Will any PP people be attending the Rites of Darkness fest?

[AeonicSlumber]

No, bands are canceling because of a complete and total lack of communication. They have not heard from the fest promoter for months now. This is much worse IMO but has nothing to do with the Paypal freeze. All this info is easy to find on the NWN board thread about the fest.

Yeah they never heard from the promoter, that's another thing. But many bands haven't gotten their flights paid for yet because there is no money now to cover the costs of this fest because of the paypal freeze. Some of the "bigger" bands had their stuff paid for because the promoter fucked up but figured he should at least get it together and make sure the big bands are taken care of so the thing doesn't fall apart entirely. If the flock of bands that canceled had gotten their stuff paid for, there'd be no reason for "communication" now would there?

They got their money back from Paypal just fine, but in the time it took, flights went up by an unreasonable amount like they always do...

Even if this is right, and they did get their money back recently, you're only proving my point. The freeze is directly responsible for everything that's going wrong with the fest now. I'm not saying I want this to happen to it, because it sucks to see a fest go down the tubes, but things are not looking good here. The promoter is most definitely going to lose money, and his reputation over this.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

Zemial and Tribulation just canceled btw.

 

[nailz]

I cant beleive people are judging a band by its logo. Sure it gets silly how you canr read half of them but do write them off.....

Maybe you should call the cops and have them pepper-sprayed.

 

[dcowboys311]

"xxx have canceled because the promoter has informed us of an unfortunate money situation" is much different than "xxx have canceled because we have not heard a single word from the promoter in months despite numerous emails. We do not know if he is alive."....

Both are shitty.

I don't really know of why any promoter would just think "oh, I don't need to tell this band what is going on at all even though I paid for them." Communication is ALWAYS key.

There are lots of stories of last year's event where bands didn't receive flights/hotels until 3 or 4 days before the fest. There was no Paypal freeze last year. This is nothing new, unfortunately. A freeze is not responsible for making someone just decide to cut off all communication with someone he is working with.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

"xxx have canceled because the promoter has informed us of an unfortunate money situation" is much different than "xxx have canceled because we have not heard a single word from the promoter in months despite numerous emails. We do not know if he is alive."....

Both are shitty.

When did I say that they weren't different from eachother? I said that communication wouldn't have been an issue in the first place if bands got their stuff paid for.

I don't really know of why any promoter would just think "oh, I don't need to tell this band what is going on at all even though I paid for them." Communication is ALWAYS key.

When did I say communication wasn't key? I just said that the entire reason why communication has become an issue is because the fest is next week and they have no booked flights etc.

There are lots of stories of last year's event where bands didn't receive flights/hotels until 3 or 4 days before the fest.

No offense, but the fact you think that is defensible is absurd. That is disgusting to expect a band from Europe to wait until 3 days before for their flights to be booked. What if the band has a tour booked around the fest? What if all the flights turn out to be too expensive for the promoter 3 days before? Sorry, but as much as I respect DIY ethics - there has to be professionalism at some point when you are dealing with this much money..

A freeze is not responsible for making someone just decide to cut off all communication with someone he is working with.

It's a common occurrence for smaller USA festivals to sell tickets through Paypal. However, only an idiot would keep over 50 grand in the cloud like that without depositing it in a bank. Of course Paypal is going to get suspicious. But what if Paypal shut down tomorrow? What if they promoter lost his internet and would need to take months to get it back and running? etc The fact he made such an insufferably amateur fuckup is telling enough as to how poorly this thing is run. However, the freeze contributed to long-term problems in which many bands are going to be affected by. The fact that the dude is so unprofessional he can't even address these problems with those bands is icing on the cake. I wouldn't support this thing if you paid me.

 

[ratanda]

As much as I listen to this stuff, I don't know most of these bands... I must be out of touch.

That's how I felt, then I looked up all the Sunday bands and found some really good new bands to check out! Cruciamentum and vasaeleth are two that I liked. Some great death metal.

 

[dcowboys311]

I don't really see how anyone in their right mind could possibly see my comments as 'defending' his actions. However, you should be aware of what you are signing up for when you agree to something. This was all public knowledge immediately after RoD II happened...

I also think that it's really shitty to completely disregard the effort of 150+ people who have made a sacrifice to come play all because one person doesn't know what he is doing.

There's no point in dissecting sentences and discussing semantics. I give up...I'm a troll.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

I wouldn't call you a troll, but a fanboy of this fest, yeah,


jk

 

[Harvester]

It's a common occurrence for smaller USA festivals to sell tickets through Paypal. However, only an idiot would keep over 50 grand in the cloud like that without depositing it in a bank. Of course Paypal is going to get suspicious. But what if Paypal shut down tomorrow?

I cringe when I see promoters selling tickets via paypal. For those unaware, the reason is that payment via paypal is viewed as a "credit" payment regardless of whether the money came from a previous merch sale, gift, or whatever. There is no way to verify it. All money from a credit card sale towards an event that has not happened yet (i.e. Ticketmaster) is held until after the event is over. This prevents credit card fraud.

Plus, paypal is getting in bed with the IRS more than ever now with the new tax laws. They notify Uncle Sam once you hit a certain transaction number. The promoters are playing Russian roulette with 54K in there even if the account wasn't frozen.

 

[Palabra de Dios]

I bought tickets to this fest (still haven't gotten them in the mail !!! ) and will still attend even though some of my favorite acts have dropped (Zemial and Tribulation add to Strid, Root, and Mortuary Drape). There is still some amazing fucking doom metal (Pagan Altar, Mournful Congregation, Evoken, Oak), some amazing fucking black metal (Inquisition, Antaeus, Valkyrja, Wodensthrone), and some solid fucking death metal (Ares Kingdom, Funebrarum, Nunslaughter, Divine Eve, Anatomia) to go around (plus others)....but goddamn, talk about a festival meltdown. New shit keeps popping up left and right.


Also, it really sucks about Zemial. I know they were an expensive band to get, but from everything I read Archon Vorskaath was very excited to come to the USA and play this show. I know their set would have been amazing and mindblowing.