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Seriously??!!

#81
i used to have friends like your drummer but thankfully i've weeded them out of my life.

if you gave him notice in October, then he's had plenty of time to find another gig. ( wanna bet why he didn't get another gig…). using his logic, HE should've given you notice in october that you owed him money. fair is fair, right? seriously, i'd just nicely tell him that 6 weeks cancellation ( or whatever the time is ) is perfectly reasonable and your band owes him nothing.
 
#82
Just ask him of he would do that to a venue or place that cancels your gig in similar advance (like two months). See how long that one lasts in business. BTW agree with other ones around here, not much of a pal, but a drummer moreso than a pal ...[Ooopss... sorry...couldn't help myself]

Hey, just ask him, if he himself could tell that story to others in his network, and aqcuaintancies and see what reply he's getting. If I can find someone that is on his side. Maybe his mother.

I have never ever being struck by anyone telling me or anyone that. If they would, and it would come out in the open, he would be ostracized in the music community very fast. It's the equivalent of me applying for a job (together with other contendants) and never hear back from them, and when I am calling them, they say another one got the job, and I should have some kind of "sub" money, or standby salary from them until I heard that I didn't get the job. Like you're on duty.

The difference is that when you're called to do an understudy, sub for major acts. Say in an orchestra pit, if someone should fall ill during or prior to a tour. Then you have to block your calender, practice and knowing the material by heart. But then it's mostly big business, and big time tours. I've heard that they made this for John Enthwistles stand in, when he passed on. Pino Palladino (or whoever it was) was told to learn Who's stuff, and just make small studio sessions of the day. I e accepting small sessions, that he could walk out off with no big deal, so he could get on the first plane to wherever the tour was. But that's major league stuff. You get paid for being on standby even if things doesn't happen. And AFAIK this wasn't even remotely the case here.
 
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#83
christianbassguitar said:
Just want to share this incident and maybe ask your thoughts about this. We recently change our Band Drummer and in the process, I asked this pal of mine if he can temporarily play with us for our upcoming gig this December. This talk happened in October, however, after a few days, we finally found a drummer that's willing to commit to playing in the band on a regular basis, so I informed my pal about it.

Lo and behold, just this morning, he's asking me to pay him half of the gig payment he's suppose to get from one of our December gig because according to him, he blocked that date for us.....Seriously?!

Your thoughts.....
Click to expand...
Of course. Charging a percentage of lost gigs for lost earnings is not uncommon.
 
#84
christianbassguitar said:
Sorry for the

confusion bro. I gave him notice a few days from the initial offer. For example, I talked to him on a Monday...we got a drummer that Wednesday and gave him notice on that Friday....so roughly 4 days from the initial talks....
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OK then. Nope, uh uhh, negative, no way, never, mm mmm, no sir, negatory, ix-nay ... he's being a doodoo.
 
#85
The thing I don't get is, when TC told the guy he wasn't needed back in october, wouldn't it have been clear that he now had no part in it? Why would he even keep that date and wait almost 2 months just to be like "yo remember that gig I'm not playing? Well listen to THIS."

If one of my friends asked me for half the pay I would assume he was kidding.
 
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#86
When a professional in any field commits himself/herself to work two months out, declines other work offers for that period, and then is informed of a cancellation shortly before the engagement, he/she deserves a 50% payment. This is standard practice in many fields.

I used to work as a freelance Russian interpreter and would typically book my engagements two months in advance. In the interim I would usually receive other offers for the time in question--some of them much better than the original job--and would, of course, decline them. Since I worked mostly for U.S. government agencies there was usually no cancellation clause in our agreements. In 1999 I lost nearly 15,000 dollars in earnings due to assignments being cancelled at the last minute, sometimes with one day notice.

Edit: Just noticed that the cancellation was done just a few days after the original offer. In this particular case I wouldn't support paying the 50% fee.
 
#87
christianbassguitar said:
I agree with you dud, Pros are pros.....this dude isn't...lol. He even tells me how he'll turn down gigs just to be on a Drum Clinic...
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Fair enough - and again I emphasized the "if" in that statement. I also agreed with the poster who mentioned that being your supposed friend should mean he doesn't expect you to pay him for a favour he didn't end up doing for you.
If he's not losing money - you don't really owe him.
If he's a friend you don't want to lose who happens to be "like that" - let him play the gig that way everyone gets what they want - he gets paid, you don't pay him for not playing.
 
