Who Gets the Money?

Who Gets the Money?

If you've ever recorded your own CD for commercial resale, or known someone who has, you probably already have some idea of the amount of money that goes into a recording project before the project even hits the street and you or your artists/band friends begin to make anything back.

“Who gets the money?” has a multiple answer because it seems that everything and everyone the artist wants in the project, from the recording studio to extra guest artists, all want to be paid up front. I suppose that's only fair since they're hired to do their job. And, they have no investment in the project, and, therefore, no share in the potential reward.

So with that frame of mind, shelling out buck after buck to have something to sell, I suppose it's only natural for questions to arise when someone who has absolutely no stake, no investment, no connection whatsoever, starts to hold their hand out – asking for a share of the profits.

This is what happened recently to a young band when they attempted to negotiate with a festival about booking their band to play. Apparently, it was the first time they'd run into a festival that required a percentage of all merchandise sales be paid back to them (the festival organizers).

I know that some festivals do have a policy of handling merchandise sales for bands and do take a percentage for providing this service. I also know that many other festivals do not and leave all monies from such sales to the band. Whether it's right or wrong for the festival to take a percentage of CD and merchandise sales is another question, and, I'm not attempting to take a stand here either for or against such policies, but rather to bring up the subject for thought and discussion.

We should note here, too, that not all festivals are alike from the very concept of the festival to the various and numerous reasons for holding them. Some are purely profit driven for commercial enterprises while others certainly hope to make a good profit, but their purpose is to help raise funds for a non-profit entity such as a bluegrass association or a charity. These differences can have a great deal to do with any particular festival's policy toward merchandise sales.

One way to look at the situation, from the band's perspective, is to consider the extreme efforts put forth by the promoters, staff, and volunteers in order to have 2,000, 5,000, or more people in the audience. Is it right for any band to expect to just walk in the back gate, work on stage for an hour (for pay), and then have free access to that size crowd for sales of their trinkets?

Isn't the band contracted to play on stage and anything after that – like CD/Merchandise sales – something extra? Isn't the band then becoming another “Vendor” at the festival? Don't the vendors pay a premium booth rental to be there? Does the small percentage of sales paid back to the festival by the band amount to more or less than the booth rent paid by other vendors?

I'd venture to say that very few bluegrass bands have 2,000 people pick up their CD and sample even one track in any Wal-Mart store in the country, much less listen to an entire hour of their music. I think it would also be safe to say that very few of the bands in our bluegrass community have that many people in one day visit the music page of their website or sample their music from any on-line retailer such as CD Baby, iTunes, or Amazon.

Consider that many festivals actually have volunteers or staff who work the merchandise tables while the band is on stage or sometimes off the festival grounds entirely. So the prospect of more sales is greatly enhanced, which has to have some value for the band.

Another way to look at festivals whose organizers want a percentage of the bands' sales is for the band to consider their stage time as a one-hour infomercial about their music. Most businesses who use infomercial time on television or radio actually pay the the broadcast station who owns the time they're using. In the case of our festival however, the band actually gets paid for being there. So, if you're in that situation, use your time wisely and make as many sales as you can afterward. Sure, the festival will make more, but then so will you.

Remember that this is just another bargaining chip on the table at contract negotiation time and it can go both ways. Try to find a way to use it to your advantage. But, it's your option to sell or not to sell under those circumstances.

On those festivals that don't take a cut … just figure how much more you want to play there again and do a bang up job for them. That's not to say, though, that you should do less of a job on stage at any other festival.

Probably a good idea would be to track sales at all of the venues played and then take a look at the numbers from each festival for comparison.

The whole idea of this conversation brings up the notion of doing a much better job at selling product at every venue regardless of each venue's contract requirements.

I was talking to my friend James Reams about this subject just the other day and he pointed out that many times bands look at the CD sales after the show as a fearful venture, or something they dread doing. Perhaps it's the unknown factor. “What will people say to me?” “What if they're critical of the show or my music?”

Could it be that a performer can be as comfortable and relaxed on stage in front of thousands of people as he is in his own living room but exactly that UN-comfortable when faced with fans one-on-one? Yes, it can be that. And it can be many other things, but the fact remains that many performers dread going to the CD table to meet fans. James told me he never thinks of the folks who come up to meet him as fans, but rather as new friends. I suppose that there are other performers who have also found a way to defeat the fear of meeting new people; but, the point is that it is necessary for every performer to find the method that works for them and use it.

Thinking of the merchandise table in any terms other than a part of the whole picture is self defeating. Artists should do whatever is necessary to make sure that CD/Merchandise sales have every bit of the same focus and energy put into them as is put into the stage presentation. Take a community college course on retail marketing, apply some of those principles to your merchandise table. Learn how to set up more attractive displays for impulse buying. Think of setting up an assembly line for getting all of the band member's autographs instead of allowing helter-skelter chaos behind the table. Then think of having someone out front to help direct traffic and funnel fans down the assembly line instead of letting a hoard of people rush the booth. Many, many more ways of better organization can actually help make the experience a lot less hectic, and, therefore more enjoyable, instead of something to dread.

Overall, the important thing about CD/Merchandise sales to remember is that the product needs to be sold and the sooner the better. If more is sold at this festival, it means that less will need to be shipped or transported to the next festival. Either way, there are costs involved that cut into the bottom line. So the more you do to further the concept of better selling, the better everything will turn out.