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[kingofdeon]

Read most of that rant from the promoter. I dont know the inn's and outs of it but you aint gonna win any BOTB arguement on here, infact it's rare you would win any arguement on here im afraid, trust me i've lost a few!

Well done to the Locals for winning the whole thing, which regardless of what anyone thinks is pretty good to win a national competition for anything and think they have done pretty well out of in regards to new Equipment and some decent gig slots as its not always easy to get gigs throughout the country.


I actually remeber getting a fone call on the night of the one of the "heats" asking where i was...i knew nothing about it.

[Jim Stax]

Fair play for coming on here personally.

There will always be the argument between the commercial and non commercial worlds in any creative sector and neither are wrong (with exceptions). Exactly the same sort of things goes on across the arts. 'I make and exhibit because I love doing so' or 'I may and exhibit and want paid for it'.

I'm not a fan of BOTB events before we even get to the money side of things. There is a time and a place in a career though. As with anything all angles should be looked at thoroughly before embarking on these things and if there is any questions simply ask or don't do it. How many times have we seen and will see these debates on forums...

[Scorge]

Originally Posted by RossP

You really need to look at ways of reducing your outgoings...

Silly money being spent there.

100% this, spending 18 grand on accommodation is a total fucking joke......

[RedBattle]

Originally Posted by Doc Ascension

Yes, but we didn't put any money or effort into it when we realised it was dodgy therefore we didn't participate in feeding them money. We also told our fans not to come to the gigs.

Very much agreed, for a venture that only brings in 80k why are you throwing away 100k when some serious saving could be made in there?

Finally, we have proof that the final vote count was not as it appeared however we will not go into this.

How did you come second in the comp without putting any effort into it and not feeding us any money? Surely this proves my point that it's not all about the money!

How we spend our money is entirely irrelevant to the point I was making! It seems regardless of what is said, someone will pick holes in it anyway.

Proof that the final vote count was not as it appeared? I'm intrigued, do explain...

[RedBattle]

Originally Posted by Scorge

100% this, spending 18 grand on accommodation is a total fucking joke......

Where would you sleep? In a van? For 6 months? For 6 people, @ £50 a night X 3 teams thats £150 per night. Trust me, there's no cheaper way of doing any of this.

In reply to the other point made, we actually do this for the love of it, but need to get paid a bit too. You know, to not die.

[idol_wild]

Originally Posted by RedBattle

How we spend our money is entirely irrelevant to the point I was making!

Really? Why did you make it sound as if you went out of your way to publish the finances then? You must have expected people to pick up on them? And they must have been focal to the point you were trying to make - which they sort of were, really.

You're paying too much for your venues, by the way. Not to mention accomodation.

[RedBattle]

I'm off anyway, could spend the rest of my life having this conversation!

If anyone really has bones to pick, why not phone me - 07841700619

[Doc Ascension]

Wrong venue choice is a very good point, you already stated that Moshulu was far too big a venue - so why book it?

There are other venues in Aberdeen that would have worked fine at a fraction of the price - Drummonds for instance, or even The Tunnels. Both very cheap to hire - we know first hand.

[stuartmaxwell]

ooer, various people are looking a bit stupid on this thread

[Cloud]

Originally Posted by RedBattle

We came across this forum on advice from someone looking after our interests. Although we have been advised to raise a claim for defamation, I thought I would attempt to address some of the issues raised here and see if we can get them ironed out first.

I wouldn't go down that route if I was you. There's enough people on this forum with relevant knowledge and experience - along with relevant connections. Raising any claim could end up ruining you as a person - and I think most people on here would pull very strongly behind the owner of the site if someone attempted such a thing.

My names Sam - I'm the M.D of Redland. I have absolutely no problem addressing every point you've made and also making our finances transparent so that you can see how they work.

Total income = £80,670

Venue hire avarages out to £350 for first round per venue, £450 for second round per venue and £500 for the regional finals per venue, + £2000 for the national final. All plus vat = £36,895.

All @ 12p per ticket + vat = £4,903.98

As the MD, perhaps you might want to explain why you were paying VAT when you clearly should have registered for VAT? If you're at all familiar with VAT regulations, you'll be aware that you should have registered and charged VAT on those ticket prices. Certainly I hope you've done so now.

For our local shows (shows that aren't Red Battle or dont have prizes as well), we require bands to sell 30 tickets to get paid. 30 measly tickets! That brings is £120, £30 of which is given to the band, £70 of which goes to the venue and £20 of which goes to us.

What kind of venues are you using that give you such a poor deal?

People dont seem to realise that this isn't actually a bad deal. Promoters have to pay for the venue! So what about getting a gig with just the venue itself? Aren't the venues the ones who would then take your door money AND the money made on the bar? Did you know that venues work on £8 per head for drinks? So if they have 300 people into the venue they make around £2,400 and then pay each band £30 or something? And we're the ones who are ripping people off?

This is where it's painfully obvious that you have absolutely no experience of Aberdeen - don't give us the bleeding heart story when ten minutes research would tell you that venue hire charges are *very* reasonable in this city. Things might be like that from where you're from - but they're certainly not like that here.

Here's an idea... go and open your own venue, start your own promotion company, create your own event. See how hard it is to make money or be stable in this industry and then come back and complain.

Again, you might be wise to investigate this city and this website a bit more before makng such comments. Many people here have put on gigs or worked/managed venues - you're certainly no better than most people on here.