#89
christianbassguitar said:
.. I asked this pal of mine if he can temporarily play with us for our upcoming gig this December. This talk happened in October, however, after a few days, we finally found a drummer that's willing to commit to playing in the band on a regular basis, so I informed my pal about it.

.....
Click to expand...
Bear in mind that four days had passed and the gig was two months out.
Now, I wasn't there but this conversation would typically go something like:

OP- "Bro, about that gig in December- we just found a guy who's willing to join the band full time. I know we have a deal but given the circumstances would you mind if we just let him do it?"
Drummer pal- "Yeah man I get it, it's cool. Let me know if anything changes."
OP- "Thanks for understanding, bro."

Unless the conversation differed significantly from this, in which case the OP isn't telling us everything, I'm failing to see why money is owed.
 
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#90
I only read the first page of this thread, but:

This is a major pet peeve for musicians. When we're booked on a gig, we're expecting that money. Four to five days' notice is not enough time to notify someone. He's not being a jerk, he's being extremely reasonable. This subject came up in a local pro musicians forum about a month ago, and everyone agreed that it was the right thing to do. If you didn't want to pay him for this, you should have kept him on the gig that you had him block his time off for.

And it's not even a question of how professional you perceive him to be. If you booked him on a professional job, you treat him as a professional. Given this bit of information, I wouldn't want to accept a gig from you.
 
#91
Tell him the gig only paid $25 a man. Give him $12.50 and be done with him.

I've been cancelled out months ahead many times. Had 2 this year. Both gigs were cancelled by the city/venue. I would never think to ask someone for 1/2 the pay for the gig. Not only that, if one is NOT an in demand musician (i.e. fulltime pro), one shouldn't act like one. If you're in that much demand, you'll pick up a gig. Why nitpick money on a low paying bar gig!
 
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#92
bopeuph said:
I only read the first page of this thread, but:

This is a major pet peeve for musicians. When we're booked on a gig, we're expecting that money. Four to five days' notice is not enough time to notify someone. He's not being a jerk, he's being extremely reasonable. This subject came up in a local pro musicians forum about a month ago, and everyone agreed that it was the right thing to do. If you didn't want to pay him for this, you should have kept him on the gig that you had him block his time off for.

And it's not even a question of how professional you perceive him to be. If you booked him on a professional job, you treat him as a professional. Given this bit of information, I wouldn't want to accept a gig from you.
Click to expand...
Was more than 4-5 days. He was cancelled out a month or 2 prior.
 
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#96
ArtechnikA said:
When did you inform him?
In October, when it all went down ?
If so, his request now is faintly ridiculous. He's had 2 months to 'unblock' the date. Do you suppose he really turned down a bunch of work in the few days between your initial request and withdrawing the offer.

If you just now got around to telling him, then he has a point...
Click to expand...

This sounds about right.
 
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#99
David Jayne said:
Bear in mind that four days had passed and the gig was two months out.
Now, I wasn't there but this conversation would typically go something like:

OP- "Bro, about that gig in December- we just found a guy who's willing to join the band full time. I know we have a deal but given the circumstances would you mind if we just let him do it?"
Drummer pal- "Yeah man I get it, it's cool. Let me know if anything changes."
OP- "Thanks for understanding, bro."

Unless the conversation differed significantly from this, in which case the OP isn't telling us everything, I'm failing to see why money is owed.
Click to expand...

This is how our conversation went in October...and he never mentioned any gigs he declined for us until yesterday..which I thought was a joke initially.
 
#100
ArtechnikA said:
When did you inform him?
In October, when it all went down ?
If so, his request now is faintly ridiculous. He's had 2 months to 'unblock' the date. Do you suppose he really turned down a bunch of work in the few days between your initial request and withdrawing the offer.
Click to expand...

christianbassguitar said:
This is how our conversation went in October...and he never mentioned any gigs he declined for us until yesterday..which I thought was a joke initially.
Click to expand...

Christmas shopping season sometimes spawns it's own strange logic...;)
 
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