What to do if you think you're being ripped off by a venue.

So you've just played a show and when you go to settle up with the manager, he gives you a whole lot less money than you were expecting.

What do you do? Can you do anything?

First, you need to be calm. Getting angry and making threats isn't gonna help and is likely to make things considerably worse.

The answer is likely to be different depending on the situation. So lets start there:

* What is the situation? Ask yourself/your band mates these questions:
o What was the agreement before hand?
o Is there a written contract?
o Did you book the gig? (and therefore agree to the terms) or was it someone else in the band, or your manager, or booking guy? Are they available to fill you in on what the agreement was? Make sure you have your facts straight. Just because you usually get $300 for a gig, doesn't mean the same applies here.
o How did the show go? Did anyone show up? Did they show up for you? How do you know?
o Are there exceptional circumstances? Did it snow six feet the day of the show? Was there a line down the street of people waiting to get in to see your band? Did you start and stop on time?
o Were you an opening act? or a headliner or did you play the whole night by yourself?
o Is this a crappy little dive in the middle of nowhere or a huge big city venue that you are thrilled to be playing at?
o Do you want to play there again?
o Who are you dealing with? Is it a venue manager or booking guy, or is it an independent promoter? Have you worked with them before and do you want to work with them again?
o What is your state? Are you drunk? or high? angry? emotional? or calm? Should you let someone else deal with this, or leave it until tomorrow?
* Communicate: Armed with all the info. available don't be afraid to approach the manager (or whoever) and politely, calmly ask them to explain why you are getting what you got. Most of these people deal with this situation routinely and will be happy to chat with you about it. The answer may be as simple and frustrating as "This is what the boss told me to give you" or could be very involved requiring complicated enough math that you will need a calculator, but either way, they will explain it. Just leave your attitude at home. It's a given in this business that you are probably not gonna get what you feel your show was worth. You don't need to explain that. Just stick to the facts. What was the agreement made at the time of booking? How many people came to the show? Were you supposed to be paid a flat amount? or a split from the door?
* Consider the facts: Is there a disagreement on how the band was supposed to be paid? If so, try to talk directly to the people who made the agreement. If you've got anything in writing, look it over and make sure you understand it.
* Consider the long term consequences: If you say "fuck you guys! We'll never play here again!" will you regret that a couple months down the road? What is your relationship with the venue/promoter? If you hit the guy, will he have you arrested? Is it even worth arguing at all?

In our experiences, on both sides of the coin, we've noticed that it's usually a mis-understanding or mis-communication. Commonly the person collecting is not the same person who did the booking, so they may not be aware of exactly what the agreement was. The band booker may have asked for $300 and the venue replied, "Well, if you bring 100 people in the door, we will guarantee you $300." That's different than a flat $300. Many venues will take money out to pay for sound and security before they pay the bands, you should be aware of that before you collect. Many venues will not guarantee a local or new act anything and pay them based on how many people or how much money came in at the door. Many places require a band to play for free the first time, as an audition. Many venues ask the band to distribute or sell tickets and then pay the band based on how many of them came in. In that case, people who came in and paid full price without a ticket may not figure into pay at all.

Many bands will get off stage thinking they had a huge crowd and the show went great and then get upset when they are told that most of those people came in to see one of the other bands on the lineup. Try not to get emotional. This is a simple business transaction to the venue. You are supplying entertainment, they are paying you for it. Read our article on how to Make the Most out of Low Paying Gigs. Sometimes getting little or no pay from the venue can be inconsequential compared to winning over new fans, selling CDs and other merchandise or impressing the venue to the point they want to book you back, at a better rate.

When should you sue? Almost never. Firstly, that decision is best made days later and should depend on the documented facts. If you have a written contract and they failed to fulfill their end of the bargain, you may have a case. But be warned, they will never book you again and they will tell their booking buddies at other venues what happened. If you sue one venue you might find it hard to get booked anywhere in that town. If the promoter books multiple venues (think AEG or Live Nation) you better have a really strong case and be content to never play any of their venues again. Even if you sue and lose, they aren't gonna go near you ever again.

The best advice is to make sure you understand what the agreement is before you even agree to play the show.

