After paying $1,000 to play LaconiaFest in Laconia, New Hampshire, a band learned that the headliner for that evening, Sevendust, had pulled out. They found out right before they were going to make the three hour trek to the festival.
This band started inquiring about what happened, but their point of contacts were MIA. They could only go off of what LaconiaFest posted on the Facebook page, which was that the remaining days of the festival were cancelled.
And they were left $1,000 in the hole.
LaconiaFest was a 9 day motorcycle music festival running from June 11th through June 19th. I was initially tipped off to some shady practices going on when a reader sent me his correspondence with a booker of the festival. They were told that they had to pay $1,000 to play a 30 minute set. Set times, stage location and set length was not guaranteed.
The headliners of the fest included Steven Tyler, Ted Nugent, Bret Michaels, Sevendust, Fuel, Saving Abel, Sebastian Bach, P.O.D., Dope, Lita Ford and Buckcherry.
Promoters told bands that 30,000 people would be attending. However, The Laconia Daily Sun reported on June 14th (4 days into the festival) that attendance thus far had barely topped 200 for any of the nights.
Most bands were required to pay a deposit of at least half the money ($500), and they were given 40 tickets to sell for the suggested (face value) price of $45. Bands were required to pay the remaining $500 before they took the stage and they could keep whatever profit they made. However, some bands paid the full amount up front — weeks before the festival even started.
One of the primary bookers of LaconiaFest, who asked to remain anonymous because of the legal actions being taken, told me over the phone that she estimated that 75% of the bands she booked had sold all of their tickets. I spoke with a few bands and some sold just enough tickets to break even (not counting travel expenses). Others didn’t sell any tickets.
But because of the low turnout the first day, LaconiaFest organizers opened up the festival for free on the second day. Because of this, fans who purchased $45 tickets were quite upset. And because fans purchased tickets directly from the bands, those fans asked for their money back from the bands. But the bands already paid the festival. At this point, the festival has offered no refunds to anyone.
One of the bands that played two days of the festival, One Time Mountain, were required to buy $1,500 ($750 a day) worth of tickets. They sold just enough to break even. They estimated that there were about 25-30 people at their set their first day. The next day, there were 35-40.
Because bands had been canceling left and right, One Time Mountain was asked to come back and play another day (for free). But when they showed up for load in, they were turned away because they were told that the booker had made a mistake.
Valor & Vengeance was scheduled to perform (and get paid to play!) and were supposed to get flown out from California for their set. A few of their crew members flew out days prior and witnessed the promoter of the festival, Tyler Glover “pistol whip a production person in the production office and shoot at the floor next to him.” The crew also heard that the credit card used to put up Lita Ford in a hotel was declined. She was left stranded in town at 2:30 am after her set.
Valor & Vengeance told me, “[The festival] did not honor the agreement with our flights and hotels” and so they did not make it out to New Hampshire and did not perform. They lamented,
“We had fans message us that came from multiple states and Canada to see us perform as well as friends and family that traveled there. It’s a real shitty thing that happened.”
A few of their crew members flew out days prior to their show and witnessed the promoter of the festival, Tyler Glover, “pistol whip a production person in the office and shoot at the floor next to him.”
Wednesday, a booker (who wasn’t on site) received calls from one of the bands she booked. They said that there was no crew on the grounds. Apparently, the grounds crew never got paid so they stopped showing up. The band Leaving Eden stepped up and acted as a fill-in crew to help keep the festival going.
It was estimated that about 4,500 – 5,000 people attended Steven Tyler’s performance Wednesday night. And nearly the same for Bret Michaels and Ted Nugent shows the following nights.
Michele O’Toole was an attendee I spoke with who purchased a $45 ticket for the day Bret Michaels performed. She also purchased a $45 ticket for the day Ted Nugent performed, and a $65 ticket for the day Steven Tyler performed. All in advance, all online. However, many people were let in for free or for $5 the day of because the turnout was so low. O’Toole told me,
“I was a little miffed but not much I could do. I did get angry when security wanted to take my printed ticket (even though I have them saved to my computer). ‘You didn’t keep tickets the past 2 nights, why now?’ I asked. She directed me to the main desk where the lady from yesterday who mentioned how unorganized they are, gave me Tyler Glover’s cell phone number. I’m sure that number has been changed by now. Then both me and my boyfriend were given two free drink tickets each. Gee – thanks!”
