]

On 07/04/2024 at 00:31, Hobbayne said:

Well, In 40 years of playing, Tonight is a first. We were booked to play The Brickhouse in Slough. The first rock band to play there apparently. Its more of a soul R+B DJ place.

We went down really well with the older crowd, but when it came to paying us, we were told 'Sorry but people have not spent enough behind the bar so we cant pay you the full agreed amount' 

Our singer is practically fuming with rage and trying to sort it out. I have heard of this happening to others, but this is the first time I have been shafted.

I,m having a few large scotches to calm me down. 🤬

 

I hope you're having those at home and not giving those welching cockwombles any more money!

[BillyBass]

On 07/04/2024 at 08:09, NHM said:

Last year we offered to take a much-reduced fee at a pub we play regularly because really bad weather meant there was hardly anyone there - but I've not experienced the venue telling you the fee has been reduced. Also, there have been times when a pub has paid us extra if they've had a bumper take. I guess it's about partnerships, we each need the other.

We had a gig at a pub in Watford that we had played before, in fact they gave us our first gig.  The landlady booked us on a day that all the locals left to go to a golf tournament.  We played to about 6 people!  We then offered to take a cut in our fee but the bar staff wouldn't have it.  The Load of Hay in Watford, good pub.

[TimR]

15 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Even though they made good on the fee eventually I'd still name and shame on as many social media sites as I could. 

 

I'd avoid doing that. Legally you're on shaky grounds. If a business suffers from something you wrote, you'd better be able to defend your words. 

 

Plus when the place changes hands as they do regularly, the new owner is saddled with a bad reputation. So you've achieved nothing other than sending another potential live music venue down the tubes. 

[TimR]

On 07/04/2024 at 07:45, casapete said:

Wonder if they’d taken more than expected on the bar they then would have paid you extra?
Absolute tw*ts.

 

Played a gig once where the locals were calling their mates to come down to see 'the band' while we were playing.

 

The place was rammed by the end of the night.

 

We got £500 instead of the £350. 

 

Never happened since. 😂

[chris_b]

I wasn't on the gig, but 10 years ago my band turned up to a gig (can't remember the name) in Sussex to see the security staff and the management having a fraught and loud "discussion".

 

At  the end of that the management told the band they had given all the cash to the security guys and wouldn't be paying the band! They could play or go home! The band were already setting up, so they packed up and went home. I felt sorry for the bass dep, and we never went back.

[TimR]

Travelled 80 miles to a gig to find the place had shutdown and was boarded up. This was pre-mobile phones so not only had each of the band driven there but so also had a group of hard-core supporters. 

[Lozz196]

I must admit I read of these incidents and thank my lucky stars yet again that in the bands/scene I`m in these don`t seem to happen. Possibly the bands and audiences together would protest a little too forcefully (and I really wouldn`t want some of those characters giving me a Paddington stare).

[uk_lefty]

I used to book bands at a pub I worked in many years ago. We tried to get a bit of acoustic stuff going on a Sunday night and committed to making a go of it through the summer. I was always there either working or drinking so always sorted out the acts, got them paid, etc. The one night I wasn't there the three piece act didn't show up, just the singer with his acoustic. Apparently he brought in a decent crowd, I knew he was good and well known around town. The next morning I had a polite text message asking why he'd been paid £30 instead of £100 and saying it was fun, even after the police incident. I texted one of my colleagues and over the next few days the story unfolded. The landlord and landlady had a huge row and the police got called, Landlord emptied the safe and disappeared. The staff were all close friends and family of the landlord so tensions were high. Come time to end the music and the act was told to have £30 because £100 was based on three of them, a third of the act, a third of the fee. I felt for him but there was nothing I could do to rectify it. I also learned he basically winged it, loads of mistakes, scraps of songs, not a great performance... So the sympathy dwindled a little. 

 

Over a few months of booking acts there was a stark difference between those who had a full and well prepared set and those who just turned up with a guitar and mic and thought that they would magically have some epiphany to play flawlessly without a set list, or notes, or memory of whole songs. 

[Bassfinger]

5 hours ago, TimR said:

 

I'd avoid doing that. Legally you're on shaky grounds. If a business suffers from something you wrote, you'd better be able to defend your words. 

 

Plus when the place changes hands as they do regularly, the new owner is saddled with a bad reputation. So you've achieved nothing other than sending another potential live music venue down the tubes. 

