Has anyone ever been asked to pay to get into their own gig?

[JTUK]

Pay to play......????? we'd be expecting free beer..and with or two of the bands I might go there with..that could be pretty expensive..

I agree....hang fire and see how the land lies with other bands.

Generally, I don't think that reflects well on the bands themselves if you have to consider paying. I always thought the band should be the draw.
In the cases of charity and good causes, I think bands should consider the spirit of the thing and buy stuff or food etc etc...
but we recently had an enquiry from an interesting festival down in East Sussex. We put it to the band about the freebie and there was
the possibility of petrol ex's. The Drummer dismissed this straight away. He said will all the other concessions there, bar staff, stall holders etc etc being doing it for free...? He answered his own question with
"No, so neither will I"

....Drummers, huh..?

[Adrenochrome]

Pay To Play is a disgrace. Don't do it and don't encourage promoters to try it.

[TPJ]

As the agent said to the band, "I keep telling you guys, you have to save up for these gigs"

[MIJ-VI]

*rolls eyes* Tell 'em to twist up another one.

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='822765' date='Apr 29 2010, 10:12 AM']I'm affraid we need this story[/quote]

No story, just saw an opportunity for a stupid comment.... sorry!

[Beedster]

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='822911' date='Apr 29 2010, 12:10 PM']No story, just saw an opportunity for a stupid comment.... sorry! [/quote]

I think a guy on here told the story of how, at a corporate function gig, the MD was so shocked by the band's choice of music that he paid them to leave. Now that's rock n' roll, sort of

[OldGit]

[quote name='Beedster' post='822936' date='Apr 29 2010, 12:29 PM']I think a guy on here told the story of how, at a corporate function gig, the MD was so shocked by the band's choice of music that he paid them to leave. Now that's rock n' roll, sort of [/quote]


Cue a million lines on way "Pay to Not Play" is so wrong!

[chris_b]

I wouldn't pay to listen to me!!

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='OldGit' post='822943' date='Apr 29 2010, 12:34 PM']Cue a million lines on way "Pay to Not Play" is so wrong! [/quote]

Or on playing prisons because the audience can't leave.

[HeavyJay]

[quote name='Beedster' post='822936' date='Apr 29 2010, 12:29 PM']I think a guy on here told the story of how, at a corporate function gig, the MD was so shocked by the band's choice of music that he paid them to leave. Now that's rock n' roll, sort of [/quote]

There was a thread a while back for tales of being paid off at gigs which I can't find at the minute but there was definitely a few examples!

[Mog]

Ask for your booking fee if they don't want ye to play without paying. Sounds dodge to me.

[jonny-lad]

[quote name='JTUK' post='822840' date='Apr 29 2010, 11:00 AM']we recently had an enquiry from an interesting festival down in East Sussex. We put it to the band about the freebie and there was
the possibility of petrol ex's. The Drummer dismissed this straight away. He said will all the other concessions there, bar staff, stall holders etc etc being doing it for free...? He answered his own question with
"No, so neither will I"

....Drummers, huh..? [/quote]
I'd be with the drummer on this - everyone else working there gets paid, but the band doesn't?...doesn't seem fair to me. I'd rather save my money and not do the gig. I don't mind the odd charity event, but it's not right that bands make a loss whilst everyone else takes a fee.

Regarding the OP, I'd never pay to get in to play a gig - I'd go home if I couldn't get in without paying...too many 'promoters' trying to get away with screwing people over for me to want to do anything that might encourage them.

[Beedster]

[quote name='jonny-lad' post='823055' date='Apr 29 2010, 02:33 PM']Regarding the OP, I'd never pay to get in to play a gig - I'd go home if I couldn't get in without paying...too many 'promoters' trying to get away with screwing people over for me to want to do anything that might encourage them.[/quote]

Don't get me wrong, I'm f*****g furious about it, and am adamant that we're not playing, as would be the case if we were simply getting no tickets/fee. However, I wanted to make sure that this isn't a common situation before asking the band to pull the gig, I know that at least one, if not two of them, will still want to do it anyway. I don't think that it's a question of ego or finance on my part, it really f***s me off that increasingly venues and events seem to think that they can treat bands as willing volunteers whilst at the same time being quite happy to pay the going rate for other services. Too many venues are now doing the "Battle of The Bands" thing, whereby you do a free gig, if they like you you go back for the next round etc etc and if you win you get a grand, the whole process taking six months! So at 6 bands per week over 6 months they're paying about £7 per gig! OK, good business on their part, but all they need to do is get s decent profit share model sorted and everyone's happy.

So, much as a lot of friends were planning on coming down, AFAIC, it's off unless we're getting either paid or sufficient free tickets to cover it

Thanks for the above guys

Chris

[JTUK]

I'd want to know more about this as well.

