Members pogo97 Posted October 10, 2013 Members Share Posted October 10, 2013 This has never affected me, but some friends were talking about a new venue in a nearby city that wouldn't allow their acts to play for any competing venues in the city--not sure about further details. I know that festivals will sometimes have a clause that says performers cannot play within x-distance and y-time of their festival location and date.Ever run across this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted October 10, 2013 Members Share Posted October 10, 2013 I've played under those terms. Sign a contract with a club and the contract says I can't play in another club within a radius of ____ miles for the amount of time of _______. This was mostly when I was playing Top40 and during the era where there were a lot of bands playing in a lot of clubs. Most of these were negotiated by an agency and were done so that if a band that came into a club that had a good audience, blew the audience away, and then moved down the street, the club owner wouldn't lose his already established business by a band taking his crowd away.Right thinking or wrong thinking? I can't say. The club owner has the right to do what he/she wants to make the business successful. The subcontractors (including the band) have the choice to either take the gigs on the terms the club has to offer, negotiate for better terms, or decline the gig.I do know that I followed a band that played in a club for a long time and got canned. They moved about a half mile away and the bartenders and waitresses were telling the customers where they moved. By the time they realized they were killing their own tips, it was too late. It took us a while to build the crowd back up.So I can see both sides of the issue.Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members toober Posted October 10, 2013 Members Share Posted October 10, 2013 If the bar is afraid they'll lose customers, they have an internal problem. They need to get in great bands all the time to keep their customers. They KNOW that great bands have groupies who will follow them no matter what so those people can't be part of this equation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted October 10, 2013 Moderators Share Posted October 10, 2013 Notes, I remember having to sign those contracts back in the 80s when my band would work a 5 night 'strip' in a club, sometimes for two weeks. And yeah, we were being booked though an agency. You had to guarantee them essentially a non-compete. The agency really was on the bubble for that, they had to keep us working, but keep the non-compete thing correctly, so we did a lot of traveling, LA, Orange County, Long Beach, Riverside, San Bernadino, Pasadena, Oxnard/Ventura. After about 6+ months of doing this 3 out of 4 weeks a month and working a full time day gig, we finally packed it in. The money was just not enough to live on (3 of the 4 members had homes and families)...but it did come in handy; the relationship stress essentially outweighed any financial benefit though.I have not run into any thing like that since...nor would I agree to such a deal unless they were paying some outrageous sum of money for my services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted October 10, 2013 Members Share Posted October 10, 2013 Similar experience to Notes. This happened to my band all the time back in the lucrative Top 40 days, in and around Vancouver BC. But clubs in the 1980's and 1990's were paying us $3500 to $4000 a week and they wanted to protect their investment.It's still a practice with the casinos in my area. There are three casinos owned by one company, that won't let "their" bands play at another two casinos owned by another organization.Another example; last year I was hired by a theatre to be a part of their spring concert series. We did a tribute to George Benson, and they had a clause in their contract that we couldn't do that tribute within 30 kilometers and within six months (or maybe a year) after or IIRC before the date of their performance.So booking restrictions are not unheard of, in my area anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted October 11, 2013 Members Share Posted October 11, 2013 pogo97 wrote: This has never affected me, but some friends were talking about a new venue in a nearby city that wouldn't allow their acts to play for any competing venues in the city--not sure about further details. I know that festivals will sometimes have a clause that says performers cannot play within x-distance and y-time of their festival location and date. Ever run across this? Mostly with bands, never as a solo. I play mostly restautants and wineries, and it's their food and drink that is the draw. I'm there to prvide ambience and maybe bring a few friends in, but as one manager told me, "if we have to depend on musicians to bring our crowd, we have some serious problems in the kitchen." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members toober Posted October 11, 2013 Members Share Posted October 11, 2013 Not allowing a band to play within X mile within X days is ridiculous. That's like saying your part time waiter can't work across the street the rest of the week to pay his bills. I know people who go to certain bars because certain bartenders work there, not for the band, not for the venue. Why is this restriction limited to bands? It makes no sense. I agree if you can't make a draw because the bands you hire also play nearby, you have more serious internal problems with your business. Not supporting the local economy does not help it either (including your venue). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jcpatte2 Posted October 12, 2013 Members Share Posted October 12, 2013 I've only seen this with touring, name brand bands that are hard ticket sales. And in that case it totally makes sense. The promoter is staking the bands performance and wants to limit competition within a, usually small, radius. Again, we're talking hard ticket sales, from bands with recognizable hits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted October 12, 2013 Members Share Posted October 12, 2013 well, sure, its pretty common in these parts. Plus it is only good business sense that if a venue treats you well to not play for their immediate competition, at least not w/o talking to them about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted October 12, 2013 Members Share Posted October 12, 2013 If I play for a club for an extended period I'll usually not solict or accept a gig at a close competitor right away. I'll give it a 'waiting period' for whatever the situation seems appropriate.Why?I think it's just good business. If I piss off the first club owner by dragging a portion of his business down the street, he/she will not be too eager to hire me again.I know my job is to help the person who contracts my services to make money. And that's one of the items that enters into most of my decisions.Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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