A tale of two traditions

Some traditional music venues insist on exclusivity clauses when booking artists. But is this protecting venues, artists or profits, asks Siobhán Long.

It's comforting to know that you're wanted, but some people might be forgiven for feeling akin to the offspring of divorced parents, being pulled and dragged by opposing factions eager for their affections - or, in the music fraternity, eager to share in their music and their commercial drawing powers.

Petr Pandula, music promoter and owner of Doolin's Magnetic Music Café, has sparked a vibrant e-mail debate in recent weeks, pondering the finer points of exclusivity clauses commonly found in the contractual agreements between musicians and promoters/venues.

Although the debate was ignited by Glór Irish Music Centre's insistence on ensuring that English band, Flook (who were booked to play in the venue), would not play a gig in Doolin within the same week, the question of whether a promoter/venue should exert a right of veto on musicians' bookings (based either on geographical or time restrictions) has caught the imagination of the traditional music fraternity in particular. This is largely due to the fact that traditional musicians, for the most part unacquainted with the fiscal rewards of big figure incomes, might wish to make the most of their travels to a particular region by booking additional gigs, thereby minimising their costs and widening their access to alternative audiences.

Glór's manager, Katie Verling, is unequivocal in her defence of the venue's exclusivity arrangements. In an economic climate that's less than healthy, she is adamant that such clauses protect both the venue and the artist.

"In Glór we have a number of responsibilities," she explains, "to the local authorities, to the musicians and to the audience.

"It is as a result of the deep respect we have for Clare musicians that Glór has been built and that we put on regular concerts of the best Irish musicians in a comfortable, suitable space. In this way, the musicians have access to an audience without having to compete with smoke, bar sounds, crowds and loud talk. We pay musicians a proper rate and ensure their comfort and well-being. In return, we ask for loyalty and that they do not undermine what we are doing by making their skills available elsewhere for free, or in circumstances where they cannot be appreciated."

However, Pandula argues that such exclusivity demands are disproportionately heavy-handed, particularly as they impinge on traditional music and musicians playing in Co Clare, which is certainly one of the less accessible locations in the country.

"Being concert promoters for over 20 years, not just in Clare, but in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, we appreciate the need for exclusivity in certain circumstances," Pandula says. "Poorly attended concerts do not benefit the artists or the promoters. If there was competition between Doolin and Ennis, our small venue would of course be the loser. We are a small music café in a rural area, which has 50 seats, as opposed to the commercial power of a 400-seater in the county capital."

Verling maintains that, contrary to popular conception, "the audience in Clare is relatively limited, especially for Irish music. Glór needs to attract audiences from all over the county to make Irish music events viable. In order to do so we must ensure that the venue is comfortable, the programming attractive and that it is unique to Glór.

"When an act is available to audiences in two or more venues in the county it splits the audience and compromises the economic viability of the act for both venues."

Pandula's assertion is that his venue in Doolin appeals to a local audience who would not be willing to travel a 90 minute round trip and so his small venue isn't in fact luring audiences away from Glór at all.

Verling's not so sure about that. "A lot of people from north Clare come to Glór for events," she says, "especially exceptional Irish music gigs or theatre shows. If the same act plays Glór and Doolin or Killaloe then the numbers coming to each venue will be reduced."

Of course, the truth of it is that ironically, traditional music suffers from an abundance of seriously crafted practitioners, who frequently play in sessions up and down the country without a sight of a cent changing hands. As a result, there are many fans of the tradition who are strangers to the concept of shelling out for a ticket to hear the music in the genteel surrounds of a concert or gig.

Everybody expects to pay significant sums to hear Robbie Williams, Gillian Welch or Beck live, but traditional musicians suffer a similar fate to the prophet who's not recognised (at least in fiscal terms) on home turf; perhaps this is at the kernel of the debate, causing audiences to balk at the prospect of paying in to larger venues, such as Glór, and thus rendering the task of running such a purpose-built venue more than a little challenging.

Verling is again insistent that if traditional music is to truly become professional, it must begin to place a value on its own worth, so that musicians can play in comfortable, quality venues and audiences will arise from their bar stools and armchairs to attend such concerts - and support the musicians.

"To be taken seriously as a musician they had to put a value on themselves and their playing and insist on certain fee structures and certain quality venues. In order to do this they have had to forego smaller venues and pubs, as they could not accommodate either the fees or the stage requirements. This is what professionalism means," says Verling.

Glór's attempt to grow not just an audience, but a paying audience, which is prepared to support traditional music is laudable, as the proportion of traditional musicians who are able to make a living from the music is minuscule. For example, this week alone there are over 30 traditional gigs listed in the Ticket, yet the number of listed musicians who are full time and professional could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Conversely, European countries are far more willing to pay a fair price to hear good music, trad or otherwise. Could it be that the Irish audience needs to recognise that musicians deserve a fair rate of pay and that ticket prices should reflect this?

Pandula continues to defend the smaller venues' access to the same calibre of musician as the larger venues, regardless of whether it coincides with a musician's booking in a bigger venue or not.

"We would like to stress that this discussion is not about profits, but more about the rights of small venues like ours to provide culture in our local community," he says. "We observed this year that to put our Best for the West programme together took a much longer time. Many invited artists delayed in their responses and we assume this may have been due in part to the Glór policy. With Glór operating over a year now, more and more artists are aware of their exclusivity policy."

In researching this piece, contact was made with a number of musicians and promoters in the industry. The general consensus was that if the principles of common sense and fair play are shared by player and promoter alike, then most potential gigging conflicts can be resolved to the satisfaction of both parties. Exclusivity clauses are common practice among larger venues abroad, and most economically successful acts recognise the need for them, to protect venues' investments.

In Ireland, however, this issue appears to be frequently solvable before it reaches any "crisis" where bookings have to be cancelled. We contacted a number of musicians for comment on this debate, but none were prepared to go on record, expressing concerns that to do so might jeopardise future bookings in venues throughout the country.