WMUR 9 ABC, an affiliate station out of Manchester, reported on the sad fate of electrician Michael Smith.
He was hired to setup the stages, is still owed $8,000 by LaconiaFest. Smith said:
“A lot of people put in a lot of hard work and the end result was nobody was paid. I knew something was up after a day or two of trying to make payment. I was getting told one story after another. Fingers were pointed this way and that way.”
It seems all roads lead to the co-producer of the event, Tyler Glover.
Everyone claims he skipped town last Wednesday with the money. The band Enemy Remains, who was supposed to play last Saturday, vented on Facebook. They stated that they heard that the promoter (Glover) made off with $300,000. Others I spoke to estimate this number to be around $400,000.
Tyler Glover does business under Vesslar Global Partners. The LLC was registered in North Carolina. Their mailing address, 1400 Mount Jefferson Road, Suite 7, West Jefferson, NC 28694, is the address for Go Postal. Go Postal confirmed that Glover has a mailbox with them.
Update 6/22/16 2:12PM: Tyler Glover responded stating:
“90% of the news out there is so untrue. Everyone is just about paid. Money was stolen. I never left with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Just want to do it right.”
For all you bands out there wondering if you should ever pay to play a festival. Please heed this warning (and all my others for f*cks sake!). DO NOT PAY TO PLAY. Period.
A festival that charges bands to play or requires bands sell tickets for them (and is left on the hook if they do not sell all their tickets) should not be a festival.
+Should You Pay To Play? Here Are The Worst To Best Deals In The Country
No legitimate festival charges their bands to play.
Shady practices like these are also employed by Revolutionary Entertainment Group, Afton and others. And they always prey on naive musicians who don’t know any better. They just want a gig at an impressive venue or festival on a big stage.
+You Can Play This Festival… If You Pay $1,200
I encourage every artist reading this to turn down any “promoter” that requires you to buy tickets and resell them to your fans. If for no other reason, these kinds of “promoters” clearly do not know how to run a festival. And you may be left out to dry like so many bands were here.
What a horrid lineup. They did everyone a favour.
HAHAHA
Haahahahaha!!!
Hells Angels work with Tyler and Mike. Go ahead and try to sue. See how far it gets you.
So Hells Angels are a law firm now?
Vague threats on an Internet comment section. How tough. Fuck the promoters and those clowns. Sue em.
Great post Ari!
I was There to..Bands were Great ..Line up Didn’t Suck You Do =Anonymous
I’m friends with a member of one of the bands that did play (Big House Pete). I hate seeing stuff like this go down. Sucks for the fans, sucks for the artists, sucks for the communities hosting the events.
Any band paying to play must be pretty shitty. If they have to pay to just get on stage, they must really suck!
Direct quote! “Wow! You guys are fucking awesome! The buy ons usually suck but we need the money to pay the nationals. Next time we will give you a discount.” What the actual fuck!
I’m a manager of a blues artist out of Denver. I got word that LaconiaFest had a blues day on the 14th. I inquired about it and was offered a slot for my artist. No compensation, but we thought we’d make it back in surrounding dates. I then inquired about another date since we’d be in the area and the booker Lisa Norman told us we’d have to bring $1,000 check to play a 30 minute slot! Never mentioned anything about selling tickets. Not that we could – this would have been our first trip to the Northeast. Shady all around. Seems we dodged a bullet.
Ah, it was Lisa Norman.
She loves Leaving Eden.
Was I the only one to notice that Leaving Eden played every night?
Is that normal, or bad? What do you say Jermaine? Bad. Normal?
I’ve spent quite a few hours I think arguing with her on facebook, not recently.
Conversations about the monetary value of lineup filled with grade D active rock bands. My opinion about their monetary value – low. her opinion – high.
She’s one of the ones who posts the “support local music” memes. You don’t charge more for a Steven Tyler show if you start the show 8 hours early with bands that really only friends and family want to see. If you have Steven Tyler, you charge what Steven Tyler would cost. 20 bands you don’t want to see doesn’t mean you can charge more. And a lot of the time, people think that they can charge more, and tickets don’t sell.
