[Harp-L] Cover Charge in General

["Steve Power" <stevepower@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm a little confused by Smokey Joe's comment that a cover charge is a way 
for a club not to pay talent. I think that's too big a generality. In this 
country it is normal for a club to charge a cover for a touring band and 
more popular local bands. In fact one of the most common deals is a 
percentage of the door or even a percentage against a guarantee. The 
percentage can vary but 80% to the artist isn't too uncommon. The 20 % isn't 
necessarily pure profit for the bar. They have to pay for extra staff as 
just one factor. The band, depending on the draw, can do quite well out of a 
straight door take. I've played places where we even got 100% of the door 
but with no guarantee and still did quite well out of it.  Especially small 
town bars where the cover is standard and all the regulars are used to it.

When there is a just a guarantee with no cut of the door what's wrong with a 
cover to defray that cost or even to hope for a bit of profit? If there's no 
return on investment the business fails and no ones got a gig. And it's no 
different than any concert you ever had to buy a ticket to in your life. And 
if the guarantee is too small or the bar is taking way more on the door than 
the band takes, well whose fault is that? Did somebody put a gun to 
someone's head and force them to take the gig?

There's a movement in Portland, Oregon, if I remember right, called Fair 
Trade Music. It's basically an agreement by the clubs to pay a certain 
minimum percentage or guarantee. For that they get branded as a Fair Trade 
Music venue. The locals know what the program is about through promotion and 
hopfully choose to patronize those venues.. Its like Fair Trade Coffee and 
other products where the producers have been getting screwed but there are 
consumers who are happy to effect change if they know what's happening and 
you make it easy for them. There's more to it of course. You can Google Fair 
Trade Music and find the details.

I actually don't know how well FTM works but it is at least its an idea. As 
some bright spark once said, "If you're not part of the solution you're part 
of the problem."