The Pop Corporation

One of the tried and tested answers to the lack of money bands get from streaming is ‘play more shows’, under the assumption that gigs are the last vestige of earning for any small group out there.

Of course, there’s a raft of costs involved in travelling with a show and touring is not cheap. You see where the thinking comes from though – it’s money in your pocket from taking the door at a venue.

With that, we turn to Thor Harris – former drummer with Swans – who played a show in NYC and got precisely zero dollars for his efforts. We know this because, after playing with More Eaze and Lumberob at the Sultan Room in Brooklyn, he was given a statement, which underlined exactly why they received nothing.

Let’s be clear that it is also very difficult for venues to exist in the current climate, and the whole landscape is in a sorry state, so you’re going to have to make up your own minds on this, and what any potential solutions might be.

The truth is that Harris sold 46 tickets in a room that holds 280, which will be disappointing. However, even then, you’d hope you’d still have a couple of bucks for petrol for the ride to the next show, right?

Thor shared the below image.

Other small acts chimed in. Angel Deradoorian commented: “I’m glad you posted this. People don’t play concerts can now see how venue breakdowns work. This is very typical. We pay to play. Venues have “room costs” AKA “House Nut” and all of that comes from our ticket sales before the band gets paid.”

They continued: “It makes a band feel real shitty to get a piece of paper like this. Sultan Room should have at least waived the room cost. Also note that the band didn’t even put comps down. This means everyone in the room paid for a ticket. This is the degrading tour industry now y’all. It has never felt this bad. After COVID, shit just kept going down.”