Metal Anarchy

Falling In Reverse’s Ronnie Radke has taken to social media to blast venues over merch cuts. The frontman made his comments after refusing to sell merch at the Armory in Minneapolis, MN due to a 25% cut of gross sales

Radke said the following:

“.@93XRadio nut cracker was an amazing show with daughtry I’ll do it again next year if they want, amazing radio station and I’m grateful for the support

Last night I refused to sell falling in reverse merch in the venue we were playing in because @ArmoryMn demanded I paid 25% of gross sales to them so I told @ArmoryMn to go fuck themselves and just didn’t sell merch because it didn’t sit right with me to have to up charge the fans 100 dollars a hoodie because the greedy venue thinks 25% of gross merch sales from a band is okay, for your information these venues taking a merch cut is criminal, there is no reason or excuse for venues to take bands merch % they do it because we let them get away with it, it’s literally stealing. There’s not a single reason these venues have that makes this okay. so to anyone out there ever wondering why merch is so expensive it’s because these venues are STEALING from the artist. Last night I told @armorymn to go fuck themselves on stage and if any of you bands play this venue I’d advise you do the same, the only way this bullshit is gonna change is if we as bands all stand together and fuck their bottom line up. Streaming takes our money, the venue takes our money the artist gets DESTROYED and disrespected by these greedy fucks. So one more time FUCK @ArmoryMn in Minneapolis but thank you to the fans the huge show and the radio station and I’m sorry we couldn’t sell our merch!”

He later continued:

“there is no way in hell these venues can keep getting away with taking 20-25% gross merch sales to these bands. imagine if every band just stopped touring for a year and caused these venues to hemorrhage cash.. why do you have a venue if nobody plays in it? The music industries power lies in the artist, it always has, we need to come together.

For all the idiots thinking that venues need merch % from us to help pay their employees you have no idea what the fuck you are talking about, if that was the case these venue employees would all be multimillionaires since they’re taking 25% from every band in merch sales every night of the week 365 days of the year, the venues make money off of bar drinks, food and ticket sales there’s no reason for them to take a % of bands merchandise they do this because they can get away with it, the audacity that you get taxed by the government and then the state, AND THEN THE VENUE TRYS TO TAX YOU FOR NO REASON ON TOP OF IT.

but one more time

The power lies in the artist. No artist, no venue remember that”

He also added:

“Lastly, people thinking the venue deserves even a small % of merchandise they do not. the band pays for the art prints the merch, ships the merch hauls the merch, the merch is copyrighted by the band it is owned by the band. the venue is not owed a % of it. the venue makes its money off of YOU showing up to the show. So the venue shouldn’t be allowed any % of your merch sales. That is not up for discussion. Somewhere a long time ago they invented this rule and over time % went higher and higher slowly. and now we are here. it’s not right, Spotify gives you .003 cents per stream venues take 25% of your GROSS sales. Think about that, gross meaning you still have to pay for the shirts that they are taking from you Hahaga they are taking so much from you. I can’t imagine the smaller bands coming up ever surviving. The greed is destroying the very fiber and fabric of music and touring. When will it stop when these venues own 80% ?”