Stories:

A local band with a big following played a St. Patricks Day gig at an Irish pub. Between sets the manager of the venue caught the band getting high in the alley out back. He not only threw them out before they could finish the show, he called the police and then refused to pay them. The band had a contract, but having broken the venue's rules and the local laws gave them no recourse. Many written contracts have a clause allowing the venue to not pay the band if the cops are called or there are other serious problems. The band figured they would never be asked to play that venue again, anyway, so, apart from legal fees and hassle, there was no reason to not sue in small claims court, except for the fact they might have to explain to a judge how smoking marijuana was OK for a reggae band.

Another local act hired a gung-ho new "Manager." He booked the band to play a big New Year's Eve show. At the end of the night, he was unhappy with the pay and pulled out a contract. The contract was so vague and confusing, it should never have been signed in the first place, and made it almost impossible to determine what the real pay should be. Clearly, his idea of what it should be was considerably different than the venue owner's. During the following negotiations this manager got very upset and threatened to stab the venue's booking manager. Thankfully, he didn't. But later, when the band found out that was the reason they weren't getting booked into their favorite venue anymore, that manager got fired.

An act from another state, just trying to break into a new city played an opening set at a new (for them) venue. Being new to the region and not having a local fan base and only a couple people showed up to see them. The venue offered to pay them at the same rate they pay everyone else, $2/head. Obviously, any band that drives a hundred miles to pay a gig is gonna be disappointed with getting only $6. They sent the biggest guy in the band over to take a more aggressive approach to being paid. The problem was that he wasn't the one who booked the gig and agreed to the terms of payment in the first place. After much back and forth and confirmation on the part of the venue that this band did not have any sort of guarantee, the venue gave the band a few extra bucks to help them pay for gas. They never got booked there again.

A national touring act from another country was booked to play on a Saturday night. They were driving cross-country and had mechanical problems in Utah. The venue had pre-sold a number of tickets and was charging full price at the door expecting the band to arrive at any minute. They were scheduled to perform at 11:00 pm after an opening DJ act. The whole show was a nightmare! The DJ opening act had one of his turntables break down the night before and while driving around town to get another one for this show, he was pulled over for speeding and arrested on an outstanding warrant. A hastily arranged impromptu act finally arrived and stared playing around 10:30pm. By then, fans were leaving, demanding their money back and asking if the headliner was going to show. Finally, we started getting cell phone reports from the act they were on the freeway heading into town. They finally arrived around 12:30 pm and set up and played. In that city, the bars have to close at 2:00 am. We picked up the drinks and let them play until 2:45. At the end of the night, after prolonged negotiations the band did not get paid (beyond the deposit they had already received) based on the fact that so many customers had left and demanded refunds on the way out. This was one of those bad luck kind of shows where things went wrong but it was really nobody's fault. Everyone lost money, even the bar staff who had hoped to make good money were disappointed. Sometimes its best to just let things go and chalk it up as one of those nights.

Many new band members are excited to finally get to play in a venue with a green room.
Unfortunately, their bad behavior commonly leads to misunderstandings, abuse of property and worse: Inappropriate use of the green room can leave a bad impression with venue owners, booking agents, other bands, managers and employees.
While specific green room policies vary with the venue there are some simple rules that you should follow that will keep these important relationships in good standing, no matter where you play.

* What the green room is for: The green room is simply a place away from the hubub of the main room where you can change your clothes in privacy, tune your guitars without interruption and prepare to perform with your bandmates. It's usually a safe place to leave your purse or other valuables that you don't want to take on stage.

* What the Green room is NOT for: It's not a place to hang out after the show for smoking pot, snorting coke or anything else illegal. It's not for sex. It's not for parties. It's not for drug deals and it's not OK to trash the place because you're big rock stars now.

