The whole 'that's the way it is' attitude is a form of passive tolerance. It's the very reason why shit like this has the opportunity to perpetuate. The fact that it happens on a wide scale definitely does not make it just.
I am not advocating passive tolerance, but active preparation/dealing/security. That's why you get paid half of the performance fee up-front, get the flight tickets up-front, get the rest of the performance-fee BEFORE you get on and if something is whack, you don't play.
I am not saying that it's right the way they were treated, I am just saying that that's the way it is and if you don't plan for it you will be fucked over and you really have only yourself to blame.
Most musicians think that club owners book them because they like their music which is ridiculous. Club owners book bands because they want to sell tickets and drinks. Most club owners don't care and don't even know the bands that play there. They rely on DJs as co-bookers etc. to decide who to book. So if your band pulls enough that they bring you from France to Sweden then you should be smart enough to secure that stuff and get paid up front.
Live example from the past week:
A booker from Bologna/Italy asks me to play at his party on the 19th of June. He knows my keyboardist who DJs there sometimes so he asks for a discount on the performance fee. So I give him a discount and he only pays 800 Euros performance fee + flight + trainticket for my keyboardist + hotel + catering + local merchandiser.
He asks me to think about it and gets back to me 5 days later saying "I can pay for the flights and hotels etc. but can I just pay 600 for the performance? I rented a new club which is really beautiful but very expensive!".
So I reply to him that the 800 Euro is already a discount down from 1200-1500 and that I am annoyed by him asking me for another discount, which kinda tells me that he doesn't value my performance and that I am tempted to let him pay the normal 1200, but being a man of my word, I stick with 800. If he can't budget that with his clubrent then we won't play.
Think about it. He rents a REALLY EXPENSIVE club and therefore needs to cut me down by a measly 200 Euros? This is just your regular booker bullshit which goes down every time you book a gig.
Minutes later my keyboardist calls saying the booker apologized profusely. Today I have the necessary flight booking in my email (paid by the promoter). Contract and up-front money will be in in the next weeks. If there is no money in my account by the 19th of June, I will not show up.
This promoter will make good money on ticket sales, even better money on drinks - no way am I gonna let him get away with not paying me. But you have to keep your head up and hold your ground!!
Another example:
A concert promoter in Germany booked us for a successful free gig in a popular club. It was free for the visitors because it was integrated into the regular disco/party. I agreed to a low fee of 500 + hotel + catering because I hadn't played in the west of Germany and it was a good showcase gig with a good sized crowd. The gig went really well and the promoter said "we'll have you in mind for a big festival in 2010".
A few weeks later the promoter offers me the same kind of deal for a 900+ people show. Again a party-show, this time in another big city in West Germany, one night before a huge festival. He wants to pay 500 + hotel + catering again. This time I have the following things to worry about:
a) if they pay 500 and I have to get a late booking flight from Italy to Germany in the summertime, a lot of the 500 will be swallowed up by the ticket and my gas money
b) at the previous gig, the merch sales were the lowest we ever had cause it was a young audience that spends money on other things than merch
c) if I agree to 500, they will think of me as a "500 Euro band" which they will always pay in that range. This is DEATH. And needs to be avoided at all costs. Especially if other promoters pay 1200-1500.
So I tell him a & b and that the normal fee is 1200 and that the 500 Euro fee on the first gig was a special cause he's a good guy and we hadn't played there before. But I cannot do that again.
We eventually meet somewhere in the middle and we all win: he gets a good band for cheaper. I get a great showcase gig, raised my status with this booker and will possibly sell merch this time. We all win.
Think of 900 people paying 5 Euros per ticket (4500 Euros) and drinking for 10 Euros each (9000 Euros). Of course he is gonna tell me that a few hundred Euros in performance fees will break the bank and he'll have to raise ticket prices etc. etc. ... it's ALL BULLSHIT and you gotta see through it.
It's the music BUSINESS not the music FAIRYTALE LAND ...
