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Topic: GIG Contracts |
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 24 Jul 2003 7:12 pm |
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I'd like to ask a question, perhaps a sensitive subject to some of you, but the answers might be of tremendous help to a lot of Forumites. If I've missed any earlier posts on this issue, please be kind enough to direct me to the right place and hopefully the sun will be shining there when I arrive.
I've been committed for more than a month to a BIG TIME GIG for a gigantic shoe mfr. and a big fast food joint. Rushed all over the place trying to find white trousers, shoes, belts, etc. It was to be a full blown Hawaiian performance with young dancers and we musicians.
Today, I was informed the program had been cancelled as the group leader was unable to
provide the "required insurance coverage" in order to play the gig. Another recently did the same thing relating the cancellation to "child labor laws".
I worked for one band years ago, that required an advance, non-refundable deposit, equal to one half of the total gig price in the event the show was cancelled without sufficient notice.
Some of these earlier contracts also specified things like "RESERVED PARKING" for the musicians (no more mile long treks packing in gear!), free food/soda pop; musician spouse included "free"; etc., etc.
Last month we played a gig wherein the hosts REQUIRED that our spouses paid a $10.00 admission to get in. Prior to that, they attempted to require we musicians to also pay "to play". I put an end to that little adventure!
I"d be very grateful if any of you might be willing to share with me, in good faith,
any contract forms that you've used and found worthy of your time. Don't expect any trade secrets, but this group I'm playing with needs some real help.
I'm tired of making all arrangements to be somewhere only to have the gigs cancelled at the last minute. Four or five times now, I've been bumped off the show, as "their customer only wanted to pay for three musicians, NOT four". I've always labored in the belief that the "band" was a group;
they travel and play together and no customer has the control to disassemble the group to their liking.
ANYONE? Care to offer some guidance/suggestions to a fellow musician?
THANKS for this very special consideration and request.
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Eric West
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 24 Jul 2003 9:18 pm
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"The entertainment industry is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -Hunter S Thompson-
Contracts are only as good as the hand that signs them. Whaddya gonna do, Sue them?
They'd just put a lien on your right hand techique..
You've been doing this for FIFTY YEARS, and you know more about Common Law and it's practical application than any five of "us"..
Whaddya asking "us" for??
I haven't signed a contract YET. I've been working STEADY gigs for 24 years. Got em booked as far as I can see. LV and Reno too. Not a Jon Henry in the string, and I bet I work every damn one of them..
I had a whole page of suggestions, and humorous anecdotes, but it boils down to encouraging you to quit begging for these clowns to bend you over.
Not getting paid for the FINE job I heard on the CD I heard would have tied it for me.
I'll never work for them, and I'll make sure anybody I know "gets the word" as well. They way they do and did you SUCKS.
I don't care how many nubile young hula dancers they parade in front of me..
Eric West
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Fred Shannon
From:
Rocking "S" Ranch, Comancheria, Texas, R.I.P.
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Posted 24 Jul 2003 9:50 pm
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Ray, check your email...
Fred
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The spirit be with you!
If it aint got a steel, it aint real
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 25 Jul 2003 8:43 am
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| Ray, we are using contracts on about fifty percent of our jobs, and you can BET we would be sueing in case of breach. We do have a penalty clause for termination prior to thirty days. In the last year we have run across a couple of unscrupulous club owners. Contracts keep it on a business level. |
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Kenny Dail
From:
Kinston, N.C. R.I.P.
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Posted 25 Jul 2003 10:24 am
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Ray, why not re-negotiate your agreement with your group leader/manager. Are we a group or are we selected due to the promoters specs? Tell your band leader/manager that as of now you will require your expectated money up front due to previous last minute cancelations, you cannot afford to 'suit up' and rehearse and then not share in the rewards. You may want to include your wife free admission and the necessary parking facilities to off load your equipment. That being said, go to your local DMV and get the application for handicapped parking and carry it to your Dr. and have him fill it out and, you should know what to do from here...good luck my friend. Your playing surely qualifies you for all privaliges that are given to the rest of the band members. Go for it, what you got to lose? 
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kd...and the beat goes on...
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 25 Jul 2003 10:53 am
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Ray, I'll send you a copy of my band's contract form, FWIW. My only comment at this stage is that I think that, as professionals, we should not ask to have our spouses attend. After all, we're going to "work" and my spouse doesn't tag along on my day job either! If it's a very casual, neighborhood-type affair, then I might ask if it's okay, but I would feel that I was asking more of a personal favor, and would not consider it an "expectation" that band members' spouses/girlfriends/boyfriends, etc. can come along to gigs.
As for how many pieces... We charge by the band, not by the man. Sometimes it's a 4, 5 or 6-piece band; that's up to me as bandleader; I don't let clients dictate the number or types of players. (I do try to satisfy special requests, though, for example if they really want a fiddle on the gig, I'll try to get one, usually instead of my horn-man, unless the money's good enough to take them both)
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Gene Jones
From:
Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)
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Posted 25 Jul 2003 1:40 pm
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I prefer contracts "by the band" also. On one of those contracts for "how many in the band" once at an Air Force NCO Club, I couldn't make the job so the bus driver set behind the steel with the amp off and pretended to play, so that there would be the correct number of musicians on the bandstand.
It worked and the Club manager counted heads on the bandstand and never knew the difference.......the scary thing about it though, at least for me, was that no one else apparently noticed any difference either! 
www.genejones.com
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Jesse Pearson
From:
San Diego , CA
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Posted 26 Jul 2003 7:18 am
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| Ray, there are some good books out on legal contracts for bands. Maybe it's time for you to put together the "Ray Montee band" and have a stock contract that protects you and the clubs etc. from any b.s. Saying that the band has to have insurance on everyone performing sounds crazy to me. What clubs have insurance for their workers? Sometimes if you want something done right, you just gotta cowboy up and do it yourself. I hate doing law stuff because there is a lot of corruption in our courts, but finding a good overall contract that will protect your talents is a smart investment of time that can cover your butt down the road. Good luck with this, you deserve better. |
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Eric West
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 26 Jul 2003 12:07 pm
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RAY. I GOT IT!!!
They need to hook up with Elika Hoopi! THe Houlie from Hell.
Look real close in the bottom right and you'll notice the traditional, REVERB UNIT..
Possibly the FIRST STOMP BOX.
And you thought you had a collection..
EJL |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 27 Jul 2003 9:00 am
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Well Eric......a great album/cd cover!
Go for it! |
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