Check the contract before!

I just got the most stupid mail in a long time. The sad part it's from a professional booking agency. Or well I guess not so professional after all. First, they seem to just hang around on sites like Sonicbids and try to book their acts. Anyway, they found us through one of these sites.

One of the bands sounded really good and would fit a spot in the lineup. It says pretty clearly in our description what kind of festival it is and what the payments are. So we took a chance and sent an agreement to this booking agency. The said yes and signed the deal online.

Then we sent out the gig details to the festival, what stage and what time. The answer we got is:

Great, the times and stages look good, we are free on those dates. This is how much we take for a gig.

Here comes the fun part. In the contract, we already settle how much we would pay. It's not like you can sign a contract and then just put another price tag on it. And by signing the contract you tell us that you are available.

Before we even had a chance to answer on that one the next email came in.

How much to do you pay for flights, accommodation and what kind of food does the artist get?

This is also very funny. This is actually stated in the contract, all of it. We slowly realized that this booking agency just says yes to everything and then think they can negotiate afterward on everything.

This is the problem we see now in the business. Before a company like this would be taken off. With the new digital highways, they stay ongoing. They have no clue what they are doing and many artists end up in these shit companies hands all the time.

I don't know if I should break the ice to them and just tell them what they signed? Even if it was digitally.

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