To Guarantee or Not to Guarantee...

I was recently sitting at home when a friend of mine messaged me asking about some booking information. He said that his band couldn't take it anymore and was going to start asking local clubs for a guarantee. He wanted to know what I thought of this and how to go about it when asking clubs about it. I know something similar to this has caused a heated debate on other forums but it is something that I think should be discussed at length. Please note: any comments that are blatant remarks to hurt someone will ALWAYS BE DELETED so don't waste your time or mine, please! With that in mind, if you're going to give your opinion please try to be respectful and always be informative. This is here to help the uninformed.

When I think of guarantees or how the money is situated for a show I think of four factors: the venue, promoter, bands, and the kids. Now, I'm sure everyone knows how I feel about guarantees. I don't like them and refuse about 95% of the bands that I come across that ask for a guarantee. I will, however, try to explain why I feel this way and try to shed some light on why bands ask for them, some promoters won't work with them, where the kids' money is going, and how venues are effected by guarantees.

THE CASE FOR A GUARANTEE (the band's perspective)
Being in a band is hard. You spend your time organising practices, writing songs, working out these songs, saving what little money you make from shows for transportation, broken sticks and guitar strings, merchandise for the kids, and almost an infinite list of other expenses. It would be nice to be appreciated a little bit and get some help with these expenses.

A friend recently told me, "I'd love to play California but you can't get there on passion." A guarantee, in some ways, is to know ahead of time that the promoter will do their responsibility in making sure people show up for the show. All promoters provide a space for the bands to play... but, sadly, some promoters do that in a literal sense and just provide a space and nothing else and help the band in no way possible. It's not good for your tour and it's not good for the mood of your band. Sadly, money causes as many breakups as cheating relationships and day jobs.

So, basically, for a guarantee... we all wish we lived in a perfect world where all bands played sold out shows and money wasn't a problem but in reality that's not the case. Bands have to work and pay to play. They have to protect themselves with previous arrangements.

THE CASE AGAINST GUARANTEES (the promoter's perspective)
"Dear Mr. Promoter,

My name is Ace Freely and I play in the Doom/Math/Dark/Sludge/Christian band called Church Burner. We've been playing shows for about 6 months and it's time for us to take the show on the road. We don't ask for anything just $100.00 to cover gas money and will be in your area from July16th-July18th. We don't have any songs up on our myspace but we've got some bitchin' pictures with the guy from Lincoln Park. We should be releasing our debut ep on Mommy's Uterus is Exploding Records (produced by the bass player from Dick Shifter!) in August and it should be big. We think we'll have a huge draw in your area.

our influences include:
Mayhem
Venom
Corpse Grinder
Sunny Day Real Estate
Dick Shifter

Thanks in advance,
The Ace Man"

Sadly, as a promoter, these are about 80% of the emails I get from bands today. A band that has been around a year or less, have never been out of their hometown to build an audience, and decided to leave out any personal interest in the state or venue they're playing... yet, they want me to contractually obligate myself to paying them $100.00 (possibly from my own personal money).

Promoting is a thankless job. Hundreds of bands beg for a chance to play. Most get offended or think you're flaky when you can't help them out 100% of the time. You walk around town for a month posting fliers, bulletins, and handing out handbills to get people to come. Spend your own personal money on making those fliers, food for the out of town band staying at your house... not to mention losing money on requesting that day off of work at the resturaunt... the show comes around, you're the go to person if there's anything wrong... the weather could cause a bad turnout... the lead singer of Naughty By Nature wants to go on first because he's got a chemistry final the next day... and aside from your D&D buddies, noone else knows that this show happened because of your hard work... oh, and now the out of town band wants $100.00 for gas to make it to a town that's 15 minutes away (that you called up your D&D buddy from that town and helped set up that show, too). Oh, and not to mention that as a promoter... if you take any of the money from the door to cover your expenses you look like a total asshole.

Basically, when does money become the motivating element for your band to go on the road? What happened to, "I just want people to hear my music" and what happened to, "if noone liked us or came to our shows, we'd keep playing" yet... you don't want to save up any of your own personal money to do the thing you claim you love more than anything? Why should the promoters give you $100.00 when the people aren't showing up for your band, you're getting free room and board, and your next show will probably use about $30.00 in gas to get there? Is there something you're not telling us? Does your band need to eat out at resturaunts every night while they're on tour?

When it comes to Morgantown, the only band that I know of in this town that consistently tours is Cryptorchid Chipmunk. They've been touring pretty consistently for years and don't get guarantees. They've survived. Passion might not fuel your van but passion will drive you to find a means to what you want to do. So what if you work a shit job nine months out of the year and save money for tour? The other three months when you're doing something you absolutely love to do makes it worth while... are you going to let something like money make you work that shit job for 12 months out of the year with no satisfaction because you couldn't suck it up and save some money? I don't think I've ever been on a tour where it costs $700.00 a week in gas. If so, you might want to reevaluate who's booking your shows!

Like bands... sadly, this is a big reason why people stop promoting shows. You get burned by shitty band #3975 and have to pay them out of your pocket and they come back to your place and eat all of your cereal... it can disillusion the people with the most honest of intentions.

And so basically, against a guarantee... why? why does someone have to pay you $100.00 for asking for a show? This is supposed to be about showing art, meeting people, and having good times? Does money fit into that? Not really. Promoters don't get paid. They give the bands all of the money that the show makes. Is that not good enough? If your band is this big then why don't you have more fans to support your money habit?

THE KIDS (God Bless'em)
And where does the audience fit into this? Where is your money going when you go to a show? Yes, this does concern you. You should know that bands are getting treated fairly and that you're not getting ripped off. Would you rather see your favorite band in a bar where your favorite band can't support themselves or at a house where they are getting all of the door money that you paid to support them with?

Some promoters have been asking for the people attending to start paying $6.00 for regular local shows. They say that the extra dollar will help out of town bands get money. I disagree with this because of running a house that holds about 60 people... if there are 3 bands on the bill split at a dollar a piece ($3.00 split between 3 bands=$1.00 a piece) would mean that each band makes $60.00 and if the two locals don't mind deferring some of their money (because they only traveled about two blocks to play) that easily adds up close to $100.00 for a band... or take 123 for instance with the 80%/20% split. Their capacity is much larger but say you only get about 100 people at your show (which is very feasible for a show at 123 if done properly) 100 people paying $5.00 each equals $500 dollars... with the 80/20 split, the bands get $400.00 of the $500.00. $400.00 split between three bands is $133.00 with that stingy promoter allowing themself a dollar for their hard work.

So, now with your new knowledge... how do you feel about someone asking you to pay that extra dollar? Is it worth it? It's hard to pay $15.00 a week on shows supporting your friends isn't it? Well, $18.00 a week isn't any easier especially with minimum wage at $5.15, right?

With higher prices, less people will attend shows on a regular basis. What's more important? Possibly more money and less people or slightly less money and more people watching?

I'm not going to make a new section for venues because venues are businesses working with guarantees. That's their decision and theirs alone. The bands have all of the right to ask a business for a guarantee because they are bringing that business customers. It is working within the capitalist system and a band should try and get as much money for themselves in that situation to fund their art as far as I'm concerned.

***Just ask Ben Roethlisberger, kickin' ass takes gas!
***Comic by Brad Neely. www.creasedcomics.com
***I dunno, I typed in "Show Promoter" into google and got that guy.