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Renegotiated Pay

Egg250

Egg250

Jan 10, 2022
951
1,672
#1
We've had a labor day show scheduled at a campground for several months now. The band has gone through some changes, including a name change since then. Technically, it isn't the same band but we have the same core, me and the guitarist.

A couple days ago the guitarist, who booked the show, says the venue contacted him and asked what the pay was. He told them $750 is what he negotiated with Sean. This is for a 4 hour show, on labor day weekend. Debbie (the one who called up asking about the pay) says "I can't pay that much. Best I can do is $650." Guitarist agrees and then tells us about it. The guitarist now knows he should have asked us first, so I won't beat that point into the ground. I'm wondering why the venue didn't keep any records of this (maybe they did and are feigning ignorance). I'm wondering why Sean felt he could negotiate this if Debbie is the one paying the bills. I'm wondering why the guitarist doesn't have at least an email trail of the deal.

This might be a tactic by the venue to get us to back out so they can book someone else.

I suggested to the guitarist if they want to renegotiate, ok, but we will do a 3 hour show. It isn't about the money. It's the principle. What's gonna prevent these clowns from trying to renegotiate on the day of the show. Anyway, that's when he told me he'd already agreed to the reduced rate. He said he would talk to Sean, they are friendly, to find out who Debbie is and float the reduced play time.

The more I think on it, the grumpier I get. I think it's time to introduce some type of contract, paper trail, deposit system.
 
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#4
Egg250 said:
It isn't about the money. It's the principal.
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If you're buying a house, principal is money. In this case, you mean principle, which isn't.

If it were my band, I'd be a bit miffed, but yes, as they started the re-negotiating, feel free to renegotiate other parts of the deal. Ideally, you should be keeping yh=our commitments, and doing business with people who keep their commitments. In the future, keep this in mind if the same people contact you to book you.
 
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#6
Egg250 said:
I don't let my bride get away with grammer/vocabulary mistakes either.
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Eventually you will regret this. Far better to correct some random guy's grammar on the internet than to do that to your wife. Trust me on this.

OH, and a 4 hour show - for one band? That's asking a lot of the band and the audience. I have done one of those, and it went OK, but there was a beer truck on the premises, which may have had something to do with our success.
 
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#7
I'm not a small business owner, but I'd be surprised if a single overpromised benjy was gonna make/break what they can or can't pay for. I do find the renegotiation suspicious. Whatever it shakes out to, I'd get it in writing. I would hate the potential for someone in charge to not get the message and demand a 4th hour of music if 3 is what y'all now agree to verbally. Or for them to say "I was told $500 for pay". It's just good housekeeping to have it in writing (or email). I doubt it's about trying to get y'all not to do the gig so they can get someone else. Since it seems like you don't have a contract yet, if they truly wanted someone else they'd just tell you to kick rocks.
 
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#8
Egg250 said:
We've had a labor day show scheduled at a campground for several months now. The band has gone through some changes, including a name change since then. Technically, it isn't the same band but we have the same core, me and the guitarist.

A couple days ago the guitarist, who booked the show, says the venue contacted him and asked what the pay was. He told them $750 is what he negotiated with Sean. This is for a 4 hour show, on labor day weekend. Debbie (the one who called up asking about the pay) says "I can't pay that much. Best I can do is $650." Guitarist agrees and then tells us about it. The guitarist now knows he should have asked us first, so I won't beat that point into the ground. I'm wondering why the venue didn't keep any records of this (maybe they did and are feigning ignorance). I'm wondering why Sean felt he could negotiate this if Debbie is the one paying the bills. I'm wondering why the guitarist doesn't have at least an email trail of the deal.

This might be a tactic by the venue to get us to back out so they can book someone else.

I suggested to the guitarist if they want to renegotiate, ok, but we will do a 3 hour show. It isn't about the money. It's the principle. What's gonna prevent these clowns from trying to renegotiate on the day of the show. Anyway, that's when he told me he'd already agreed to the reduced rate. He said he would talk to Sean, they are friendly, to find out who Debbie is and float the reduced play time.

The more I think on it, the grumpier I get. I think it's time to introduce some type of contract, paper trail, deposit system.
Click to expand...
The problem as I see it is that the guitarist should have asked the whole band about this prior to accepting a reduced rate. But now the guitarist has accepted a reduced rate. So the band should keep the commitment. Hopefully this would not happen again.
 
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#10
My show band requires a signed contract for all bookings that includes a 50% non-refundable deposit to hold the date, and the remaining 50% paid in full two business days in advance of the event. This is non-negotiable. We have a reputation that allows us to do this and I realize that other acts might not have such an established precedent of being reliable and delivering a high quality performance even if they are and will. Still, even in the absence of that you could establish a less severe contract system to ensure things like this don't happen.
 
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#17
Egg250 said:
We've had a labor day show scheduled at a campground for several months now. The band has gone through some changes, including a name change since then. Technically, it isn't the same band but we have the same core, me and the guitarist.

A couple days ago the guitarist, who booked the show, says the venue contacted him and asked what the pay was. He told them $750 is what he negotiated with Sean. This is for a 4 hour show, on labor day weekend. Debbie (the one who called up asking about the pay) says "I can't pay that much. Best I can do is $650." Guitarist agrees and then tells us about it. The guitarist now knows he should have asked us first, so I won't beat that point into the ground. I'm wondering why the venue didn't keep any records of this (maybe they did and are feigning ignorance). I'm wondering why Sean felt he could negotiate this if Debbie is the one paying the bills. I'm wondering why the guitarist doesn't have at least an email trail of the deal.

This might be a tactic by the venue to get us to back out so they can book someone else.

I suggested to the guitarist if they want to renegotiate, ok, but we will do a 3 hour show. It isn't about the money. It's the principle. What's gonna prevent these clowns from trying to renegotiate on the day of the show. Anyway, that's when he told me he'd already agreed to the reduced rate. He said he would talk to Sean, they are friendly, to find out who Debbie is and float the reduced play time.

The more I think on it, the grumpier I get. I think it's time to introduce some type of contract, paper trail, deposit system.
Click to expand...
Did the first agreement say that the lineup mustn't change? Imagine someone telling a big name that they're cutting the pay for having a different player.
 
#18
Sounds like you've already agreed to play 4hrs for $650.

Guitarist has admitted his mistake in not checking with you all and getting pushed into taking less, but it's a done deal either way. You can either do what you've now agreed to or back out and burn some bridges (which probably isn't a good idea unless you've got lots of other options). You can try and negotiation down to 3hrs (probably good for everyone, so they probably will cut you some slack here), but you've agreed to play 4. What exactly a 4 hour show consists of is probably a little open to negotiation... start at 2, finish at 6 is very different to 4x1hr sets. 3x1hr sets over 4 hours is a lot less!

Realistically all you can do is move forwards. Get a confirmation email or text from the organisers confirming the pay, and times. Then if they mess you around again you've got something in writing to point to. THEN if they try and change the terms again, you can walk.
 
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