What would you do?????? I honestly don't know, so help me out.
You book a show, 5 months out, agent telling you its gonna kill, and you pay a pretty penny for it. You then forget about the show, how much you've shelled out, and go about your merry way. Sure enough, 30 days out, you realize that this show has sold 3 tickets. Then 4 days out, 20 tickets. You are headed for a trainwreck (in the financial sense), so you.......
1. cancel the show for 50% loss
2. ask the agent if you can pay the band less (split the trainwreck)
3. take it in the pants. your fault for putting out that over.
4. Close your eyes, and wish it would all just go away.
Welcome to my world. What would you do?
6 comments:
What's in the contract? I would put it back on the agent and try to split it.
2. ask the agent if you can pay the band less (split the trainwreck)
Get the agent to provide a :30 video clip of the band. Post it to your facebook fans and start promoting the heck out of it grassroots, word of mouth, etc. Make it an offer they can't refuse, tie in food, or drink specials with it so you still make money to cover what your out. Play off their name and make it a special party or the make something out of the date they are playing on. AND ask the agent for their help promoting, since all of their reps are on the line. No band wants to play to 20 people.
That would be great if that worked. But the reality is, people pay for bands they wanna see, and thats what venues have to pay for. so when an agent demands a price, he is really saying that he is guaranteeing that many people show.
you dig?
Easier said than done:
You might have to eat some of the cost on this one, but you can use it as leverage against the agent. They said it would pack out. Those words imply, that even with light promotion on your end, the band in question, is established enough to bring out a crowd congruent with the asking guarantee. If the agent wants to work with you in the future, they are going to need to help come up with a solution that everyone can live with (taking into account your oversight and lack of promotion, and their misleading description). Here are my suggestions for avoiding this problem in the future:
NO matter the size/credibility of the agent/agency, when dealing with a band you are unfamiliar with, feel free to ask for DOCUMENTATION on their past draw in the area. Any established national touring act should have notarized tour/sound-scan sheets from earlier tours on file. A little extra time snooping around on the web might save you a lot of headache in the future (like did they have a big show last time because of the other bands on the bill?). If the show feels reasonable, take it for a low guarantee, plus back-end, then pad the bill with active locals.
If the agent represents a larger act that you are confident would "kill in your market," ask that it be a package deal: "I will take unknown band "A" for less than asking price, for big band "B" at full price at a later date." Tiny bit of a loss from show "A" is made up for by profit of show "B".
It's hilarious what some agents ask for a guarantee vs. what they would settle for. Low ball em!
Anyway...
I feel your pain and wish you the best.
I would definitely try to contact the agent.. get in touch, ask what's up.. It certainly sounds like he sold you an idea of the band that is contrary to the current set of circumstances.. maybe this is how they roll and you'll sell out at the door and you'll have a line flowing out on PCH further marketing your growing venue.. probably they just sold you up.. If they did, then they know it, and you should call it as you see it and ask to share the impending loss! If both you and the band share a human interaction, everything'll work out sensibly.. If not, then lessons are learned and you have become even more jaded in a beautiful/ugly world of music, money and egos..
Bring on a small local band with a following to open up for the out of town band. At least you will be able to fill the club for food and drink.
Post a Comment