Thousands of fans and musicians are currently learning what a “house nut” is, thanks to Thor Harris and an Instagram post that has gone moderately viral over the last few days, claiming he made no money from performing at The Sultan Room over the weekend.
Harris, a former drummer for the bands Swans and Shearwater, headlined a show at the Bushwick venue on Saturday, August 9, and on Sunday morning, posted his end-of-night settlement, revealing the itemized breakdown of the venue’s costs and fees to performers and a cold truth about touring as an indie musician: pay-to-play might just be the law of the land.
“@thesultanroom paid us zero dollars tonight for a beautiful show,” Harris wrote over a photo of the settlement (see below), which notes how many tickets Harris sold for the performance (46 of the 280 possible stubs, or a net of $795) and that Sultan Room actually took a loss on the evening after accounting for fixed expenses, or the aforementioned “house nut,” which, for this particular venue, is sound and light equipment for $400, room rental for $400, and a $50 marketing fee.
Naturally, fans and fellow artists lit up the comment section, igniting one of the more meaningful and polarizing debates of a generation over NYC venue fees and the current state of touring for independent musicians. Angel Deradoorian, formerly of Dirty Projectors, noted how typical and depressing a breakdown like this has become. “I’m glad you posted this. People who don’t play concerts can now see how venue breakdowns work. This is very typical. We pay to play. Venues have “room costs” aka “house nut” and all of that comes from our ticket sales before the band gets paid. It makes a band feel real shitty to get a piece of paper like this. Sultan Room should have at least waived the room cost. Also note that the band didn’t even put comps down. This means everyone in the room paid for a ticket. This is the degrading tour industry now, y’all. It has never felt this bad,” Deradoorian wrote.
“$850 is insane – the highest I’ve seen is $300 for this size and even that sucks. Sultan room lures in touring acts from out of town, and should be ashamed for how they treat artists. Transparency is a MUST, before a band agrees to play here they need to know what they’re signing up for,” laments the band Bloomsday.
Others defended the venue or split the difference. “Thor is my friend, as are the owners of sultan room. I think this post should be taken down or heavily edited for clarity. Sultan room always treats artists fairly. In this case my understanding is that the venue rented the room to a third party who ran the show. What that promoter did or did not do contractually with the artists they booked is not sultan room’s fault,” wrote Greg Fox, the drummer for the band Liturgy. “Also, artists should ALWAYS review contracts before playing gigs. If you don’t read (or even have) a contract, you can’t have any expectations. This business is trash and people like the folks who run sultan room create an umbrella that stops some of the shit from flowing downhill. Love to all involved and equity for all artists without question, but the pile on vibe here is uncalled for and inaccurate,” Fox added.
A fan who attended the show reached out directly to BKMAG last night to voice their disappointment. “Went to a show at Sultan room last night, and they paid the band $0. Disheartening to buy a ticket to a show and know that the entertainment received *literally* nothing. Bad music industry practice, Sultan Room!!,” they wrote in a DM. Dozens of other musicians also chimed in, claiming they took the same hit after performing at the venue.
And while it’s not clear whether we’ve reached a consensus on what forces are at fault here, the drop-down on that post makes it pretty clear just how bleak and inviable playing live music has become for most musicians.
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