Never do business with Lisa Norman. Ever.
If you can even call it “business.” Well it’s business that benefits her and the company she’s working for. It never benefits the bands. She’s gotten great at tricking bands that her “bookings” will help their career when in reality it helps only her and her partners. Stay away.
So Jim I am curious about your comment bashing Lisa Norman. We dealt with her for the festival as well and we had zero problems with her. Leaving Eden was hired by the promoters to play every day not Lisa. So your comment Pointing the finger at her is false. I have known Lisa for several years and have met her in person wants and will have to say she is one of the good ones. She truly does support local music. What is the name of your band as it sounds like you have an issue with her personally. If you’ve done some research as I have been spoken with some of the people left holding the door you would realize that she was one of the ones unfortunately that got screwed as well. Bashing her will get you nowhere. Do some research and be better than somebody that just spews stuff on a comment post because they are bitter and jaded.
Thank you again Ari! Ari the PI! Thank you for saving a lot of artists heartaches like this! Been there! With artists empowered with knowledge this kind of thing will stop happening hopefully!
I wasn’t there, but I’m an industry pro as well as a singer/songwriter. It is very sad that promoters will take advantage of people who are already living hand-to-mouth trying to achieve their dreams. If you don’t live in LA, NYC, Nashville or any of the other major music centers there is absolutely NO REASON TO PAY TO PLAY! Even in these cities there is money to be made without having to sell tickets so your friends can see you play 30 minutes an hour later than your scheduled downbeat.
But as PT Barnum said, there’s a sucker born every minute.
Are you really all that familiar with Laconia, NH?
In the more rural areas of the United States there isn’t much going on. Not many people there. There are also not a lot of people willing to risk their money to bring Steven Tyler to Laconia. Not a lot of people in Laconia. Others, might not have enough money, but a desire to Wayne’s World. That might have been that guy. So, if you don’t have money to pay headliners, where do you get it? The smaller bands, who I’d think would very much want to open for Steven Tyler. They’ll pay.
A problem with pay to play is when it becomes the scene, when it becomes normal day to day to sell tix to a mid level emo band at a local all age venue every time you play. But this is a one-off, bands are not doing this on a regular basis.
He was able to get Steven Tyler into Laconia. People could see Ted Nugent for $5. If he wasn’t able to get that money from the bands, he might not have been able to pay Tyler, Nugent, Michaels. So, ideally rural Northern New England has the population to support a pretty decent rock fest 70s – now, or it really doesn’t, and when it doesn’t, and you want to do it anyway, you need other sources of money. Some things just aren’t viable. Things that are not amazing would require a lot of locals. If your thing requires a lot of locals, and there aren’t enough locals, you need to find money some place, and the bands have it.
Bands really shouldn’t be walking around selling tickets. That’s just not right. Most times, almost always, I’m not buying a ticket from a person in a band. There are other ways to get into those shows without a sales pitch to buy a ticket. It’s just cheezy. But, sometimes necessary. Sometimes decent things, good things – Ted Nugent – $5 – good things – need to be subsidised. The deal with the tix wasn’t particularly bad Coulda made money. But you know, they could’ve had ticket giveways, which could in theory increase draw at a show. A band is playing for a spot and tickets. It could work out for them, it could be worth $500.
If you were at all familiar with Laconia you would know that the tens of thousands the promoter assumed would come were actually there…but they were there for Bike Week not for a concert. And the fact that the stage was smack in the middle of the rest of the vendor area was the worst possible planning…why would I pay for a ticket to hear music that I can hear for free on the other side of the fence? This was NOT a music fest. It was Bike Week which has drawn tens of thousands to Laconia every summer for over 90 years.
“Shady practices like these, but also employed by Revolutionary Entertainment Group, Afton and others, prey on naive musicians who don’t know any better and want a gig at an impressive venue or festival on a big stage.”
“Naive musicians”? I dunno there. I don’t know that these musicians aren’t taking the best offer that’s available to them. They got to buy their way, not that much money, really, onto a bill with Steven Tyler, Bret Michaels, or Ted Nugent.
https://laconiafest.com/events/
Was this laconiafest or leaving eden fest?
leaving eden played every single night. leaving eden was the headliner the last day of the fest (probably cancelled), someone put them in front of DOPE, a legitimate act before POD.