 

The breach of contract described doesn't sound remotely shaky. If the truth hurts the business, well, that's the nature of truth. They don't get to cherry pick the genuine and verifiable facts that end up in the public domain, much as I'm sure they'd like to.  

 

A savvy new owner will quickly capitalise on the change of management/ownership to underline the past and kick-start things anew. It will only linger like a stale fart if they choose to let it.

 

And to be honest, better a live venue disappear down the U bend than keep shafting hard working musicians. I don't want to see live music at the cost of people being effed over.

 

 

 

Edited April 8 by Bassfinger

[TimR]

11 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

The breach of contract described doesn't sound remotely shaky.

 

If it happened to you and you have evidence. Then complain and use the proper channels.

 

If it happened to 'someone you know', you are just joining the social media inevitable pile on and 'cancel' that may or may not be deserved.

 

It's happened to me with an event I organised. One person out of 450 wrote on a different page about their perceived slight negative experience, and a bunch of Karen's jumped on and basically tore the event to shreds, even though the original poster protested that it was only a comment. Social media at its worst. An event that has been running for nearly 30 years in the same format with full explanation of what the event entails. 

 

If it had taken down my business and I'd lost income (it's not a business) I would have probably sued those involved. The resultant pile on was completely unwarranted from the original comment, as often happens on social media. 

Edited April 8 by TimR

[neepheid]

Social media is a social cancer.  While the perception remains that it's a consequence-free, free-for-all, it won't get any better.

[EssexBuccaneer]

11 minutes ago, TimR said:

 

If it happened to you and you have evidence. Then complain and use the proper channels.

 

If it happened to 'someone you know', you are just joining the social media inevitable pile on and 'cancel' that may or may not be deserved.

 

It's happened to me with an event I organised. One person out of 450 wrote on a different page about their perceived slight negative experience, and a bunch of Karen's jumped on and basically tore the event to shreds, even though the original poster protested that it was only a comment. Social media at its worst. An event that has been running for nearly 30 years in the same format with full explanation of what the event entails. 

 

If it had taken down my business and I'd lost income (it's not a business) I would have probably sued those involved. The resultant pile on was completely unwarranted from the original comment, as often happens on social media. 

And you’d probably have failed in your efforts. It’s notoriously hard to win a case like that.

[borntohang]

On 07/04/2024 at 08:33, 12stringbassist said:

I've had that happen years ago. It was in a pub with really old and beautiful etched glass windows. I mentioned quite pointedly that if they kept doing that to bands they were very likely to lose them. He promptly went upstairs and found the cash. 

Unfortunately that can be prone to backfiring depending on the establishment.

 

Some years ago when my friend's band were younger and much less wise they got stiffed on a fee like OP, so their driver/manager produces a cricket bat from the van and they go back in to renegotiate. Piling into the landlord's office all full of vinegar they insist, nay demand their £100! Landlord took one look at them and their well-curated skinny jeans, pulled a shotgun out of his top drawer, and planted it on his desktop in a manner that wasn't directly threatening but very firmly suggestive: "You can have £30 just for trying lads, but leave it to the professionals next time yeah?"

 

They took the £30 and their kneecaps home in the end and called it square. Them were the days, you could leave your door unlocked, etc etc.

[TimR]

11 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

And you’d probably have failed in your efforts. It’s notoriously hard to win a case like that.

 

Maybe, but it's still Libel. 

[Nicko]

34 minutes ago, TimR said:

 

Maybe, but it's still Libel. 

No.  Libel is a false statement.  The "libel" must damage the person or businesses reputation.  The OP is perfectly within his rights to post on social media what happened, and if the venue want to take it further they would have to prove the review did actually damage them. 

 

23 hours ago, Supernaut said:

The Brickhouse in Slough is the pub in question. On my avoid list. 

Slough has been on my avoid list for years - Betjeman was right about it

Spoiler

(Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!  It isn't fit for humans now)

.  Don't know the venue personally and it's not somewhere that came up when I was playing in and around that area.    

 

 

[TimR]

2 hours ago, Nicko said:

The "libel" must damage the person or businesses reputation.

 

That's what I said didn't I? 

 

If the OP wants to write something that's true, that's fine. If someone else wants to repeat something that they have no evidence other than the OP's version of events then how do they know it's true or flase.

 

Hence, I'd be very wary of repeating things you heard or read. 

 

Especially as the Internet magnifies untruths very quickly and damages businesses and reputations. 

Edited April 8 by TimR