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POV — COVER CHARAGERS VS GUARANTEE By: Lady Spitfire
So my advice would be, if you’re playing for the door (cover charge), beware of places where
there’s a cover charge in one part of the building but not another!”
Francine L. Davis of Grand Rapids, MI and of Supporting Music World Wide “That’s good thing
to know .. which is why I go to places early if they have a cover charge cause some times I get
lucky and don’t have to pay it. Going to a place early has 3 advantages to it; 1) to get a good
seat, 2) weather and 3) if they are a venue that serves food. ”
Kenny of New Jersey states “ I’d pay a cover if the band was good… I always have. I would pay
a 10 or 20 cover to see good original bands… because tix for concerts these days are through
the roof on price… 10 or 20 is a bargain.”
Jaspa of Heads Up Rock Show (UK) “Out here we call them Entrance Fee and its the best way
of support”
Thomas Jenney Barberton Ohio: I am of two minds when it comes to cover charges versus
guarantees. Having been an “art for art’s sake” leaning on my “artistic integrity” and unwillingness
to compromise, and coming from an extremely rough market to play in. I also was a music venue
owner for ten years, and was probably the antithesis of my peers because I booked bands based
on my quirky outre’ musical tastes, unconcerned about what we took in. I had food and beverage
revenue for that. But everyone needs paid. This is a heartless business. Nightclub owners would
put a wind up monkey playing cymbals on a chair and sells tickets if people showed up. And one I
dealt with judged a “good” band strictly by receipts at the end of the night. I am one of the best
guitarists you will ever meet in your life. This is an irrefutable fact. I’ve dealt with it. However, I
have no personal guarantee to offer a club owner that every single seat will be full and they will
drink your kegs dry. Not in this economy. The strippers are complaining they can’t make it. One of
the absolute worst rock bottom bands I ever saw had a huge biker following, played poorly exe-
cuted Metallica and Lynyrd Skynyrd covers, and lined the curb with bikes whose owner’s drank
the bar completely out of beer and liquor so he had to have an emergency booze delivery to open
Saturday. The club owner was in bliss and raved what a wonderful band that made them. You will
meet many dishonest, incompetent, ruthless, and damaged people in this racket. Cover your ass
with both hands. Correction: I owned my restaurant for 3 years, not ten. multi-tasking and typing.
So I think the bottom line here, or the moral of the story is this. Whether you are given a guaran-
tee, or you are given a cover charge or entrance fee in the UK… please support your local music
scene because they are the hardest working people I have come across because some of them
are surviving off of this in order to live. I think we can all put ourselves there when we are in that
kind of a predicament. Ya’ know?
Until Next Time….LadySpitfire