Horror stories of getting paid??

[chuckmurphymusic]

Let's hear em. I will share mine in a bit.

[Potts]

 

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chuckmurphymusic wrote:

 

 

Let's hear em. I will share mine in a bit.

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In all of my years I've never had one. The biggest problem I have is when I have to wait more than 10 minutes to get paid.

[moogerfooger]

the last gig i did the owner called me over and asked if Id been paid yet, I said no, so he pealed me off a hundred dollar bill from his wad and said now go see mary she'll pay you.  this is just a little something extra. 

I dont know how i could ever stand to go back there, getting treated like that and all LOL 

[SLScott86]

Another thing debatable, Chuck, is whether it's really good to censor his complaints. I mean, if he's such an ass, you should only need to write a rebuttal, and it makes your review page appear less sanitized, him look like an ass, and you look like a good reliable entertainer. But if he posted about you threatening lawsuits... well... that's technically true I guess.

[chuckmurphymusic]

I guess i didn't want him to the have the satisfaction "there take that" kinda thing. Like I also told him too, "have you seen my reviews? have you seen my dates?" I am booked almost through the end of the year and have NEVER recieved a bad review. (Not talking to you talking about him) So what he was saying was one sided BS because he was butt hurt that he had to be a respectable bar owner and do whats right. He wouldn't cheat his beer distributor on a new product because it didnt sell well would he? It was a learning experience. Now every new place that I play I contract. Played in Chicago 2 weeks ago...sure as sh-i-t did it there due to it being a 3 hour drive.

[SLScott86]

That's kind of what I mean though. If you have never received a bad review, one bad review on the page will only make your page look more authentic, and make him look like more of an ass, particularly if you can publicly post a reply in a professional manner where you clearly appear the bigger man, that's a victory for you and a loss for him.

[Shaster]

My pay has been "adjusted" on occasion, and I've had to chase people down - sometimes literally. I've also had places go belly up and I've had to relieve them of something in lieu of payment. And I had a guy point to his handgun when the pay argument got heated. But the only time I never got paid at all was in a band situation on the road -  a very, very long time ago at a Holiday Inn.

We were booked for a one week stint, or so our agent told us, but the HI thought we were doing two weeks. The band went over really well, and the management were very good to us, but as time went on, they realized we weren't going to do the second week, and we realized we weren't going to get paid unless we did.

Right from day one, I told the guys to charge everything to the rooms. As we got closer  to the end of the week, I told them to go nuts; eat drink and be merry.  We walked without paying the week's tabs and they stiffed us for our week's pay. I pursued it for a minute but it was clear they had fabulous lawyers, and I did not.

[KindredDuo]

Not really a horror story as it is a learning moment.

 

An agent booked our Irish Duo for a 4 hour party at a hotel. A bus tour was supposed to arrive with maybe a hundred people. They never showed. We played to an empty room except for some ever-increasingly annoyed wait-staff who seemed to blame us for not bringing a crowd to thier private party.

 

At the end of the night the manager cut us half the check with a PROMISE to hire us in March. I was very naive at the time and took it. Next day the agent wanted his cut of the FULL amount.

 

Lesson learned is to at least be prepared to negotiate a cut BEFORE you play the whole gig or, as many of you guys have posted, stick to your guns and never go back.