Basically an Afton show works like this: Afton rents out clubs in 35 cities all over the US. About six or seven full time reps sit at computers in Salem and spam email bands from multiple sites primarily using the massive myspace data base. Anybody with a music site will get an email from an Afton Rep with a show offer. These people don’t live in the city they book, they’ve never been to the clubs they are renting out and haven’t seen the bands play. When they’ve collected enough acts to be on a “show” (typically seven to nine) they get the musicians to print tickets and sell them. Before the show, all the acts playing turn in their ticket money to their locally hired “show manager”.
This is the standard pay-to-play scenario. If the band sells enough tickets Afton gives them a small percentage and keeps the majority for themselves. Even after paying the club rental, Afton always comes out on top.
THE RULES HAVE CHANGED! (and a new website has arrived)
Our friend MikeL from Maklac sent us some extremely interesting emails (all posted below) from an Afton show he recently did. MikeL has played a few Afton shows but never sells tickets. He used these shows as an opportunity to get some stage time and not much else. Everyone should be aware of these major changes to the way Afton now handles their shows.
1. ON-LINE AND NOT PAPER - Afton has decided that it will be easier for them to collect the money if it’s done on-line through credit cards. They claim that this is done for the bands and fans convenience but as we look deeper into this it’s easy to see who is actually benefitting the most. Trying to abandon the physical selling of tickets is a huge shift in Afton’s original rhetoric.
The Afton email now actually states:
SIMPLE & CONVENIENT For YOU & your Fans
- Don't need to print up & cut out physical tickets
- Don't need to TRAVEL AROUND, physically MEETING UP with every fan
Meeting up with every "fan" used to be what they based their company on. Apparently they’ve tossed out their old motto right out the window with their former name, Big Time Entertainment:
 |
 |
So much for their elaborate scenario about “Alex, Pam and Jim” going over to the Hillcrest Shopping Mall and talking to each person for 3+ minutes while handing out CD-rs.
Afton is now totally discouraging actual physical ticket selling. This is absolutely contrary to all their previous literature on the subject.
2. NO DOOR ENTRY - Okay, this one is so mind boggling I had to ask MikeL about it specifically. YES, you heard right - YOU CAN NOT ATTEND AN AFTON SHOW BY PAYING AT THE DOOR! Wow, let me say it again: If you bring your money to the door, even though it’s not sold out, you won’t gain entry to the show. Only through the Afton on-line ticket system can you attend an Afton Show. So in other words, these Afton events are even less like a real show and more like somebody’s private party - except that they are really expensive and nobody is serving complimentary hors d'oeuvres! And Afton is actually claiming that this new setup gains more audience than also allowing people in off the street? Wow!
3. MORE EXPENSIVE - Where you used to sell the old Kinko’s printed tickets for $7 and $8, on-line tickets are now a hefty $9 a pop and physical tickets are $10. If bands thought it was tough selling $7 tickets, wait until they try $9-10! AND THE PRICE HIKE DOESN’T END THERE: In another brilliant move Afton has decided to tack on a couple of extra fees per on-line ticket. For on-line orders they are now charging a $1.20 “convenience fee” and a $.55 “processing fee”! Processing what? So you will be asking your “fans” to fork over almost $11 ($10.70) to see you play. This is just a little more piece of the pie for Afton at the expense of your family and friends! Who do these guys think they are? Ticketmaster? We know who’s convenience this is for...
4. THE NEW “TIP” FEATURE - We believe this one is just plain wrong. In additioin to your mom, dad, siblings, and friends paying an exhorbitent $10.70 each to see you and and bunch of bands/acts they more than likely have no interest in, Afton has arranged for them the opportunity to give you a tip. Afton proudly states that the artist will keep ALL the tip money. How nice of them. This transaction will be recorded for you to see on-line, so you’ll know who’s generous and more important, who’s not. This new feature is obviously helpful to Afton when they end up taking the majority of your ticket money...your tips will help to cushion the blow.
Yeah, really...encourage your fans to buy on-line so they can pay even more money to see you play! Put the screws to them!
By the way...isn’t a tip normally given at the end of the service, not before? Next time you go to your favorite restaurant, give the waiter his tip when he hands you the menu.
THESE NEW RULES ARE BENEFICIAL TO AFTON BECAUSE:
1. THEY WILL BE ABLE TO MONITOR YOU. With the on-line ticket sales Afton will be able to closely monitor each band’s ticket sales (or lack thereof) at all times. According to MikeL they send out robot emails every day to inform you of your progress - but mainly as a way to put the pressure on you. He claims he got so many of these it became extremely annoying and they became more aggressive as the show got closer. He sent one example but told us his inbox was filled with these. It’s the Pay-To-Play Big Brother!
2. IT’S MONEY IN THE BANK...FOR AFTON! - There’s no more hassles with flaky bands who forgot their ticket money, let their best friends slide on the hefty door fee, used it for cheeseburgers before the show or are simply trying to “pull a fast one” on old Afton. Your family and friends' money goes (to use the Afton all-caps style) DIRECTLY TO THE AFTON BANK ACCOUNTS IN SALEM. How easy is that?...for Afton.
3. EXTRA SURCHARGES - It can seem like a fee that is necessary but mostly it’s just a way for them to squeeze a little bit more out of your “fans”.
4. AFTON CAN AMASS A HUGE DATABASE - If you didn’t know it, email address lists and credit card account info is extremely valuable. Now that every person who wants to support their kid’s/friend’s band is required to give email and credit card numbers, Afton will have access to a huge national database of information. Even if your band no longer works with Afton, what would prevent them from still being able to notify your family and friends of other upcoming shows and events? You are helping Afton gain a valuable resource through your friends and family.
DISADVANTAGES TO THE ARTISTS
It is not enough that bands are doing pay-to-play shows. Afton is taking it up a few notches.
1. Afton can now constantly bug you about your lack of ticket sales. Your progress can be constantly monitored (see the FIFTH email from MikeL below). They send too many emails every day to remind you what you “promised” and ask you to explain the problem.
2. No matter what their “statistics” might state, it is tough to get people to go through all the steps of signing up and logging into their site for tickets. People are starting to get a “log-in overload” with the current amount of sign-ins and passwords and may be unwilling to go through the hassle.
3. Many people are extremely cautious with credit card information. This is a very valid point that MikeL actually brought up. People don’t trust giving out information to a company they’ve never heard of. Ticketmaster has a name and reputation. Afton doesn’t.
4. No more need for promo. With the “no door entry” policy, there is absolutely no reason for Afton to even list your show in the club’s calendar. Why bother advertising? So your name isn’t going to end up anywhere other than the generic on-line poster you and the other bands on the bill display on Myspace and Facebook sites. A small version appears on the Afton site where you sell tickets.
5. It is hard enough for the typical brand new band to justify a $10 ticket price, but asking for a TIP too? Just how hard up and pathetic do we need to look? Afton also suggests you pressure people who promised to buy a ticket and haven’t. You’ll be able to monitor your family and friends and email them when they aren’t coughing up with the cash. Here’s a TIP from us and it WON’T COST YOU A PENNY: Do not abuse the good intentions of your band’s supporters. They will only take so much before they get sick of these tactics. These people are gold. Treat them as such.
It is our opinion that these new changes (other than being able to determine some kind of pre-show lineup) are mostly beneficial to Afton.
BACK TO TOP