Take Nothing For Granted, Again With This
Monday, February 16, 2009 at 07:01PM Living the rock and roll dream? If so, there are some things you are going to have to remember. I was talking to a dear friend of mine about gigs, guarantees, etc and a story from a few years ago bubbled to the surface. Here is another anecdote about taking something for granted and about how very much it can cost you.
I was going to tour with a friend of mine and as he had an agent, he requested we let her handle the booking. It seemed like a reasonable request to me and so I acquiesced. I expected to hear from the agent in due time. We were going to be working clubs that I had worked before and so I thought that she would want to know what I normally get as a guarantee at the various venues.
However, I’m a traveling musician and I wear all the hats in my career and I never followed up when I didn’t hear from her. I suspect I just assumed that whatever she asked for my friend was commensurate with what I got as a guarantee. See that word assumed? It’s a killer and it keeps biting me on the buns.
So we show up at the gig and there is a smaller house than there usually is for me by myself. I am surprized and confused, as I thought the two of us together would be a killer bill and draw from both of our audiences.
I have said this before, but I am reiterating it here, you must enroll others in addition to yourself in order to ensure the success of the concert. One of the surest ways to enroll a venue or promoter is to agree upon a guarantee. If they are not guaranteeing you a certain amount to appear there, then they have absolutely nothing to lose if no one shows up. They were going to be open anyway, and they must be in order to supply the professional consistency that all bars, and clubs do in order to survive.
Think about it. How often would you go down to a bar, club or restaurant if you were not sure they were going to be open? These places have to have hours of operation and they have to be posted and they have to be adhered to in order for any establishmemt to garner and maintain that constituency. So they MUST be open.
If they have to guarantee you a certain amount of money then they are going to be concerned about the amount of people that come into the room and they are going to do all that they can think of to make certain that people do come into the room.
I’ll say it again. If they don’t have to give you a guarantee, they do not have to do anything. The most that they can lose is, if literally not one single person comes into their club, bar, restaurant on the day that you are there, is whatever it costs to keep the room open on that day.
Which reminds me, as an aside, never accept a date to play a room that is normally closed on that day. If they say they are willing to open it up for you even though they are normally closed, you are going to experience no walk up audience, only the people that you know will come to see you. Never play a venue on a night that they are normally closed, unless it is a private gathering and your income is guaranteed and a deposit made.
So to return to my tale of woe, the club we were working always gave me a respectable guarantee. I ASSUMED that with both of us playing that the guarantee would be higher. Unfortunately the agent didn’t contact me, nor did I contact the agent (my big mistake) and she got us a guarantee that was literally 70% less than the guarantee I normally got on my own.
And the beauty of that guarantee at that venue was that they worked hard to make certain that there were people in the room, aside from all that I did towards the same goal. We were ALL working towards getting people in there.
When my pal and I showed up, the guarantee was so low that the club really didn’t make it a priority to get folks into the room. Perhaps they thought that our names alone would guarantee a big crowd, though I think not. My take is they KNEW that at least as many people as they would need to meet the guarantee would show up and so they relaxed, and we had a smaller house than I have always had on my own.
But then, on my own, they had to come up with three times as much money. But wait, the downside gets worse. Since that time, I have not been able to get a guarantee any larger than the one my pal and I got together.
And since that time the audience that comes to see me perform in that room come because I emailed them or posted them or phoned them. See the impact of assuming instead of ascertaining continues to cost me.
Leave nothing to chance, take nothing for granted, and price yourself at what you know you are worth. If they don’t want to pay it, let them hire some amateur to empty the room. People know quality when they hear it. Be quality and don’t sell yourself short.
Reader Comments (3)
That is absolutley appalling!...It's a good lesson but it also speaks to the irresponsibility and unprofessionalism of your friend
where was that picture taken?
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