I have no sympathy with venues trying to get things for nothing, but at the same time, I don't want to kill that guy and stomp all over his efforts before he gets started.
In this case, I'd want confirmation that this was the policy with ALL the bands on the bill, if it was, I'd politely turn them down but not burn the bridges as it were, so you could always go back to working with these people should you want to in different circumstances..if you were the only band that were treated this way, I'd be insulted and would give it/them the due attention it deserves from now on.

I have noticed a few newer venues round here lowballing us. Now, I have been around here for ages and the money out there now is the same as it was eons ago, IME. We are a new act and they are a new venue so they offer a low fee with the promise or suggestion that if we do well, they will pay up to our asking rate on the night. I am happy to do this in a few cases...as in, do I feel we trust them, as long as the band concensus agrees, but if I feel someone is taking the p***, then all deals are off.

From this distance, this guy sounds like he is taken the mick...

[EdwardHimself]

Yeah pay to play is stupid. There is a local band thing on in our town and my friends band had to pay to play, it was only £3 but if i was them i would have told them to piss off. There is also the thing of actually BUYING a load of tickets to a festival at like 25% off then having to sell them to make any money. I would only do that if i was very confident we could get people to buy them.

Edited April 29, 2010 by EdwardHimself

[jezzaboy]

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='822911' date='Apr 29 2010, 12:10 PM']No story, just saw an opportunity for a stupid comment.... sorry! [/quote]


Boooooo, Boooooo!!!

Can you not just make one up?

Jez

[deathpanda]

got kicked out my own gig for being under 18, was pretty funny. the bouncer literally pushed me and my cousin out and we were trying to decide whether it was real or if we were dreaming. he had no expression on his face whatsover as we yelled "what the fu*k?!".

[Cat Burrito]

I assumed (wrongly) that this was going to be the age old problem of soundchecking, nipping out for a bite (copyright Nigel Tufnel) & then being challenged by the door staff when you try to get back in to do the gig. "I'm with the band, honest!"

Your situation, quite frankly, is absurd.

[Marvin]

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='822911' date='Apr 29 2010, 12:10 PM']No story, just saw an opportunity for a stupid comment.... sorry! [/quote]


Tut tut. Bad show. I agree with Jezzaboy, you're going to have to make one up know to placate the populous.

[4-string-thing]

I was in a band in the mid 90's and we paid well over £200 to play a gig in London. The promoter gave us the gig on the proviso that we brought a crowd with us. We hired 3 mini busses and got all our mates to go (monday night, 100 miles each way) The deal was, we would get any door money if they handed in our flyer, of course they all forgot to hand them in. We had to buy our mates beer all night and then pay £25 for the engineer!

Great gig though, in front of the same 20 mates we used to play to in Leicester most weeks!

I now play in covers bands.....

[Beedster]

OK, this is now sorted. Apparently it was a 'miscommunication', although I suspect they were chancing their arm as we are a new band. We're now getting free tickets for band +1 guest each member, but no fee.

Of course, we're taking the 32-piece horn section for this gig

[OldGit]

[quote name='Beedster' post='823727' date='Apr 30 2010, 09:46 AM']OK, this is now sorted. Apparently it was a 'miscommunication', although I suspect they were chancing their arm as we are a new band. We're now getting free tickets for band +1 guest each member, but no fee.

Of course, we're taking the 32-piece horn section for this gig [/quote]


Damn right!

[jonny-lad]

[quote name='OldGit' post='823746' date='Apr 30 2010, 10:00 AM']Damn right![/quote]
+1

A good old 'miscommunication' is often what these issues turn out to be when promoters are challenged about how unreasonable they're being...How can things like that be so easily 'miscommunicated' anyway?

Promoter; "er...yeah...when I said you had to pay to get in to play your own gig, what I actually meant was that you don't have to pay to get in to play and that you each get a free guest ticket too."

[JTUK]

Does seem a bit.....???????

But anyway, just as well the OP decided to wait and see how things could pan out rather than get in an immediate strop and blow out that contact.
It would make me double check his offers the next time as maybe trust has been somewhat eroded, but there may still be a decent working relationship there.

[jonny-lad]

[quote name='JTUK' post='824117' date='Apr 30 2010, 02:42 PM']But anyway, just as well the OP decided to wait and see how things could pan out rather than get in an immediate strop and blow out that contact.
It would make me double check his offers the next time as maybe trust has been somewhat eroded, but there may still be a decent working relationship there.[/quote]
Definately always a good idea not to throw a hissy, not just because you might lose a contact (because it's not a good contact if they just screw you over), but because you could get a bad reputation if you go off on one every time someone is unreasonable about the terms of a gig...still get things sorted though - just stay cool about it!