* Who can come in? While it's usually Ok, to bring in your spouse or significant other, it's never cool to invite all their friends or the 6 hot girls you just met at the bar. The more people in the green room, the less privacy and security there is. Bringing in people you don't know well, like a buddy's pal from out of town, just increases the likelihood that something valuable will go missing. If your bandmates, or members of another band need some privacy to go over the set list or work out the kinks in a new song, your drunken girlfriend is not gonna be much help.
* When to use it: Before your set. 30-60 minutes before is plenty of time, you don;t need to be there 3 hours before you go on getting drunk or high or whatever. So that stuff some place other than the venue where you are about to perform. After your set, you may go back to the green room, catch your breath, collect your belongings, throw away your trash and leave. Do not expect to hang out with your buddies in the green room for the rest of the night.
* Courtesy to the venue: If you bring it in, please bring it back out or at least throw it away. The venue's staff hates cleaning the green room, because there's always tons of trash, from broken guitar strings to empty beer bottles to unused flyers, cigarette butts and various unmentionables. If you made the mess, please clean it up. If you bring glasses into the green room from the bar, please bring them back to the bar. Nobody's gonna wash them in the green room. If you are in the headlining band please be aware that certain venue staff members don't get to go home until you are gone, so they can clean up after you and lock the place up for the night. Trust me, they've been there since well before you arrived, they worked a full shift and they would like to go home... Now.
* Courtesy to the other bands: Many green rooms are shared. If you are an opening act and you've taken up the whole room with your entourage to the point that the headliner has no place to relax and prepare, you are being rude to them and they will remember that next time they need an opening act. If you are an opener get out of there as quick as possible after your set.
* Follow the rules: Ask them if it's Ok to brings guests in, bring your own liquor in, or bring your under age nephew in. Especially while on the road, you may not know the local laws or rules of the venue. Ask first. If you accidentally break one, apologize and stop doing whatever it was. Chances are, if you are polite and respectful, they (security guys/managers/cops) will gladly let it go and forget all about it by your next gig.

* Can't repeat this enough: The green room is not your personal lounge or party room! The party is supposed to be in the main room of the venue while you are on stage. Your fans can wait there for you or they can go home. If you must have a party after your show, please arrange to have it some place else. The Green Room is not Las Vegas, what happens there is remembered by the venue, even if you are too drunk to remember anything.

Here's a few real life examples of bad things that this author has observed working in a mid-sized venue:

* The reggae band that gave out tickets to their friends that would get them in the door for free and into the private party in the green room without even bothering to tell anyone who worked at the venue. We made these people pay to get in and banned them from the green room.
* The rock band that brought a marijuana vaporizer into the green room. Too bad they didn't make as much effort to bring their fans in for the show.
* The national "Idol" act that allowed 40 or so "friends" and relatives" into the green room. There was no privacy whatsoever and it was difficult for the performers to even get in and out of the place.
* The band we nicknamed "Powdered Courage" after we caught them snorting coke in the green room, politely gave them 5 minutes to get rid of it and get out of there, and then had to go back 10 minutes later to throw them out. They were never invited back.
* The band that thought it was a good idea to write their name on the lampshade in the green room.
* The bands that hid their pipes, stash, trash and broken cymbals above the ceiling tiles in the green room. Guess who found all that stuff when cleaning up after a water pipe burst and some of those tiles had to be replaced?

By David Barber
Commotion Music Promotion, Inc.

Every band has to take low paying gigs from time to time. It may be a new venue/market where you don't have a following yet, or it's benefit for a worthy cause that you are pleased to volunteer for, or just one of those nights where very few people show up and the venue doesn't want to pay you. Whatever the situation, you need to make the best of it. Here are a few commonly overlooked things you can do to make that crappy gig a little bit more tolerable.

Sell Your Merchandise. Always bring your merch with you to each and every gig, no matter how small or inconsequential the gig may seem. If you don't have any merchandise (CDs, T-shirts, Hats, etc.) You are missing out on an important revenue stream. It does take some cash and time (esp. for a good CD) to get merchandise for resale, but it will almost always pay off. Start with a logo. Hire a graphic artist (or ask your family, friends, or even fans if any of them would be interested in helping out the band. You probably know someone already who has the artistic talents you need) and make sure it's done well. Plaster that logo everywhere, on T-shirts, CD inserts, hats, even underwear. Price it at around double what it cost to have them made and you are in business. There are many companies in your area that will gladly help you put your logo on almost anything. Do an Internet search for "promotional items" and you'll see what we mean. We like to deal with Comich, Inc. for the nontraditional items (like calendars, pens, and golf tees) and Red Eagle Design for cool embroidered hats and shirts. But you can always ask other bands in your area where they are getting good deals on their merch. (Prices vary widely, so shop around).
Denver singer/songwriter Wendy Woo once played a gig at a coffee shop, where there was no cover charge and no pay from the venue. She sold hundreds of dollars worth of merch and turned the gig into a lucrative success.
Benefits and similar all ages events are terrific for selling merch. Kids who aren't allowed to buy beer will instead spend their money on CDs and T-shirts. We've seen local bands sell out all their merch at nonpaying, all ages theater gigs where they were opening for a national act.

