We Owe Warner $10 Million....Catch Us If You Can!

If you remember my last blog, I explained how bands go about getting into a seemingly awesome record contract, only to be screwed by empty suits who are more business savvy then a young up and coming band; thus swindling them out of more than money. So here a bands sits, broke and owing yet more money to their label. What are they gonna do? One option is to tour, tour your ass off. Going back to our Fall Out Boy example: Let's hope the boys were smart enough to set some of that money aside to finance the initial leg of their tour. When you're the "next big thing" or you're a hot band that will pack a crowd into a mid-sized venue (St. Andrews, Blind Pig, etc) you won't have to pay to rent the club, in fact, the club will pay YOU! How cool is that? OK, so let's say that the tour is in 10 cities (for mathematical purposes) and they are paid $100,000 per show from the club promoters. Because the album was somewhat weak, there is quite an elaborate stage show, and it costs $5,000 per show, and payroll for all your techs, roadies, gophers, drivers and the like runs another $5,000 per show. If you're lucky enough to have a manager that loves you and manages to score you 10% of the gate on top of the $100,000 per show you get for just showing up, AND he scores you an appearance in town which pays $5,000. Sounds pretty dope right? RIGHT! But wait, there's MORE! On top of all that freakin' money, you get more from the sales of your swag. T-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons, and other vital emo gear. Nothing says I'm in individual like having the same hoodie, t-shirt, and haircut combo as Pete Wentz. FYI, emokid, having the same gear and 'do as Pete won't mean you get to fuck Ashlee Simpson...or even a lookalike, but that's a totally different story. Moving on....
So here's where we stand.

PERFORMANCE FEES: $100,000 (x10) = $1,000,000
+ 10% of GATE (2500 @ $40 each at 10% times 10 shows) = $100,000
+ Swag Sales (1000 units @ $20 each times 10 shows) = $200,000
+ APPEARANCE FEES: $5,000 (x10) = $50,000
TOTAL INCOME = $1,350,000
- CREW PAYROLL $5,000 (x10) = $50,000
- STAGE SETUP $5,000 (x10) = $50,000.
- MISC EXPENSES (management's cut, hotels, gas, food, etc.) = $50,000
TOTAL EXPENSES = $1,200,000

Well, fuck, we still owe the label another $2.8 million. That means we have to tour MORE! This is why you will see years between albums from your favorite bands, because they have to tour all over the planet just to cover their asses with the label. Some bands will tour for 2-3 years criss-crossing the globe to cover fronted money. If the band mimicks the same tour as before, would have to tour 3 more times just to come out ahead of owing the label. After the second leg, they still owe $1.6 Million, after the third, $0.4, and after the final leg, they are up $800,000 which still needs to be split amongst the members of the band. So after being away from your families for in excess of 1 year you only made $200,000. Not a bad deal, if you discount the fact that you had to bust your ass to make someone else $10 million and all they compensated you for was $200,000 and said "Thanks, now go make another record." The next stage is the part that makes or breaks a band in terms of survival....stay tuned!