If I had to guess, I’d say that was Lisa Norman’s doing. I have no idea if she’s involved in this or not, but if there’s a show somewhere in Northern New England where Leaving Eden is all over the place and there’s 50-100 pay to play level bands, you’re looking at her. I would not be surprised if the anonymous source was Lisa Norman.
I do like the rock lineup. People got to see some rock stars and Lisa Normans bands paid for it. $5 for Nugent? I’d go to see that. That’s benefit to the community. I’m assuming the headliners who played got paid. Bret Michaels posted an enthusiastic tweet with a picture.
If you’re going to do 9 nights in the middle of Northern New England, you might want to something more than just rock. This seems like a radio rock / classic rock fest, where acts from this lineup might appear on a Musikfest – Allentown, or Summerfest Milwaukee night. Those 2 would have one – four rock nights, but other usually radio type things. Might want to work in some of that radio country. Some people don’t like rock, and very few who do like rock want to see concerts 7 days in a row. For people who like classic rock, radio rock, who live in Laconia, they’re good.
I missed this key point, Laconia is only 15 miles from the local shed. People who live in Laconia live very close to a stream of that level headliner, or bigger, on a regular basis. Bob Dylan is playing there. I didn’t realize they were so close. That doesn’t help Laconia Fest. If it’s an hour or more from radio shed headliners, it’s a different story. There aren’t too many people up there, and Meadowbrook is 15 minutes away. Concord is 45 away, and most of the people are south of Concord. It’s a difficult situation. The needs of the locals to consume rock are being met by Meadowbrook. I see https://www.banknhpavilion.com/ I see Shinedown / Halestorm, Disturbed / Breaking Benjamin, Journey, 2 sold out nights of Dave Matthews, Goo Goo Dolls / Collective Soul, Pat Benatar / Melissa Etheridge, James Taylor, Weezer / Panic at the Disco.
Looking more at this, it seems that Bret Michaels had fun, and took charge. It seems that the city charged way too much for city services – the city provided enough cops for tens of thousands of people, and there were hundreds, typically, or maybe dozens, topping out at about 5K. And hundreds are coming in, and the city is billing $20K a day. There had to have been bills that cost less than $20K. 1 cop until the headliners, 3 hours of 4 cops. That’s just financially crushing.
Lisa Norman was very much involved. She is POISON.
Here’s another thing to watch out for with pay-to-play shows where you’re given paper tickets to sell. I created a PayPal button to sell my tickets by mail and I sold more than my quota, meaning that I would make money with my show (at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ). We had a great gig.
The problems came later. PayPal notified me of a chargeback. A guy who had bought 7 tickets ($10 each) claimed the charge was unauthorized. PayPal took his side and then stuck me with an additional $20 chargeback fee. I provided proof of the purchase, which PayPal ignored. I had already paid the venue their cut, the other band their cut and my musicians their cut. So the $90 taken out of my PayPal was a direct hit that I had to absorb alone.
Lesson: If selling paper tickets through PayPal be very careful. Assume some of your customers will claim a chargeback and you’ll be on the hook. An alternative could have been to use Eventbrite or Ticketleap.
Let’s move it out of Laconia and to the Loudon race track near Concord New Hampshire. They have the facilities and better access. Screw Laconia
During bike week there are motorcycle races at the track. That is the whole purpose of “bike week”
We still can’t get reimbursed for the $1,000 we paid to play Saturday that was cancelled! We sold 27 tickets at $40 each and reimbursed our fans that bought them from us because that’s what’s right. Now we are out over $2,000. Hey Tyler, man up and do what’s right.
Also, to be realistic, no festival will book any band that can’t sell a ticket..
That’s just plain false. Many festivals book (and PAY) emerging artists for their emerging stages or earlier slots. Every band starts somewhere. If a festival can’t sell enough tickets based on the lineup and require their emerging bands to sell tickets on their own maybe that festival shouldn’t be a festival.
If you pay to play you are dumb. Cause you not good enough you want shortcut. Get to work. Stop being a slave of your own. Promoters are looking for stupid musicians like you!
