Yesterday, Live Nation released a memo stating that artists would be getting 20% smaller guarantees across the board. If a show gets canceled due to poor ticket sales, the artist would only get 25% of the guarantee, as opposed to the full 100% that promoters are currently expected to pay. Additionally, if the artist cancels, they would pay the promoter two times the artist fee – something unheard of. This left a lot of folks, like Exodus' Gary Holt pissed.
It was later explained to us that the confusing memo applies specifically to festival bookings, not that it makes it any better. Festivals are typically where bands make a good chunk of money, but now that will go away.
This bothered Gary Holt, who wrote on social media:
“So live nation has decided life has been hard on them, so now they’re gonna pay artist 20 percent less, only pay 25% when a promoter cancels, versus the usual 100%, but if you cancel they want double your guarantee back. And 30% of your merch to go with it. This could be the final nail in the rock and metal coffin. That lost 20 percent now comes out of a bands merch, which they take a bigger cut of. Satan forbid you have to cancel a show due to illness. Swipe to see how much these people made last year and see if your heart bleeds for their lost revenue. Saw this posted by @robbflynn after reading it on @loudwire so I thought I’d check their finances. Lame.”
Scott Ian offered his opinion in the comments of the post, noting:
Ultimately, it seems like these are the breaks for now until things hopefully get back to normal. But perhaps there won't ever be a "normal" and this in fact is the new norm. We'll only know once shows start up again.
In recent months, Live Nation has furloughed at least 20% of its staff, and unveiled a plan to cut costs by $600 million, after already eliminating "discretionary spending," hiring freezes and reduction in contractor uses, among other cuts in April.
