Jeff Rosenstock shares merch cuts for upcoming tour, Toby Jeg of Red Scare Industries urges boycott
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On Labor Day, singer and multi-instrumentalist from Long Island, Jeff Rosenstock, known for his solo work and composer for Cartoon Network show Craig of the Creek, as well as former member of bands Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, shared a spreadsheet detailing the merch cuts he is subject to on his upcoming tour.
One of the key concerns raised was his frustration with venues controlled by AEG and LiveNation, where a significant portion of the earnings go towards these large corporate entities, perpetuating the wealth of millionaires and billionaires instead of directly benefitting the artists who create the art.
Although Rosenstock expressed his desire to avoid playing venues that impose high merch cuts, he acknowledged the difficulty of doing so due to AEG and LiveNation's acquisition of many venues during the pandemic.
Rosenstock shared:
Felt appropriate to post this on Labor Day. Here are the merch cuts being taken by the venues on this upcoming tour. This is going to cause us to sell our merch for higher prices than we'd like to at certain venues. We think that sucks.
The argument for the cut is "well, f*cko, we give you a place to sell your merchandise." By that logic, we should also be getting a cut of the bar for bringing hundreds to thousands of people and their cash to the venue that night.
**For the record, we're 100% down to give a merch cut any night we get a cut of the bar.** But the thing that makes the most sense is that we don't take each other's money! We like each other and we're working together and helping each other!
It makes no sense that at the end of these killer shows where we're all having a nice time, someone who was our friend all night low key robs us and goes "have a safe trip to the next gig buddies!!" That's f*cking weird!!!So much of the time all that money goes to big corporations like AEG & LiveNation. It seems like the f*ckin' rule now...
...if you work in a creative field you're supposed to feel lucky and happy enough to be there to get raked over the coals by millionaires and billionaires who will give you as small as slice of the pie as they can to perpetually show growth in profits.
Even if you are older now I think many of us know what it feels like to think "well, that show costs $30, so I can't afford to go." It's f*cked up that someone to whomst $1,000 is nothin' is taking that money from you for real.
I'd love to say "and as a result of all that, we'll no longer be playing venues that take merch cuts." But unfortunately, during the pandemic, AEG & LiveNation bought so many of the types of venues that we play, that dodging these super high cuts is nearly impossible.
But we'll never stop trying to keep the prices low for everyone out there, and we're gonna do whatever we can do to avoid it in the future. We as a band and crew just wanted to let you know what's up. Love you see you soon.
Toby Jeg of Red Scare Industries also chimed in on the debate, strongly advocating for merch people to stand up against corporate promoters. Jeg shared an email he received from AEG after a Lawrence Arms show on August 7 in Chicago where Jeg refused to pay the merch cut, simply leaving before settling it.
The email from AEG read:
Lawrence Arms last night - Detroit
Hi there First off: Lawrence Arms set last night was amazing! Really special having them on the bill with Bad Religion
We did ran into a bit of an issue last night though. Tobias selling merch was pretty aggressive with our staff and had refused to pay the cut for merch that is due to the venue. TM refused to let our guy count merch in, called him all sorts of names and left the venue without paying any sort of cut at all. Royal Oak is Most Favored Nations and 80/20 90/10 is what was agreed on and reflected on the contract paradigm sent over as well.
Can we get this sorted? Let me know if you have any questions and want to talk through this further
Thanks guys
AEG Presents Great Lakes
Emphasizing an "us versus them" mentality, Jeg shared the email publically, along with some words of wisdom for bands and merch teams in negotiating with these venues on merch cuts, saying, "settle the show before you settle merch, then ghost these fools."
An X user, Danny Samet, who handles merch for Thrice, responded by saying it's unfair to put it on the front-line workers, and that it should be a conversation between the agent and buyer:
In response to Jeff Rosenstock's situation, Jeg said the issue is widespread:
Jeg further clarified his respect for Rosenstock by saying:
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