Ok well, I can see that this article which seem to start out to act as a informational point of view on the practice of “pay to play” and to inform folks on the reported reasons for the downfall of what *should of been* and *could’ve been* a epic East Coast Event, somehow turned into a “lets bash Lisa Norman fest” because of one very misinformed individual who any in fact know who I am but has very little understanding of who I am or what I do, nor does he have any real information as to what my role was on this fest. As of course as negatively likes to breed like wild fire, the rest of you decided to jump on the bandwagon so to speak. This thing was in the works long before I became involved, So how the hell this became .. and I quote.. :LisaFest” is a very good question!?
I was told not to make any public statement simply because there is a active investigation into funds that came up missing among other things however, I can’t even work at all with all the Lisa Norman bashing going on all over social media because of this one man’s misinformed comments. So quite frankly non of you have a clue to what you are talking about. And Im pretty damn sick of people who have nothing better to do with their time but assume, blame and bash on social media about things they know little about just do sound important. I can only speak of what I know and experienced myself and what I know to be true.
I will start out with this.. Now to make this last point very clear! I do not like public band bashing of any kind! And I do and will back up any band I work with!!! Yes Leaving Eden was in fact scheduled to play every day of the event as direct support! Fact!. However I did not book them on the event! So say what you want.. Accuse me of favoritism if you want, they were already on the event when i came onboard and GOOD FOR THEM! Also it should be known when all hell broke loose and all the bands were left with no stage manager Leaving Eden stepped up, and gave up their spot so other bands would have more time after the second stage went down. They also stepped up, got the other bands organized as best they could and managed the stage just to make sure the bands got to get on stage! That if anything .. is taking one for the team if I ever seen it! So instead of putting them down because of the opportunity they were given, give them some damn credit for stepping up when things went wrong! Some people are unbelievable! If there was any positive in this whole mess this was it! People coming together to make something work!
Secondly I had absolutely NO part whatsoever do to with the formation, conception, implication, or organization process of this event. NONE! I was just a point of contact for the bands who wanted to play that’s it. Some where in fact my bands.. (bands on my roster) others were bands that submitted through the website the facebook page that the person handling these pages and sites forwarded to me to follow up on for them. But This ball was rolling months before I even got brought in, to assist. I did not book all the bands in fact there were in fact other people involved in booking the regionals. I did however put a good number of them on. I did not even come on board until 2 months before the event took place.
I also had no part of any of the decision making on what nationals were booked, nor did I have anything to do with any of the national booking. I am not a talent buyer, nor was even so much as a promoter of this event. They had a PR company for that as well as someone who handled the website and social media. I also had zero control, of what was going on, on the grounds during the event, or any decisions made during that time. In Fact, when everything started to go south, I was left in the dark myself until late Friday afternoon and any information I was getting at all between Tuesday threw Friday night was coming directly from the bands that could not reach anyone else and was trying my best to assist them as well as people who ended up having to take over the stage after the stage crew went MIA as well!
I was getting calls from bands that security was not letting on site, or was getting misdirected to load in, i was getting calls about the second stage being taken down and had to rework the schedule several times on the spot to fit 2 stages of bands onto one stage. Then getting calls from bands that were mad that their time was changed or their set time went down from 30 mins to 20 mins. All real and understandable complaints! No argument here what so ever! HOWEVER.. Non of that was my doing.. Nor did I have any control over any of that at all! All I could do is assist where I could from here! I was one of the many people who were left holding the bag after people (including Tyler) went MIA! I was left with no information myself and trying to help these bands (From Maine) mind you.. I was not even there… to get the answers they needed. All i knew was the second stage was not paid and the stage crew was gone and Tyler was gone! That’s it! Positive here is that People pulled together, including myself to keep the ball rolling for 3 more full days, with one stage, no stage crew or Little stage crew.. (some did show back up from what i hear). Not only with the bands and stage but many people on the grounds itself. So give these people some damn credit. It was not a easy task because everyone .. including “some” of the organizers and myself were left high and dry and unpaid! I do know many people did get paid and I do know some of the organizers ..who were also unpaid.. Went out of pocket to see that happened. But no one has anything to say about that at all. SO give some damn credit where credit is due.. We were not the ones who caused the problem.. We were the ones left holding the bag and tried like hell to keep the ball rolling for the sake of the bands!!! So people really need to get their facts straight before pointing fingers and calling people poison!
