The doom metal act Khemmis has posted a thread on Twitter calling for the bigger names in heavy metal to “give the middle finger to corporate venues stealing from artists.”
The other day, Stray From The Path drummer Craig Reynolds posted a Twitter thread detailing how a London-based music venue’s insanely high merch cut percentage hurts bands. When Khemmis came across this thread, they decided to retweet it and add their own input on top of Reynold’s points.
Per the thread they have posted, Khemmis talk about touring in the States and how frustrating the merch situation is over here. They touch upon several topics that relate to the overall conversation pertaining to venues and merch cut percentages. Per the first tweet in their thread, the doom metal act shares the following:
“This feels all too familiar here in the states as well. Venues owned/operated by a *certain* corporate entity do this same nonsense & it SUCKS. Selling 1/2 (or less) of your usual amt b/c the mandatory in-house seller has no reason to hustle + massive cut = shit situation”
The rest of the thread reads as follows:
“And before the chorus of ‘well your agent/team agreed to this,’ please know that support bands on these tours have no leverage. None. Don’t like these deals? Kiss bigger touring opportunities goodbye. Openers have to eat shit and smile the whole time.
“’Sell your merch out of your van.’ That sounds cool and punk rock but 1) in bigger cities your vehicle may be far from the venue 2) contracts often explicitly prohibit this. yes, fuck ‘em, but again if a newer band gets blacklisted by corporate entities that hold all of the power
“then your singular act of defiance can easily cost you and your crew a lot more in the long run. Again, it’s a shit situation for openers and it takes the team of the big name bands to facilitate substantial change.”
Then, in conclusion, the band put a call out to the big names in heavy metal to stand up against “corporate venues.”
“Unless the big names with real industry power give the middle finger to corporate venues stealing from artists, nothing will change and that sucks for artists AND fans.”
If you want to read Khemmis’ entire thread yourself, you can do so by clicking on the tweet below. What do you make of the band’s points? What do you think could be done to help bands struggling to make a living off of merch while on the road?
Stray From the Path Drummer Calls Out Venue For Insane Merch Cut Percentage
Architects Calls For Bands to Strike Against Venues For Taking Money From Merch Sales
Igorrr Is the Latest Band to Not Sell Merch at Shows Due to Venue Cuts
This feels all too familiar here in the states as well. Venues owned/operated by a *certain* corporate entity do this same nonsense & it SUCKS. Selling 1/2 (or less) of your usual amt b/c the mandatory in-house seller has no reason to hustle + massive cut = shit situation https://t.co/1rs1Xzkz0B
— Khemmis (@khemmisdoom) March 16, 2023