Musicians Are Calling Out This Unethical Venue Practice

Some live music spots take a 25% cut from the merch desk…

 It’s never been harder to make a living from music. Streaming royalties are often a pittance, while the opportunities to tour in the past 18 months have been whittled away to virtually nothing. As the world opens up – and one day, it actually will – we need to be prepared to tackle the live music environment, and provide a landscape that allows both musicians and venues to thrive.

The Charlatans singer Tim Burgess pointed out an unusual venue practice earlier today, noting that some venues take a quarter of the funds raised on the merch desk. He wrote on social media: “Big respect to those venues that don’t take a percentage of a band’s merch sales. This isn’t about The Charlatans, it’s about those bands who need merch income to survive. Some places take 25% A quarter of the full selling price. Vinyl doesn’t even have that mark up to begin with.”

“To be perfectly clear about this, often it’s a completely separate ‘concession’ company that the venue deals with as part of a contract. A kid who has never heard of the band sells our stuff, while our merch person steps aside for the night – the whole system needs addressing.”

He finished: “Someone drove the three hours from Bournemouth to Cambridge to sell our merch for us – for 25% of the take. While we had someone with us, who worked on the designs and who knows the band and our fans. We need to make changes. Guessing a lot of people don’t know this stuff.”

His point certainly struck a chord. For one, Clash wasn’t aware of the exact details of the practice – sure, we knew some venues took a portion of the proceeds, but 25% is a huge chunk of what a band, songwriter, or musician might earn in an evening. When travel and living expenses are deducted, the fee for a show – divided into four parts – often doesn’t stretch that far. Put simply, merch desks are an absolute lifeline for musicians, as well as a way for fans to feel as though they are directly contributing to the economic welfare of the artists onstage.

Tim Burgess’ comments swiftly went viral, with a huge number of musicians reporting their own experiences. Warp Records signed artist LoneLady decried the practice, writing: “When smaller artists finally get to the point of playing slightly bigger venues only to find they demand a percentage of the merch – its a disaster. Smaller artists break even at best and depend on merch sales literally to pay for the petrol etc. A very artist-unfriendly practice.”

Scottish songwriter Aidan Moffat revealed that Arab Strap sometimes won’t take merch to a venue if they know the cut will be taken – and he’s even suggested placing printed advertisements for their webshop on the door. “Venues taking a cut of merch is little more than thievery. Big venue we played recently wanted 25% of merch sales – so we didn't take any. I've been considering printing flyers for our webshop to hand out at such venues – we'd lose some sales but it might balance out.”

Public Service Broadcasting seconded the Charlatans’ frontman’s experiences, breaking down the figures involved in selling vinyl on the merch desk – and how sometimes they will emerge will very little profit at all. “Immensely frustrating, especially at the more 'branded' venues. They take 25% and add VAT on top – we then have to take VAT off at the other end. A £20 record sold at a gig can easily end up with £10.40 to the band and the vinyl itself costs about £9.”

It’s important to note that not every venue does this, and even those that do differ on the percentage take. Some venues openly decry the practice, with dearly loved Yorkshire hub Hebden Bridge Trades Club open in their defiance.

Moving forwards, it’s unclear what can be done to stamp down on the practise. At this point, education on the topic is vital, which is why it’s so important for the topic to be raised. Perhaps Tim Burgess should have the final say: “Maybe bands need to ask for a percentage of the bar take…?”

– – –

– – –

Photo Credit: Jamie MacMillan

– – –

-
Join the Clash mailing list for up to the minute music, fashion and film news.