The fact is There were Nationals coming in, and a ton of regional bands as well as bands traveling in from all over that did in fact Pay and sold tickets to play that we all were scrambling to insure they got on stage. I did in fact change the schedule to accommodate losing one stage.. (EMP Label) Stage…which was a houdini act in itself… my edits did infact still give everyone a full 30 min set however, from what i was told after the fact that whomever was managing the stage made some some on the spot changes as well.. Which again.. I had no control over.. And some bands did in fact ended up having only 20 mins. I don’t even know which bands these were, or why those choices were made or even by who. I have heard several different stories. All i can assume is they were on the one on the spot and left in the position to make choices that made seem to make sense at the time, but that is simply speculation.
And again I stress I had nothing to do with the decision process, before, during or after anything at any time.. So moving on to the point of them opening the gate for free on some days and at $5 on others! THIS WAS NOT MAY CALL!!! And honestly.. I found out this was taking place myself on the 13th, after the fact of them opening it up for free the day before (the 12th)! And quite frankly.. I knew at the time this was gonna happen and put up a argument to some of the organizers at the time that it would end up reflecting badly on the bands that did in fact sell tickets to their fans. That was the first thing that came to mind and I did in fact express that strongly to them at the time and have been arguing this point even now to them! The response I got was simply that they had to make administrative choices on the spot to bring people in the gate because of the very low turn out on the first night. So on a business standpoint I can see they were left with little options at that point.. However it did in fact put the bands in a bad position with their own fans! And anyone that does in fact know me, and works with me knows I do in fact work for the BANDS.. Not for any outside organization and that is who I went to bat for then and have been sense! I am “Independent” from any other agency, or organization! That particular situation is a catch 22! But i had no control over any of it! So again, get your facts straight!
As for Tyler and money coming up missing. Again I was not there! I hear all the same rumors that everyone else did, and heard several different stories from everyone i questioned trying to gain info. I also heard that the money that he was said to of made off with was not the only money that was made off with during that week. I can tell you that non of the hands on organizers had anything to do with that, nor did I. Again I was not there! I was told that the organizers were even locked out of the lacoionafest office after Wed. But again, that is what I heard, but heard from more then one source! I was Left in the dark as much as anyone else! That being said, I did not hide, I answered my phone, facebook messages and emails and did the best to guide the bands with what little information I had at the time! So all of you are putting me on the wrong side of this fight here! Im out just as much as everyone else was including the bands! And I am one of the ones that has been trying to assist the bands in getting their money back for Saturday cancelled show!
As for the whole “buy on” or “pay to play” bashing,.. I did not implicate that either! It was brought to me as a “opportunity” nor a “buy on” in terms. This as in fact the deal, and I will lay it straight out! One day of the fest was $1000 which = 40 tix at $25 ech cost to the bands, Bands were given the “option” .. so their choice.. To re-sell the tickets at up to general admission, what every it was on any given day.. Which I was told at the time it was presented to me, was $45. The bands were to keep all the profits they made from sales over their initial cost. They were also only required to pay 50% down. If bands wanted to play more then one day, the cost was then reduced $750 a day. The number of tickets they received where more then ample to re-coop their money and make a profit. Many bands did in fact resell and would of in fact made a nice profit the way it was planned.
Steven Tyler day was a add on after the spots where being sold, once Tyler was confirmed I was told that the cost to the bands would be more on that date because of the cost of the artist himself, so that day was in fact $1500, some bands only paid $1000 because I quoted them $1000 before I was told it was to be more and they honored my quote. Also any band that bought tickets for June 15th (Tyler) got the option to pick up additional days at the reduced cost of $500 ech. Again giving the option to make a profit being given ample tickets to do so.
As for Tyler and money coming up missing. Again I was not there! I hear all the same rumors that everyone else did, and heard several different stories from everyone i questioned trying to gain info. I also heard that the money that he was said to of made off with was not the only money that was made off with during that week. I can tell you that non of the hands on organizers had anything to do with that, nor did I. Again I was not there! I was told that the organizers were even locked out of the lacoionafest office after Wed. But again, that is what I heard, but heard from more then one source! I was Left in the dark as much as anyone else! That being said, I did not hide, I answered my phone, facebook messages and emails and did the best to guide the bands with what little information I had at the time! So all of you are putting me on the wrong side of this fight here! Im out just as much as everyone else was including the bands! And I am one of the ones that has been trying to assist the bands in getting their money back for Saturday cancelled show!
