Looking for a gig with Cam’ron? It’s only going to set you back several hundred bucks.
We’ve covered pay-to-play shows before. Manhattan-based rock group The Raskins paid $1 million to tour with Motley Crue back in 2014, and allegedly paid a very smelly price. Raekwon and Ghostface Killah offered aspiring rappers the chance to perform in their multi-date tour for $1,100. The catch? The rappers could only perform for only 15 minutes. But what about Cam’ron?
A concert promoter sent out an e-mail to various record labels and music sites. It reads,
Tour Buy On alert
Looking for one opening act for
Cam’ron’s Killa Season 2 Tour
The tour kicks off on December 4th
500-1000 Capacity Room Venues
Aspiring artists will receive a full 15 minutes right before Cam’ron plays. Their name will appear on all promotional materials. And finally, a merchandise table is provided at each venue right next to Cam’ron’s promotional table. Artists have to act fast, as there are only East Coast slots remaining.
Cam’ron’s opening act price is cheaper than most. Just last year, a music festival coerced naïve bands into purchasing 60 advance tickets for $1,200. The bands then sold the tickets at a pretty poor profit. If they sold the tickets, they could play in the festival. Earlier this year, another music festival charged bands $1,000 to open for LaconiaFest. After gathering the money, the owner canceled LaconiaFest and skipped town.
Back in March, The Underachievers, G Herbo, Smoke DZA, Nyck Caution, and others headlined Cam’ron’s 2016 Smokers Club tour. There’s no word yet on which top-named artists will join Cam’ron this time around.
I’ll send the article with the same question asked with Wu-Tang Clan’s promotional offer:
Can’t knock the hustle. But elling your opening slot like this IMO comes off as cheap.
Instead of Camron appearing as an artist really connecting with his audience, eager to curate an evening with a perfect warm-up show as well as pre-show/post-show DJ’ing, he sells himself short as a “struggle rapper” getting a few extra dollars at the expense of the crowd’s experience. No quality control, nothing added to the overall show, just…. a few extra dollars.
If Cam bought an affiliated act who set the mood perfectly for his own performance and got everybody open, the crowd would applaud the effort shown, and the energy in the room would rise exponentially = the extra merch sale could very well exceed the $800 he ‘loses’ by not selling the opening slot.
$800 per show or for the tour?