Protection of performers

[ill-esha]

I had an idea today.

I know everyone has had a few experiences playing for really fucking shitty promoters.. ones that don't pay you.. ones that demand stuff from you.. ones that are rude to you and treat you badly...

and of course, you tell all your friends, but you can't reach everyone right?

I propose promoterinfo.com or something of the sort. A website with a directory of cities and towns all over the world, where you can post the name of the promoter, company, club night or rave you played, and write a testimony of your bad experience. Of course, in the promoters' defense, I have also played a lot of great shows for a lot of great people, so maybe it could work like Ebay, where you get positive and negative feedback. You could post your good stories and give a rating. It would be an international resource for performers' protection.. and also a way to get good promoters known.

You'd have to be registered, and your identity would have to be verified as a working performer. I think this would have to be a private, closed sort of forum in order to avoid all kinds of "He did this, she did this", and maybe comments would have to be approved before they could go on the site.

(Of course, if there is already a website like this, then dammit promote it better! cause I've never heard of it)

I'm just sick of having the shittiest experiences happen to me, then hearing that they have happened to other people, often by the same promoters, but there still seems to be no definitive place to record it. Maybe even some of the DJ agencies would get in on it.. or maybe not, but either way, it would be a great way for self-represented performers to protect themselves. Or even people like me, who only do it part time, but accept gigs with enough at stake to need a kind of support network like I'm suggesting.

I realize there are all sorts of issues with slander and various legalities, which is why I'm suggesting it be a closed, pre-approved type of forum, where no personal slander is allowed, only facts. Facts about getting shortchanged and such. It seems to me like it would save a lot of bullshit.

We could have several moderators... I think all we'd need is a good web programmer, and maybe take some advertisers, I'm sure we could get some. Anyone with any feedback or anything to add to this idea, let me know.

[Moon]

i like the idea but we have to face it... its the rave scene we're talking about here and its not like we're gonna have geniuses running it although the club scene i've met some really down to earth promoters.

but i agree that theres a few fuckin idiot promoters out there who need to get smacked. be it because of not paying their djs while pocketting alotta cash or giving their djs the shittiest dj setep to work on etc etc, theres promoters who dont know what the fuck theyre doing.

but thats only a few.

alot of promoters do it for a good cause and derserve to be highly respected for their hard work and dedication.

other than that, i find it hard to beleive that promoters will book djs who constantly bitch and whine about not getting some cash, or getting shitty timeslots etc etc. and i especially dont think promoters will want to book someone who gives them a bad name on a website like promoterinfo.com.

its a good idea but it would take alot of careful thinking to pull it off since we dont want to get into the harsh politics of a website bashing promoters and djs.

[AGROculture]

I disagree

Differerent dj's and promoters have different idea's have different idea's on how to treat/how to be treated.

For example Commander Tom, a world famous HUGE dj, played at D'oh 3 and made somebody cry and was appearantly such a jerk that he was left on the side of the highway by popkum to find his own way back and then got his hotel cancelled
He said he didn't do anything and he was in the right, I highly doubt that

If he posted all this bad stuff about a promoter on a websight, then other dj's would get the wrong idea about promoters who have treated all there dj's extemely well in the past and they'd have no way to defend themselves.

or if a dj had a primetime slot for a low budget party, but had to play in the second room with a not so great sound system. One could complain about how cheap the promoter without fully knowing all the details on how a party is thrown and then posts on a sight because he/she didn't get a main room slot, although other dj's would kill for a primetime slot even if it was in the second room

AGROout

[Moon]

Originally posted by AGROculture:
For example Commander Tom, a world famous HUGE dj, played at D'oh 3 and made somebody cry and was appearantly such a jerk that he was left on the side of the highway by popkum to find his own way back and then got his hotel cancelled
He said he didn't do anything and he was in the right, I highly doubt that

If he posted all this bad stuff about a promoter on a websight, then other dj's would get the wrong idea about promoters who have treated all there dj's extemely well in the past and they'd have no way to defend themselves.

haha seriously? thats hillarious!

but i too agree with dave about the flaw with this website. the idea is good in the interest of the djs but it doesnt do the promoters any good and in turn stirs too much shit.

[ill-esha]

OF course it would be purely subjective. The disclaimer of course could be that nothing was proven.. although people could back each other up. Like I said it would also be a place to post POSITIVE feedback on promoters, and members would be required to do both, that way if there was only one bad story then obviously the DJ could have been the bitch.. on the other hand if 5 or 6 people have the same kind of story about one promoter then there is something wrong!

[oddmud2]

i think it should be delt with on a personal level.

not publicly.

[ill-esha]

Yes but if there is a really evil promoter who is conning DJs into playing for him and tehn fucking them over at the last minute, I would want to know about it so I didn't go!! (i.e. the guy Jeff is supposed to be playing for in Winnipeg next week)

[rawb]

yeah but theres no way to seperate the actual problem people from the shit talk. all you need to do is start a company and have 20 of your performer friends say you're super. or a rival company can have 20 of thier friends say your night is shit. there's no accountability.

[ill-esha]

werdyboy! my arch-nemesis returneth!

[rawb]

heh.