As for the whole “buy on” or “pay to play” bashing,.. I did not implicate that either! It was brought to me as a “opportunity” nor a “buy on” in terms. This as in fact the deal, and I will lay it straight out! One day of the fest was $1000 which = 40 tix at $25 ech cost to the bands, Bands were given the “option” .. so their choice.. To re-sell the tickets at up to general admission, what every it was on any given day.. Which I was told at the time it was presented to me, was $45. The bands were to keep all the profits they made from sales over their initial cost. They were also only required to pay 50% down. If bands wanted to play more then one day, the cost was then reduced $750 a day. The number of tickets they received where more then ample to re-coop their money and make a profit. Many bands did in fact resell and would of in fact made a nice profit the way it was planned.
Steven Tyler day was a add on after the spots where being sold, once Tyler was confirmed I was told that the cost to the bands would be more on that date because of the cost of the artist himself, so that day was in fact $1500, some bands only paid $1000 because I quoted them $1000 before I was told it was to be more and they honored my quote. Also any band that bought tickets for June 15th (Tyler) got the option to pick up additional days at the reduced cost of $500 ech. Again giving the option to make a profit being given ample tickets to do so.
HOWEVER, the fact is undeniable that when they cut out the gate admission it did cause a huge problem for the bands. I do not in any way dispute that point in fact Im the one pulling the band waggon on that argument. That being said, If.. in fact this whole nightmare had gone the way it was set to without outside factors that put many wrenches on the whole works it would of greatly benefited every band that sold their tickets. Bands however were also given the option.. Just so it is understood, to resell their tickets at cost or even give them away, and from what I understand some did in fact pass on a discount to their fans. But that was in fact the band’s choice. Most pay to play.. As the stigma of the term goes.. Do not even give the bands the option to make any money. It is just the cost of getting on stage. Period. I do know the organizers where tying to create a “opportunity” here, and there was no intent to screw anyone over! And that is what weighed my decision to get involved when i was asked. And i was ask simply to help out with the regional bands because I do in fact have a very extensive roster of some very talented artists. Some of which did play on the first 6 days of the event! But due to all these messed up factors (out of our control) this ended up being just another target for the ‘anti-pay to play protesters to make a point. So the point here is that there is always someone out to ruin a good thing. Many of the very bands on this thing seen this as in fact a good opportunity and seen the potential it did in fact have. And saying its unfortunate is a great understatement! And infuriates those of us who do in fact work our asses off to try to create real opportunity for artists, then have people turn it around on the ones who are the very people who are in fact out to help these bands!
This is my view on Pay to play… No, as a rule I do not support it, however, this has been a part of the industry since the stone age on music you might as well say! So until someone can come up with a better business model that will insure that the producers and promoters of events such as Laconiafest can put on such events and cover their staff, advertising, equipment, Nationals guarantees and riders, and all other production costs without ticket sales then this is the demon these bands are left with if they want to get on stage with one of these nationals. Look at tour buy ons! Horrible practice, but a fact of the industry non the less. Some bands get that they are going to have to pay to get on stage in front of any great number of people, it is a rare case that this does not happen! Is this right.. Absolutely NOT! But unless you have a better solution and you totally understand how these events are put together and cost involved then keep your comments to yourself because you have no clue what your talking about. I totally agree that there are so many shady practices, and have been duked myself more then once. HOwever then I have been I never stepped down or let it go when one of the bands I worked with got screwed! In this case, the people I personally were involved in with this event were not out to screw any of them and were in fact among the people to got screwed and no one is letting it go! Nor am I!
Now as for Saturdays Bands that were scheduled to play with Sevendust that got cancelled, they are working on getting you your money back and the bands I personally work with all know that and are fully informed as to what is going on. I however did not book all the bands on that day only some of them. I did get in contact with some of the other band I could tract down and inform them. However if you were a band from Saturday and are due a refund you can reach out to me on facebook and I will point you in the direction for that information. This is for Saturdays bands only. The other bands, I can’t say I know what the outcome is going to be. I can say the points were not engorged.
