Dez Fafara Says Financial Hardships Will Impact Fans

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Dez Fafara: Achim Raschka / CC-BY-SA-4.0, Own work, copyleft: Multi-license with GFDL and Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-3.0 and older versions (2.5, 2.0 and 1.0), //commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:14-04-19_DevilDriver_Dez_Fafara_01.jpg, Wikimedia Commons
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Considering the financial hardships that many bands are facing today, how might those economic struggles end up impacting fans? This is a concern Devildriver‘s Dez Fafara recently talked about while chatting with Heavy Metal Mayhem.

During his conversation with the podcast, Fafara commented on how financially rough it is right now for touring acts. The singer spoke about how costs for things such as buses, crews, and other needs while on the road are becoming incredibly expensive. He even brought up a story about how a band he manages made over $200k while on the road, but because of different costs they were hit with, they ultimately came home with only $12k.

While talking about the brutal financial state of touring, the interviewer suggested to Fafara that the increased costs that musicians are getting hit with could end up impacting fans, such as with ticket prices being raised. In response to this, Fafara talked about how this is a genuine concern, saying “The tickets are gonna be higher. And then the fans are gonna get pissed […].”

Speaking about how the financial hardships bands are facing today may impact fans, Fafara says (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):

“I just read a thread online — on Reddit, actually — where fans are talking about that, and they’re boycotting. They’re, like, ‘Fuck you. I’m not gonna pay the money.’ But, yeah, we have to pass it on to the promoters. We have to say, ‘Look, my buses are triple. My crew is double. My gas is triple.’ Tolls have gone up because the United States, every fucking five minutes you’re stopping at a toll road now. They’ve taken that directly from Europe; they’ve learned that they can do that now. I’m just going over a budget for a previous run of a band that I manage, and they paid 4800 dollars in toll costs. So how is this supposed to work?”

Fafara goes on to add:

“So, yes, we have to pass it on to the promoter, which is gonna pass it on to… The tickets are gonna be higher. And then the fans are gonna get pissed, and they’re either gonna boycott it or they’re gonna go, ‘No, I’ll pay 50 bucks to see my favorite band.’ But what they’re not gonna do is go to two, three shows a week anymore. And that same fan that used to go to two, three shows, he’s going to one or two a month now. So… I don’t know. It’s rough. It’s definitely rough. And it’s not just rough for the small guys… And we manage some pretty big bands over here. And I look at budgets all day long; that’s my forte, man. And I don’t see how we can cut… You can’t cut it.

“It’s, like, ‘Well, we need to take a bus.’ Well, that same bus that was 350 dollars a day is 750, 800 a day. That same driver that was 200 a day is 550, 600 a day. That same hotel for the driver that was 120 a day is 250 a day. That same Uber that took the driver to the fucking hotel room that cost you 23 dollars, it’s 42 dollars. I mean, it’s insanity what’s happening.”

How would you react if you were to see ticket prices double or triple? Like what Fafara has read, would you find yourself boycotting shows?