Don't forget to mention from the stage where in the room CDs are available. It's not always obvious.

It's as easy a clipboard, paper and pencil. You should always try to build your mailing list at every gig. How often do venue booking managers ask "How many people can you bring in?" If you can reply with "our email list has 7,000 names on it," they may be more interested in booking your act. A mailing list is invaluable to keeping in touch with your fans.

The best way to get people to sign up is to have a band member walk around the room after each gig or during set breaks and personally invite people to sign up. If that becomes too much hassle for the band, recruit a friend, family member or fan to walk around during the set and ask people to sign up. (If they walk around selling CDs as well, you're gonna sell more of them.)

Email lists can be a hassle to maintain manually and can land you on spammer lists if you aren't careful. There are many solutions that you can find yourself with a short search on the Internet.Commotion Music Promotion, Inc. offers bargain priced email list management for bands or any other business.

A great big logo on the bass drum head is a good start. A 6 foot wide banner hung as a backdrop is even better. Nothing frustrates us more than when a friend or colleague tells us about this cool new band they saw recently, but whose name they can't remember. By the end of your set, everyone in the room should know your act's name. Don't be shy. Repeat it at the start and end of every set. Mention that you have merch available, and ask the audience to please sign up on the mailing list. And above all else: play your heart out!

You never know who will be in the room. Even if it's a sparse crowd and there doesn't seem to be much energy there, play like it's a sold out stadium show each and every time. If you're not into it, then learn to fake it. Believe me, there are acts on the road right now who make their living by pretending to have a fantastic time on stage, even when they are deathly ill (Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers died while performing on stage after a long and painful bout with cancer.).

Love.45 used to play hotel gigs in Denver, before they were signed, in order to help them pay for studio time and the cost of mailing out hundreds of promo packs. One night we attended one of these gigs where the crowd was pretty lame. But there was this one guy, in town to visit relatives, who was blown away. So what? It turned out that he worked for a major label and said he would go back home and tell his boss and anyone else who would listen that the band should be signed. You never know who is out there.

The now defunct band Sucker was based in Vail, CO. At one gig they impressed a software exec. who was in town for a snowboarding vacation. The result was enough money to record and video one song that ended up being used in a popular Nintendo game. They even included the video as a bonus in the game.

OK, so it's one of your bread and butter gigs where you usually draw a full house, but this night it's half empty because of bad weather, a big playoff game, or something else you can't control. Do NOT let this affect the way you play. Play it just like the house was full. Fake it if you have to, but smile and act like you're having the time of your life. Do NOT get drunk, play sloppy, take long breaks and quit early because you're in a bad mood. Do NOT get mad at the door guy, the booking manager, the opening act, or any of the staff because you didn't get paid as much as usual. Force yourself to smile and say "Thanks." Remember, the venue staff only made half of what they were hoping for, too. It's not always easy, but it's very important. There are bands we won't mention who have worn out their welcome in an entire region due to years of repeated unprofessional behavior. It doesn't matter if you are the best guitar player since Jimi Hendrix. If you act like an asshole or a prima-donald all the time, word will spread and you'll be lucky to get coffeeshop gigs.

Most of this stuff is just common sense, but it will help to take your act to the next level if you can deal with the lousy gigs as well as the great ones.

By David Barber
Commotion Music Promotion, Inc.

We've seen countless local bands release hundreds of CDs. Sometimes everything goes as planned and the event is a success. Often times the release gets rescheduled. Most of the time there's little or no press coverage. Most of the time the whole process is done on the fly with little or no planning. By the time the CD release happens the band has been through months of studio work, mixing, mastering, etc. and they just want it to be done. While we don't blame them for this, we would like to help them to avoid the most common mistakes we see over and over again that local bands make when releasing a new CD.

