Jaxx makes TMZ

[DuchessOfDork]

So what would happen if say, a band only sells 30 of those 50 they are required to sell to play at Jaxx?

Well, that happened to me once. I did a gig and only managed to sell 40 of the 50 tickets. When that happened, they told us to bring the tickets back, wrote them down, and sold them at the door.

After that gig, when I tried to get another gig, Jay would say, "Well, you didn't sell all 50 last time.." so I had to promise to try harder. He let me try again, and we sold all 50. He didn't bring it up, again.

Now, again, this is just MY experience with Jay. I'm not the only person who has worked with him, but I tend to work with him pretty often.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

Well, that happened to me once. I did a gig and only managed to sell 40 of the 50 tickets. When that happened, they told us to bring the tickets back, wrote them down, and sold them at the door.

After that gig, when I tried to get another gig, Jay would say, "Well, you didn't sell all 50 last time.." so I had to promise to try harder. He let me try again, and we sold all 50. He didn't bring it up, again.

Now, again, this is just MY experience with Jay. I'm not the only person who has worked with him, but I tend to work with him pretty often.

That's a dumb way of doing it anyways. Nathan (Swordlord) here does the same thing, but it's usually only 25 tickets. He sells the tickets to the bands at a discount and has the band sell them at whatever price they want, to give them a chance to recoup their money, and everyone walks away with a little money in their pocket and are happy. The band has money on the line so they try to promote the show the best they can and sell their tickets. Nathan has money from the band to make it worth it for them to be there opening, as opposed to someone else. I've never heard a single person, band or otherwise, complain about this policy here. If Jay would do this, I'm quite sure it would work beautifully for him. It's not just a straight pay-to-play, which is greedy as hell in my opinion, and it wouldn't matter to him if all of them got sold or not, because the band already paid for them in their entirety anyways. Just my thoughts.

 

[DuchessOfDork]

Well, the bands do keep a percentage of ticket sales. The difference is that you've got to do 50, period, for nationally touring bands.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

Well, the bands do keep a percentage of ticket sales. The difference is that you've got to do 50, period, for nationally touring bands.

Well, if they do get to keep a percentage, then that's different, I read your post as just proclaiming that Jay requires you to sell 50 on his behalf, and your only reward is being able to play.

 

[DuchessOfDork]

No no, my bad! That's not the case at all. Bands get a certain percent back, that's kind of how they're paid. I couldn't tell you what percentage, but when you sell all 50, you get a few hundred dollars back.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

No no, my bad! That's not the case at all. Bands get a certain percent back, that's kind of how they're paid. I couldn't tell you what percentage, but when you sell all 50, you get a few hundred dollars back.

That seems like a pretty good deal then. I hate, HATE promoters who require pay-to-play, but ones who allow bands to make money back from selling tickets, be it on their own behalf, or the promoter/club, that's something I respect.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

^^ 100%

Couldn't agree more.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

This.

In places like New York, you literally have to pay in order to play gigs.

Yeah, if the promoter is a scumbag. But there are great promoters such as 1000Knives in NYC that do not take advantage of bands and pull pay to play crap.

 

[DuchessOfDork]

Yeah, if the promoter is a scumbag. But there are great promoters such as 1000Knives in NYC that do not take advantage of bands and pull pay to play crap.

That's good to know! I'm only repeating what I heard from another band, in New York. They had to pay to play on particular shows, and that's kinda crazy.

 

[Photino Decay]

That's good to know! I'm only repeating what I heard from another band, in New York. They had to pay to play on particular shows, and that's kinda crazy.

I've never heard of a true pay-to-play situation in NYC, only in LA. They do the same deal with requiring a certain number of ticket sales. You buy the tickets at face value and sell them for whatever you want. BB King's could be different, but that's a shithole. Nokia may be different, but that's a pretty large venue and they don't think they would do pay-to-play for the touring acts, only local openers. Typical smaller venues do $10 tickets with the first 10 going to the venue/promoter and $1 of each further cover charge going to the venue/promoter. Significantly worse than that, you're probably working with multiple middlemen or one specific one whose initials are LS...

 

[OdinsCourt]

Since there are some posts directly or indirectly saying Jay Nedrey is “such and such,” I will say that I have had only GOOD dealings with Jay. We have played dozens of shows there – both as a “local headliner” for nationals and as a “headliner” ourselves. He has always been good to Odin's Court, and if it were not for folks like him, there would be no "good" places left for metal bands to play.

As for the specific Nelson vs. Jaxx case, I'll let the courts / judges decide. I wish only the best for Jay and Jaxx.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

I met Jay one time, back on the TDF tour in '07, and I know for a fact he lost money that night, but he was completely on the up and up with us and wanted nothing more than for the band to have a good experience. He has my respect.

 

[AngraRULES]

I've never heard of a true pay-to-play situation in NYC, only in LA.

While it's more apparent in LA, it *does* happen in NY as well. It's just not all the time as Dutchess seemed to have implied in her first post (and promptly corrected herself afterwards).

BB King's could be different, but that's a shithole.

Wow, you haven't been to too many venues in NY if you think BB King's is a shithole...

Typical smaller venues do $10 tickets with the first 10 going to the venue/promoter and $1 of each further cover charge going to the venue/promoter.

Again, each case is different.

Significantly worse than that, you're probably working with multiple middlemen or one specific one whose initials are LS...

Hahahaha believe me, it can be worse..