One of the small time weekend warrior cover bands I play in was playing a place we had not played before. Against my better judgement we agreed to 'you need to bring 25 people or we are not paying you the full amount for the gig'. I had never played a gig like that before but the drummer wanted to play there because it is close to his house. I agreed to it. One, 98 percent of the time we have more than that there at least part of the night. Two, money is definitely a secondary reason I do this so I think - so what. Well anyway 2 minutes after we get there and start unloading the owner starts asking if we are bringing out a crowd. We say yes, we don't know how many but we expect quite a few. He's completely drunk, the place is a bit shady and I'm not feeling too good about this. After first set (we played pretty good) the guy starts telling the drummer who booked the gig where's your crowd blah, blah and says he's cutting the gig pay. We have about 20-30 there and it is at least 1/3 of the people in the bar. We say may be second set we are going to have some more. Well eventually a few more come out. We didn't have a stellar crowd but at very minimum it is like 30-35 and a decent percentage of the people in the bar. In the end the guy wouldn't pay the whole amount. Any way rough night. Crazy thing was that a few of our regulars caught wind of the situation and pooled some cash for us and tipped us. We actually end up making more than we usually do although I feel bad about that. We don't run a tip jar so typically tips are from strangers for requests and are small. Nightmare situation and I will definitely never do that again. I think the owner was just looking for any reason to stiff us. Any way it was my fault for doing the gig. Lesson learned.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Partially stiffed
- Thread starter claytitan
- Start date
When a bar owner tries that kind of bs with me during a potential booking, I "advise" said person that hiring my band is for entertainment and drink sales purposes. If they are looking for public relations; promotional and marketing services, then they should consult their local yellow pages.
Play for full price, or play for free, but never sell yourselves cheap.
I can't stand those gigs where your payout is to-be-determined at the end of the night. I'd rather not play at all if we can't agree on a price before the gig starts.
I can't stand those gigs where your payout is to-be-determined at the end of the night. I'd rather not play at all if we can't agree on a price before the gig starts.
There's a story on the Shadows of Motown documentary about how a bar owner wanted to cut the band's pay because the drummer had ran up the tab before the gig, whipping out a pistol while doing so.
Every musician in the band all got their piece out too and they got MORE than what was agreed on. Strategy ?
Every musician in the band all got their piece out too and they got MORE than what was agreed on. Strategy ?
Bassist4Eris
Frat-Pack Sympathizer
Fun story, but a bad strategy. Unless you're looking for a long prison term... or a short life.
If you must link pay to some sort of "performance" criteria, make sure there's some sort of metric involved that both sides agree on & how it's counted. Otherwise, if it comes down to a difference of opinion, the opinion of the guy holding the money is the only one that matters.
Whenever you agree to play for a specified draw, or for the door, you MUST post one of your people at the door to keep track. At some point someone should have pulled the guy aside and said "I count 35 people in here, we've met our obligation".
Me? I would never play for such a deal. I've been around too long to tolerate the inevitable screwing I'd get.
Me? I would never play for such a deal. I've been around too long to tolerate the inevitable screwing I'd get.
I know, it was just a joke, but to think that the guys who played on countless dance and pop songs were so rough and ready puts the music into perspective.
When you consider the times (early 60's) and place (Detroit), people who earned most of their living in janky bars and didn't usually get paid until after midnight, they all being strapped is no real surprise.
We learned way early on to get a firm price up front and if it was for the door, we provided the individual working said door.
As for bar owners yammering about the band bringing their own crowd is in MHO just the nature of the species. It allows them to carp about the light crowd when they pay the band, even if the place was SRO.
