Band faked a fanbase, got booked for a European tour that nobody attended
metalinjection.net
metalinjection.net
Still, I'm not too surprised it happened. It's quite common for 'influencers' to fake their popularity online, and I've seen thousands of pseudo celebrities buy followers/make fake accounts to try and trick advertisers into thinking they're more popular than they actually are. Happens quite a bit with authors and books too; the likes of Robert Stanek and Gloria Tesch relied almost entirely on shills and paid marketing in an attempt to make people think their works had an actual fanbase/were going to be the next big thing.
Still, guess it's the logical extreme for the whole 'fake it till you make it' thing. If you can't build a real audience after doing that, this is what you're left with.
This case is totally different and is fraud.
That he goes into a huff because one venue asked him to actually pay their expenses says it all.
I hope the other venues chase him for costs and lost bar sales.
Article: "...they told the venue they sold 150 tickets (a sell out) and only one person actually showed up who bought a ticket."
Even if they pay the band only after the show, the venue might get $16 for several hours of staffed operation.
People attending a show buy tickets, food, and drinks from the venue.
So, the band's payment is typically easily recouped because the venue expects a minimum guaranteed income (say 40% capacity, average of $6/attendee spent on incidentals).
If zero people show up, they have the expense without the income, having sacrificed the night that could have gone to a more popular band, while also paying workers and incurring utility expenses.
Basically we got to keep door sales if we guaranteed the venue a crowd.
Eventbrite lets you set aside free tickets, eg if you have VIPs / sponsors who should get free entry, which would make it look like you've "sold" more tickets than you really have.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoAm6zb9ruDaD7Ba7FZQI6g/vid...