Wow, I didn’t know about this. I wonder how squeezed venues are getting thanks to people ‘pre-loading’ with drinks and also usually arriving later just to avoid paying bar prices. Seems pretty crazy that the Roundhouse would have financial issues to consider in this area, though.
They’re fucking shit Theo.
I mean they’re demonstrably not.
They’re not even a band I fully ‘get’ but they’ve got a fair range of stuff. Don’t dismiss them.
I reckon they’re at an age where they’ve realised they need to put away some money for their retirement.
Nah, they are absolute shit.
The crazy thing is, I actually saw the latest Afghan Whigs album in a shop on Sunday afternoon and it was struck by it being significantly more expensive than at the gig!
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Whilst I don’t think any venue should charge bands for selling their own merch, The Roundhouse (and other similar venue setups where they’re also charities) may not be a hugely fair example - they take a cut because they provide staff to sell the merch.
O2 Academy-type venues doing this though, total cunts.
Ah right. I mean I’m bit unsure about this. If you are going to pay staff you don’t pay them based on how much merch is sold so it seems a weird way to offset that?
I don’t think it’s too weird? It’s similar to how a distributor takes a cut or commission. It’s been an occasional part of my job for years to organise this kind of thing though, so I’ve never really questioned it.
Some venues do charge for the costs of providing staff, and then take a smaller percentage cut from sales to balance it out. Usually though, I’ve found it’s just done with 10-25% taken from any sales.
It just seems an incredibly opportunistic system.
First if it’s mandatory to use the venue’s staff. I mean touring is normally going to come down to margins so it’s natural your band might want to use their own people. Moreover their own people probably have much better knowledge of what they’re selling.
Second, it should just be a question of fairly remunerating the people doing the job. If I did have to or wanted to use venue staff for this, I’d expect to pay an upfront fee for doing the job.
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Camden Koko are the worst cunts for the charging bands for selling their own merch.
Awful shithole.
I gave Louis Theroux a free t-shirt though.
It is totally opportunistic and unfair, I agree, but I can see why they do it to generate some extra cash. Welcome to the music industry! It’s just how the system works, I guess, and has done for years. Similar to how support bands still only get a token £50?
Just to clarify too…in my experience, the staff get paid their usual wage by the venue, even if that cost is not passed on to the band/promoter or included in the contra. So the venue takes some risk as well in those cases e.g. if you don’t sell any merch and they’ve put on extra staff.
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It’s more expensive at the show because they know you are fucked up and excited and your judgment is therefore likely to be crap. The band needs that extra money for their own drugs and alcohol, though. So, it’s like a big cycle.
Yeah I respect there’s a risk for the venue but I assume it must be minimal or they would FO it differently? Or maybe they make such huge amounts on certain acts it’s effectively altruism towards smaller ones?
Saw Los Camp! at Shepherd’s Bush a few years ago and the venue was taking 25% of merch sales so Gareth told everyone to just buy straight from their website.
punk as grint that lot
What I find weird about this is it sounds like there was a merchant stand even though he said that. Why not just not have one?
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Kallgeese walking into this back and forth like:
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NOW I’ve been done in this thread!
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