Is this right, or delusional?

[Corsair]

You two.


Just get it over with and have sex.

 

[TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER]

With

playing in the background.

You two.


Just get it over with and have sex.

 

[TribunalRecords]

i like Cradle Of Filth, so what of it? Sure, downhill over the years but in their heyday they were leading the way for black metal on so many different levels. lyrically, visually, etc.

 

[Corsair]

With

playing in the background.

I get the joke, but I fail to see how anyone could maintain an erection with that playing in the background.

 

[Angrafan]

Add a couple of months if you are in Brazil.

This might improve in the near future. There are talks about the US lifting the Visa requirements for Brazilian tourists... Without a Bazillion people applying for tourist visas, I am sure the wait will be much shorter

I am hoping the reports are true... Obama is visiting Brazil soon and apparently this is one of the topics on the agenda.

 

[Soundscape]

1:50-6:00

 

[Pellaz]

i like Cradle Of Filth, so what of it? Sure, downhill over the years but in their heyday they were leading the way for black metal on so many different levels. lyrically, visually, etc.

Agreed.


I'm wondering if Dani was confusing IRS with the Immigration folks (who handle visas and fees and such), which wouldn't be too surprising since Brits have the same love for their Inland Revenue as Americans do for the IRS , or if there's some other tax component at play here.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

I get the joke, but I fail to see how anyone could maintain an erection with that playing in the background.

Yeah it'd be tough. Even with Jasonic's dashing good looks.

 

[Stingray11214]

Marillion really makes it very clear. You wonder how many bands actually make money coming over here.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

Quite a lot or otherwise they wouldn't be doing it. It's not a charity.

 

[General Zod]

Quite a lot or otherwise they wouldn't be doing it. It's not a charity.

True. But I suspect a fair amount are either taking reasonable losses, breaking even, or barely making a few dollars, in the hopes of growing their audience. I think bands like In Flames demonstrated that an audience can be built here, if you're willing to put the hard work in.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

True. But I suspect a fair amount are either taking reasonable losses, breaking even, or barely making a few dollars, in the hopes of growing their audience. I think bands like In Flames demonstrated that an audience can be built here, if you're willing to put the hard work in.

Nowadays, opening a tour grosses your band about 150-200 bucks a night + merch (which is like another 20-50 bucks a night give or take if you're a newbie band) in the states (in Europe you'd be lucky to get 75 a night opening a major tour. The band almost always has to pay about 450 a night to play [this amount goes to a multitude of things: the headliner's fee per night, sometimes your band's transportation if they are sharing a bus, the booking agent, etc]), so the hope for young and hungry european bands is to downscale losses or break even to sell records and make some new fans. However, if the money wasn't there, they wouldn't be doing it. As you said, bands like In Flames, Bodom, Amon Amarth, Bring Me The Horizon, etc etc etc make really damn good money playing here (maybe not as much as in Europe, but still quite a bit).

A band the size of Decapitated, Behemoth, or Hammerfall would probably not come out too badly either. I'd guess they gross about 5-10 grand a night in the states + about 200 a night in merch.

 

[Akumu]

Alan from Primordial talked about the financial issues of touring the States a while back here:

The Obelisk: Are there any plans to come back to the U.S. to tour?

Alan Averill: Since we toured the U.S. the last time, we've been offered three or four tours, but it comes back to the recession and the whole thing in Ireland. It's made the liberties we can perhaps take with work a couple years ago almost negligible now. They're just not there. It's almost impossible to find the same space in time to do. It's made it very difficult. And don't forget, touring [there] is like a hiding to nothing, because the dollar is so weak against the euro. When people go home and they have kids… Like on that last tour, MOONSORROW were playing for nothing. They were playing for $400 a night. You play to 1,200 people in Montreal, and someone hands you $400, which is the price of, what, 32 tickets? But there you go. I don't think people realize that when they see the band that it's such a relative sacrifice that you make, especially when venues are taking 30 percent of your t-shirt sales and stuff... Every venue takes between 20 and 30 percent of your merch and there's nothing you can do. They have someone to stand there with a clicker, clicking the t-shirts they sell. Nothing you can do about it, it's just become part of what touring America is. If you add import tax, printing costs, 20-30 percent gone and how strong the Euro is against the dollar, if we don't sell a t-shirt for more than $15, we are basically giving them away. Seeing as we had one for $12 on that tour, we might as well just give them away to people outside.

 

[General Zod]

A band the size of Decapitated, Behemoth, or Hammerfall would probably not come out too badly either. I'd guess they gross about 5-10 grand a night in the states + about 200 a night in merch.

That's interesting.

Alan from Primordial talked about the financial issues of touring the States a while back here:

Thanks for posting it. It was Alan's comments I was thinking about when I wrote my initial response.

 

[jem777az]

A band the size of Decapitated, Behemoth, or Hammerfall would probably not come out too badly either. I'd guess they gross about 5-10 grand a night in the states + about 200 a night in merch.

I'm no promoter, but I'm pretty confident that there's no way in hell either of those 3 bands are making 5-10K per show plus merchandise.

 

[AngraRULES]

I'm no promoter, but I'm pretty confident that there's no way in hell either of those 3 bands are making 5-10K per show plus merchandise.

Ehhh... he's actually pretty accurate as far as I know. Maybe on the lower end, but still within the range.

 

[jem777az]

Ehhh... he's actually pretty accurate as far as I know. Maybe on the lower end, but still within the range.

Possibly in the larger markets yes, but in the rest of the States there's no way. I'm basing this of the type of venues these bands play. It just wouldn't be possible even if they played to completely sold out crowds. Hammerfall played at a venue that holds about 400 people last time through in Phoenix. Decapitated would play to a similar size crowd here. The only band who played in a larger venue is Behemoth and they have trouble filling the 1000 seat venue. While I don't doubt that it's possible these bands can make close to 5k a show in a larger market (ie - NYC or LA, etc), it just isn't financially feasible for a promoter to guarantee 5k to these bands in most U.S. markets. If I'm wrong then I'd like to see the data that proves me wrong.

 

[dcowboys311]

Sorry but Behemoth is huge.
Decapitated I'm iffy on, especially because they've only done one headlining tour here (I think) since the tragedy a few years back, but they were headlining over some pretty big bands so even if the crowds didn't STAY, they still got a decent chunk of change.

 

[Jasonic]

Yeah it'd be tough. Even with Jasonic's dashing good looks.

Smartest thing you ever said around here!

 

[Jasonic]

One more thing on what a band makes each night......

Maybe things have changed since I last promoted shows, as it has been almost 15 years since I have done that. Some bands will ONLY play for a flat guarantee. Others will play for a strict percentage. Others will also do a mixture of guarantee (obviously a modest one) + percentage of ticket sales.

I had heard that House of Blues only deals in paying a flat guarantee to a band / touring package. I would assume they figure they make enough coin on food and the bar, where almost any show is a break-even at minimum. Furthermore, having the backing of Disney (assuming they are still under their control) never hurts!

Now, you get into the "Net" of what a band "Grosses" in pay, and it's a much smaller number, once your booking agent and crew get paid.

Therefore, I think everyone understands why merch sales are so important for a band. It's why most bands treat their merch table as a monopoly and charges the maximum possible price the market will bear these days (Also, keep in mind many clubs take a percentage of merch sales).

Once again, allow me to caveat that I am going back a few years in my experience and take on how things work (and possibly work today).