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[RF Scott]

Originally Posted by Fish out of water

Its not new - it goes on all the time. Think about tours; 90% of the time the support isn't picked because the headliner's like them, its because the support bought themselves onto the tour. Helps the headliners costs down.

Where are you getting 90% from?

[Tubthumper]

His arse, obviously.

[Fish out of water]

Originally Posted by Tubthumper

His arse, obviously.

Shut it or I'll bum you, you skin slapping tot.

To be fair, and in the tradition of the current government, I have plucked the percentage out of thin air as a rough gauge.

A more accurate post should have read "are the majority of tours not buy ons?"; certainly anectodal evidence from types down here seems to support the "Buy On" as a regular thing for your more well known bands. Presumably its the record company (and then ultimately the band itself that foots the bill).

If you have any constructive thoughts to the contrary, feel free to present them.

[RF Scott]

Originally Posted by Fish out of water

Shut it or I'll bum you, you skin slapping tot.

To be fair, and in the tradition of the current government, I have plucked the percentage out of thin air as a rough gauge.

A more accurate post should have read "are the majority of tours not buy ons?"; certainly anectodal evidence from types down here seems to support the "Buy On" as a regular thing for your more well known bands. Presumably its the record company (and then ultimately the band itself that foots the bill).

If you have any constructive thoughts to the contrary, feel free to present them.

Sure, I know of a lot of friends' bands who have gone on tour with bands, playing venues ranging in size from The Tunnels to The Music Hall and even bigger. None of these were support-slots-for-hire. Obviously, I don't know every single band in the world's workings, but I think it's fairly safe to say that paying-to-support is in the minority, and certainly not anywhere near 90%. It's probably even safer to say that this type of deal is only prevalent in 'pop' tours (I'm talking about X Factor, boy bands, etc...) and package tours.

In the vast majority of cases, support will be decided on one or a number of the following;

- member(s) of headline band like/know support band personally.
- member(s) of headline band's management, booking agency, etc, like/know band personally.
- support band is on same record label / management company / booking agency as headline band.
- headline band can't quite sell out venues on their own, and so choose support band (at least partly) on the knowledge that they will be able to bring in 50 or so people on the strength of their name alone.


Right now, record companies do not have enough money to provide tour support for their bands, let alone pay to even do the tour in the first place!!!

[Tam o' Shantie]

I know of a few local bands who have paid to be on big tours. We've been offered buy-ons for tours in the past as well...as if we could afford that shit!

Someone should warn Bon Jovi about the dangers of pay to play...I bet he had to sell 40 tickets to his mates just to break even!

[Fish out of water]

Agree with what you say to an extent but also have friends (indeed, I've experienced it myself) who have been OK'd for tours on the basis of your first two points but then been dumped (or gazumped) because of buy ons. None of these scenarios have been in the pop world - I am far too well endowed in the belly department to be in a boy band. Package tours I've never been a part of so can't comment.

I suspect that the reality is a horrible grey area somewhere in the middle, as I think the temptation to reduce costs does make the temptation of a financial inducement difficult to ignore. At the end of the day, there must be a rough taste decision - Delays are not going to appear on the same tour as a metal band, for example. But inside sub-genres there'll be a fair of lee-way as long as a band ticks particular aesthetic boxes.

For really small DIY bands putting their own tours on, none of the above would apply.

[Free Korps]

Originally Posted by Tam o' Shantie

Someone should warn Bon Jovi about the dangers of pay to play...I bet he had to sell 40 tickets to his mates just to break even!

perhaps he had a minimum 50 tickets to sell at £5 each and took the gamble by taking out a loan and offering them cut price to ensure bodies through the door. bet he was bricking it with such a high risk strategy... especially by playing a new tune too (well if i'd have watched it i would've known that... )