Don't set a CD Release date until after the manufacturing is completed and you have the finished product in your hands. Then, set the release date two months out, so you have adequate time to promote it. We laugh every time we see a CD release date published in the weekly rag and then find out the band is just finishing up with the mixing. Don't be stupid! Even if you have been through the process a dozen times, you don't know for sure how long it's going to take to get it mastered, get the artwork together and get the CDs manufactured. There are countless things that can go wrong or cause delays. If you must publicize something say "New CD coming out in a few months" or "...in the Spring." The mastering could take a long time. Nina Storey sent one of her CDs back to California for mastering four times before it came out right. (That one "Shades" came out really really good, by the way).

Many bands have had problems with the artwork. Matthew Moon spent two years putting together material for an album, but the first batch back from the manufacturer had several of the insert panels arranged in the wrong sequence. He discovered it the day they came back from the manufacturer, the day before his big release party. Too late to get it fixed in time.

These kinds of issues sometimes happen in any manufacturing process, but they are much more likely to happen when that process is rushed.

Years before they were signed, Love.45 scheduled a CD release party but the CDs were still at the manufacturer. They managed to get a couple hundred of the discs rush shipped in time for the show, but there were no jewel cases or inserts ready. They made do by signing each one and selling them as collector's items.

By making sure everything is finished completely, you can avoid anyone having to know about these kinds of problems. Get them all taken care of then schedule the CD release party. If you have gigs before that, then you can sell them as "Special Pre-Release" copies.

Having your CD ready ahead of time allows you to:

Mail out your CD to the press in time for them to actually listen to it and have something in print BEFORE your CD release party. Remember, as far as the press is concerned, you are competing with signed major label acts who are also releasing new CDs. They don't wait until after the CD is released to send out copies, they do it 4-8 weeks ahead of time. Your local music editor only has so much space and he can't cover everything, so he prioritizes. If your CD release date has passed by the time he sees it, he'll probably just throw it in the stack with the rest of the local CDs he may or may not ever listen to.

Get your CD into the local record stores in time for the official release.. Why promote it if you don't have product to sell? Some fans may not be able to get to the release party, but they might be able to get to the record store.

Send it to radio stations and pray for airplay. If you get some, you're whole release will be that much more successful. Here again the major labels drop a single to radio before the CD hits the streets. Why should you do it any differently?

Have posters, flyers, T-shirts, etc. printed up with the same artwork as on the CD.

Plan a big party without having to worry that the guest of honor might not show up.

Get samples up on your website and be ready to sell CDs online on the official release date.

Additionally, you can avoid pissing off the booking manager at the venue where you want to have your release by not canceling it at the last minute. You can go ahead and schedule a date early, in hopes that you might be ready to do the CD release, but if, as the date approaches, the release gets delayed, then you can just treat it as a regular gig and schedule another one for later down the road.

Don't underestimate the effort, time and money it will take to get the thing manufactured. Once it's mastered you've got to have artwork, a barcode, inserts designed and know where you want to have it duplicated. There are tons of competitive companies out there. Shop around. Many manufacturers will give you a barcode for free, and you need a barcode so that record stores can easily ring up the sale, but educate yourself. Those barcodes will show up as if you are on that manufacturer's label. It might be worth investing in your own block of barcodes. After the party, don't forget to fill out the soundscan form and fax it in, so your sales will be documented. The major labels watch that stuff.

Write and distribute a press release, consider hiring a professional. Press releases are not rocket science, they are actually fairly easy and there are lots of resources on the Internet to help you out, but a professional will have relationships with the music editors and writers. He/she will be in regular contact with them and is more likely to have success getting some press for your release party and CD. There are lots of companies out there. Find one that fits you.

Update your website to reflect the new CD artwork. Use the same colors, fonts, and artwork on your website that you use on the CD. This provides a uniform new look and helps support your CD sales.

Promote. Many bands feel like the work is all done once the CD is released only to discover that they now have 897 more copies in the garage that haven't sold yet. While the CD Release party signals the end of the long production process, it also signals the start of your new promotion campaign. You'll need to devote some time and money to making sure those CDs sell. Don't stop now, or they'll sit in your basement forever.