Ever had this happen to you

girlzrock · Post by **girlzrock** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:19 pm

Anyone ever had a bar tell you that if you don't cancel another show in the area (which was 3 days away) you can't play at their bar again? Better yet, they wanted us to be exclusive with them but weren't willing to pay us what the other bars were paying us. Just didn't seem right for them to ask us to do this. We pride ourselves on being a very professional band and to have a bar specifically ask us to do something like that seemed, well crappy. I get a bar wanting you to be exclusive to them but there has to be an insentive and it shouldn't be a matter of them trying to sh*t on another bar in town like that.

Anyone have any thoughts? thanks in advance for your input!

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:31 pm

Call his bluff and pack your stuff and leave.

If they threaten you upfront, do you think it's going to be all warm and fuzzy after they have you by the short hairs?

They want you exclusively because you have a good draw. I sincerely doubt that he is going to shoot himself in the foot and lose you altogether.

Stand your ground and be a b*tch when you need to.

I have no respect for someone who has none for me.

Cut your losses and let him see you gigging elsewhere.

It wasn't C-street was it?

Spill it sister, you know we all want to know.

zenmandan · Post by **zenmandan** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:41 pm

I've heard of a couple joints that do this (how true I don't know)...Skybox in Decatur won't have you play there if you play at Vinnie's, and Wacky Jack's (or whatever it's called) in Angola won't have you there if you play at Skip's. Again, no idea if there is any truth to these claims or not, but it's been in the rumor mill for a while.

Was it either of these?

girlzrock · Post by **girlzrock** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:42 pm

No it wasn't C-Street. We have had a really good working relationship with C-Street and have never been put in this situation there.

We actually ended the relationship with this particluar bar. We explained that we would be unwilling to cancel a gig 3 days prior to. Basically the response was if you don't cancel this gig you won't play for us so we politely said we weren't cancelling the gig. We just don't buy into that crap. We're willing to talk to a bar about an exclusive agreement if it makes sense for us and them. In this particluar instance it just didn't make sense. We are making more money at the other bars we are playing in that area so it just doesn't seem like they wanted to come up with a deal that was fair.

Plus this is the bar where I had my poor experience from my last post so I'm especially not too torn up over it.

I get that bars want to make money and if you draw a good crowd, they can potentially lose money when you play in other area bars but shouldn't that just mean you put a band on your stage that you think will compete? I guess I just don't think it's right for bar owners to ask you to not make money (especially when for me this is my only source of income right now). Just my opinion.

girlzrock · Post by **girlzrock** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:47 pm

I'm gonna take the high road and not post who the bars are just because I don't think it's important who they are (if you play there, you'll figure out pretty fast which bars are involved). I just think if a bar is going to ask you to be exclusive with them they should offer you some sort of incentive to do that or else they're just messing with your ability to make money. Like I said if it's that big of a deal, put a band on your stage that you think will complete with the band you think should be exclusive any night they are playing at another area club. That way everyone wins. The bar still draws a crowd and the band doesn't lose out on gig money.

Maybe if there are any clubs on FWM.com you can explain to me the thinking behind keeping a band from making a living by performing somewhere else. The club makes money whether the band plays there or not so what difference does it make if a good band is exclusive with you or not? Does that make sense?

HillgrassBluebillyFTW · Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:52 pm

were you playing in the same area three days prior to playing in the other bar?

The thinking behind that could be that if everyone goes to the first bar, then when it comes to seeing you at the second the bar will think the people will tend to be of the mindset that "well we just saw them a couple days ago.. let's see what else is going on."

I'm just playing devils advocate here. I agree with Mark.. stick to your guns.

girlzrock · Post by **girlzrock** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:00 pm

I definitely agree that we are playing these 2 particluar bars way too close together so I'm not arguing that. It was poor planning on the part of our booking agent. The problem I'm having is that the bar we played last week wanted us to cancel the one we have tomorrow for reasons that don't make sense. I could see people not wanting to see us 2 weekends in a row (especially since we played back to back nights in the same bar) so theoretically it should hurt tomorrow nights bar and not the bar that asked us to cancel this show. If anyone should be upset with the situation, I would think it would be the bar we are playing tomorrow since they are getting us second.

I really think it came down to a pissing match between these 2 bars. Neither wants to see the other succeed so they are willing to sh*t on each other and use bands to do it apparently. Again, we will never cancel a gig 3 days prior just because a bar has asked us to be exclusive. If that was an issue it should have been discussed with us right at the very beginning of the relationship. We have never signed anything stating we would be exclusive therefore I believe it to be unfair to ask us to do so by cancelling a show that has been on our schedule for months.

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:05 pm

The irony for me is this...

"You cant play anywhere near me, or any of my competing clubs."

Therefore stifling your ability to cultivate a following that you would be bringing with you when you play his club again.

Then to have him pissed off when the bar is not packed with your rabid fans.

You have the upper hand, use it.

HillgrassBluebillyFTW · Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:07 pm

yeah.. definitely sounds like a pissing match. sounds like you made the right choice.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:19 pm

Now's the time to offer an exclusive deal to the new club. Use this horseshit to your advantage. Tell them the other club wants an exclusive in the area and ask them to make you an exclusivity offer.

girlzrock · Post by **girlzrock** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:30 pm

bassjones wrote:Now's the time to offer an exclusive deal to the new club. Use this horseshit to your advantage. Tell them the other club wants an exclusive in the area and ask them to make you an exclusivity offer.

I actually thought about that. I'm trying to get as many fans to the show tomorrow night to try to leverage that.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:31 pm

Oh heck yah!

girlzrock · Post by **girlzrock** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:34 pm

Oliver's Army wrote:The irony for me is this...

"You cant play anywhere near me, or any of my competing clubs."

Therefore stifling your ability to cultivate a following that you would be bringing with you when you play his club again.

Then to have him pissed off when the bar is not packed with your rabid fans.

You have the upper hand, use it.

You nailed my thought process on the head. The thing is we could potentially do pretty well in this particluar town. Pity the other bar won't be a part of that now.