The bands personally work with that were on this event know what’s going on! I have been in t
ouch with them and so have some of the other organizers!
This is not a invitation to jump on the bash Lisa Norman band waggon and message me your complaints,or accusations, I have no control over any of it. Laconaifest was not my show! I was not the producer or the organizer I was just left holding the bag with the bands apparently and doing what I can to help the bands rectify the situation! Anyone that was actually involved in Laconiafest all know the names of all the key organizers which have been responsive.
My rant is over, this is everything I personally know and what my involvement was in this event. All it takes is one un-knowledgeable and ill-informed person with something to say to cause a whole lot of people a good deal of issues for no reason other then trying to make themselves look important!
I can continue to go on and on as to my options of what went wrong where and what I think should of been down and what was done wrong or right, and I do have my own options on all of these things but non of that matters what I or any of you think, It happened.. And it happened to a good many people, including myself!
I’m sorry, how is 25 – 30 a ” in front of any great number of people”? When bands are promised 30,000 and 30 show up that’s just SLIGHTLY misleading. Actually that PREDATORY! You knew damn well these bands weren’t going to be direct support for headliners, so how could you in good conscience say 30,000 were going to be there for their set??? Or even imply it?!!!? I’d be pretty pissed if I thought I paid $1,000 for the opportunity to perform in front of 30,000 supporting Steven Tyler and there was only empty pavement – as the photo indicates. Come on! You ain’t a saint here Lisa. Sure Tyler is the one that employed shady business practices and ran the festival, but you agreed to trick bands into this horrible situation.
I would like to at least share my thoughts on it that guy up top there who goes by the name Jim, sounds exactly like the same guy who was shitting all over Lisa Norman to the point of being almost stalker-ish A year or so ago. Obviously a small time promoter like Lisa has very little input into something this big. Use your fucking head’s. Tyler is clearly this big. Use your fucking head’s. Tyler is clearly the one people should be talking about. this is on him, and from what I’m hearing will be answering some questions from the police. Also what she says about leaving Eden is true she did not book them and she was not responsible for their placement at any of the shows. If I was Lisa I would very much consider filing also what she says about leaving Eden is true she did not book them and she was not responsible for their placement at any of the shows. If I was Lisa I would very much consider filing charges for defamation of character on the people saying this was her doing. I am sure the police will charges for defamation of character on the people saying this was her doing. I am sure the police will be able to track down The paper trail. Most people who get caught with their hand in the cookie jar do not give details about what it is they are accused of doing because they can’t keep their lies straight. Perhaps those of you on a witchhunt could put your pitchforks away until the investigation is complete. Otherwise when the truth comes out you were going to look like bigger assholes than you already are.
Jeff….You are spot on! I was actually there, as you know. The regional booking agents (yes, there was more than one, people) were hired by the organizers to find bands that wanted to play the event. They had ZERO say in set times, days you play, what happens when you get there, or ANYthing other than booking the bands that wanted to play the festival. Anyone who knows how these things actually go, knows this. It wasn’t the booking agents decision to charge bands or do ANYthing else after booking.
And about the band Leaving Eden, they did more work the entire week than pretty much everyone else there. When the 2nd stage packed up, left and also took the backline for the regional bands….Leaving Eden offered up their gear the last two days for all of the regional bands. Not to mention giving up their own sets to accommodate the loss of a 2nd stage.
People LOVE to complain about everything and place blame where they want to…But the simple fact is, if you weren’t there in the trenches KNOWING what was going on, then you have ZERO cred with all this bullshit you are spitting in the WRONG directions.
YES….Pay-To-Play is a shitty thing….I HATE IT! But bands do it all of the time, and I get it. They want to get on a big bill, with names everyone knows, in front of a lot of people. It is how so many are discovered. It doesn’t always work out, as it didn’t for many in this instance…..but it did for many in this instance as well. The idea for Laconiafest was AWESOME…..But it just didnt pan out because PEOPLE are involved and people make mistakes. What still reigns true here though is that if you do not KNOW what happened, you should NOT point fingers. Especially since most of the comments here are SOOOOO way off base with the finger pointing.