John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess interview (excerpt)

In a new interview with “THAT Rocks!”, the weekly YouTube series hosted by Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson, Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess spoke about the growing demand among artists that music venues and promoters eliminate the fees they charge bands to sell merchandise at shows.

Many venues require bands to pay them a percentage of their merchandise sales. Commonly that split is 20/80, meaning for every dollar a band makes selling a t-shirt, the venue gets 20 cents. It’s an accepted industry standard that understandably riles touring bands, especially those acts for whom merch income is still crucial for ensuring that a tour is profitable.

“That’s a typical thing that venues will do,” Petrucci said (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net). “I think that if you’re in the position, you should try to negotiate that as much as you can. I mean, 30 percent, that’s way too high. I think it’s more typical [for it to be in] the 15-to-20 [range]. And I think also it might be different for soft goods and physical things, like records and stuff like that. So there might be a difference there as well. But it’s all reasons to be on top of your shit and your business and have people representing you that know what they’re doing, because a young band might not know that they can negotiate that. They just kind of [go], ‘Oh, I guess it is what it is.’ And I guess in some circumstances, if you have no leverage, then it is what it is. But you can look at that and be conscious of that. Because it sucks. ‘Cause then you’re in that position – well, what are you gonna [do]? [Are you] gonna jack up the price of your shirt? Then somebody is paying 50, 60 dollars for a t-shirt? That’s ridiculous. And you feel like you’re gouging your fans, and that’s not cool.”

Rudess added: “And it’s also sad, because a lot of these younger bands, they’re working so hard to get out there and play, they finally show up at a venue and they stand a chance of making a little money maybe at the merch booth, and then you’ve got these venues – clubs, theaters, whatever – that wanna take money out of their pockets, basically. You see it all the time. It sucks.”