Our BL received a call from a booking company in Ca inviting us to play a well known venue that has locations in most of the US top 10 markets. We accepted the invite and booked the gig, anticipating the opportunity to play the venue.
When the date got nearer we received the load in and stage time details, which indicated that we were on a bill with two other bands, and playing the 2nd set. They also sent us a batch of tickets to sell for the show and linked us to a ticket purchase site to encourage fans to pre purchase on line and save a couple of bucks. We were also told that we had to sell a certain number of tickets to "break even" on the show and that the 'house' and 'sound mixer' had to be paid from those ticket sales also. My question was how were they going to divide the money when 3 bands were selling tickets both in advance and at the door, (which was never answered).
Now, realizing this is a pay to play venue, I discussed it with the band and we decided to give it a chance just to see how it all panned out only because it is a high profile venue. So we played the gig. We'd sold all our tickets and the place was packed with familiar faces of our fans along with fans of the other bands. And despite the first band opening the show with a painfully loud set of death metal and nearly clearing the room, the crowd came back for our set of Americana and we had a good time playing for a very enthusiastic audience. The bar was as busy as it could handle.
After our set we quickly rolled our gear off stage so the next band could get started and I loaded out and headed home. All in all it felt like a very successful gig.
A few days later, after the dust had settled on the ticket sales, our BL told he us he had to pay up to settle the money, even though we had a full house and the bar obviously made good money that night. Turned out that the booking company also took 50% of the ticket sales along with the house and sound guy taking their cut. WTH?
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Pay to Play venues are in business to support themselves and not the musicians. For the bands it's a total BS deal. We hauled our gear there, loaded in, set up in a flash, played a great set to a full house, loaded out, and hauled it home covered with sweat, and someone made lots of money, but we had to pay them to settle the bottom line. Kinda makes me feel like I got taken in an internet scam. If these venues can't afford to pay the bands to play then why are they in the music presentation business to begin with? Oh I know...to sell lots of booze. Hard language inserted here.
Never Again.
But it would have been fun!
