Tales of Scumbag Booking Agents

Bluesy Soul · #1 08-18-2008, 04:31 PM

Over many, many years, I've had booking agents pull most of the classic booking agent screw-ups and screw-you's on bands I've been in, including: scheduling a disasterous percentage-of-the-door gig the very first night of a tour (without adequate, additional tour expense funds), pairing us with a band that attracted a completely different audience, etc. In fact, booking agents around here don't generally have a positive reputation, so my band (and most better bands) use them rarely, if ever, anymore.

Thankfully I've managed to avoid this classic scam that was recently perpetrated against a buddy and his band. Despite cautionary warnings from other musicians, they decided to try a new booking agent. After reviewing the de riguer audition CD, the agent told them he had a 3-hour wedding gig for them, if their price wasn't too high, in a town about an hour away . The band typically receives $500-600 for local bar and club gigs and--even though weddings often pay more than local bars and clubs--they added only $100 (for travel expenses, supplying all the PA and lights, dressing the part, etc.) to the upper end of their typical price range and asked for $700. The agent told them the wedding party just couldn't afford that and only had $450 left for a band. My buddy and his band didn't have another gig that weekend and wanted to get off to a good start with the agent, so they agreed to accept the $450. The gig went fine. A good time was had by all. The agent took his cut and paid the band promptly. The band, of course, never asks to see the agent's signed contract--though it's hardly difficult to forge an applicable one.

You guessed it. My buddy runs into the best man from the wedding (who handled the arrangements for the band with the agent) at a concert about 2 months after the wedding. The best man tells my friend how much everyone enjoyed the band and that some folks would like to have them back for his hometown's annual summer festival dance, but they just can't afford $1500 (!) again for a band.

My friend was flabbergasted, but decided to be honest with the best man about the amount the band received for the wedding. I don't know which one felt more screwed. The agent, of course, is long gone, cell number is disconnected, etc.

Bluesy Soul

B-NoteCowboy · #2 08-19-2008, 12:17 AM

Well in this particular story, my band didn't get screwed (because we insisted on an iron-clad contract), but the venue where we played sure got hosed.

Promoter hired us to headline a big biker event on a massive outdoor stage, with a 50,000 watt sound system for an expected crowd of 2,000 plus.

Long story short, the place is out of our market so we could do little to influence promotions but did do a radio interview. The promotor was supposed to do the rest.

We show up, set up, sound check and head to the hotel where we got dressed and took a limo back to the event.... where literally no more than 50 people were in attendance!

Hoooolllly crap it was like swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. There was this orange barricade (evidently to prevent the crush of the crowd from getting too close to our pyro) 10 feet off the stage with uniformed security patrolling in between.

Again... fifty people. And I think some of them worked there.

Conservatively, I bet the venue lost $10,000 on that show. even though it wasn't our fault, we felt horrible. Evidently the promoter dropped the ball on everything he was supposed to do and thought word of mouth would take care of it.

In his defense, there were lots of storms and floods that week which clearly kept away a lot of people, but even something as simple as signage was missing from this place. Just a very weird experience - not helped by the fact that it was August and I had a 101 degree fever (sinus infection).

rockdoc11 · #3 08-19-2008, 09:19 PM

My classic rock band was booked through an agent to play a state fair gig for $1200. A month before the gig the agent calls and says his partner had absconded with most of the agency's money. Is there any way we can do the gig for $800?

It's our first experience with thia agent, we want to set a friendly tone, so we say sure, we'll do it. He's grateful, says he owes us, he'll make it up to us with future good money gigs, etc. So we do the gig, it's a great night, everyone's happy.

And you know the ending . . . that was two years ago, and the SOB has never tossed us another gig. May he and his brethren get what's coming to them.

PatTheAnchor · #4 08-19-2008, 09:26 PM

SMH...

That sucks dude.

Joe Nerve · #5 08-19-2008, 09:30 PM

Off topic, but when did scumbag come off the curse list?

When I was growin up that word would get us a mouthful of soap, and it was fer sure something we'd never say with the nuns present. Piss is another one I'm amused by. My age is starting to show, huh?

Joe Nerve · #6 08-19-2008, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatTheAnchor

That sucks dude.

Pretty sure sucks was on that list too.

thesteve · #7 08-19-2008, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Nerve

Pretty sure sucks was on that list too.

Sucks is still on the list when I'm in my parents' home

BassMaster4s · #8 08-22-2008, 09:14 AM

My band had a club agent call us a month in advance of a show and say the show needed to be canceled due to a funeral. Now I don't know about you, but I find it hard to plan a funeral a month in advance unless you plan on killing someone in the near future. This guy was a dirtbag from the beginning anyway, so no one was really disappointed.

bambambass · #9 08-24-2008, 10:00 PM

Hello fellow bass peoples. This is a fantstic site. Just wanted to add what happened a couple of weeks ago with a gig promotor. We have been playing gigs for this guy for the last six months. We would always joke that he had a thing for our drummers friend, she quite attractive but no one really tries anything on her due to the fact that no one in my band is under six foot and below 85kg.

Our last gig with this guy he decided to try to use his bar tab as a way to "encourage" her to spend the night with him. The evening turned out with the whole band(four of us) back stage staring at this guy and not leaving the room until he did as this woman is slumped over a couch, babbling to herself. This is after us finding him hovering over the top of this woman when she was passed out on the floor. Eventually he said to us, "oh she's really drunk, lucky she has friends like you to look after her".

Since then we have had no contact fromt his guy.

voodoobassist · #10 08-24-2008, 10:22 PM

Waaaaay back in the day, when we were all young and extremely stupid,.. we worked for an agent out of austin texas,.. the guy would book us in dallas,...call us the last night of the job with a gig on south padre, call us the last night of that job with a gig in wyoming,... wait until the final night, send us to texas again, then back to denver, etc etc,.. he had us jumping around the country like fleas on a hot skillet for almost a year,... the worst part of it,.. we were just stupid enough to do it,...but since we were young and knew no better,.. we actually had a pretty good time, even if we did develop pretty bad cases of van arse from all that driving