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PART 4: Promoters & Venues ... The Melkweg, Amsterdam
An article about Dutch Promoters (as an example, we look at a recent incident from June 2007 involving the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam) ...
AAPA have decided to document a recent scenario involving the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam ... Where the bands (and their representatives) had been more than happy for us to do a gig review, but where repeated requests to the venue remained unanswered by the venue itself until we suddenly appear to have struck a raw nerve!
Accountability within most sectors in Holland is a common problem, but for those unfamiliar it tends to work along these lines: when confronted with a negative issue never take responsibility for your actions, if pressed always try and blame someone else, and if that doesn't work then try and become an ostrich ("head in the sand" scenario) until awkward questions or situation goes away, or if that fails, then just run away... but hey, don't just take our word for it, read on...
A copy of their eventual response after the TRAVIS gig on 5th June 2007 can be found below but was in Dutch, although parts have since been translated in our subsequent reply (also below). We have only removed the email and telephone contact details of either the artists or their representatives. Where initially the Melkweg are very quick to blame everyone other than themselves, even those arguments quickly evaporate once the facts are laid on the table...
The initial request (from 4th June) was in English & Dutch, while the 2nd Email (from 5th June) was for the most part in Dutch, and to those who cannot read Dutch it basically reiterates the original request, along with highlighting the fact that if we didn't get confirmation from the venue there was little point sending someone to the gig as this was in fact the 3rd separate occasion (this has now happened 2x in 2007 and 1x in 2006) that we had asked them (the venue) to be allowed access for the purpose of a gig review and that they never respond. We also informed them (Melkweg) that if they don't want reviewers to attend they should just say so rather than to ignore all requests (actual dates can be found in our final Email response below) - More importantly, in our 2nd Email to the Melkweg for the TRAVIS gig we suggested for the first time that although no review could now be done the circumstances surrounding their "non response" would make an interesting article in itself. Strange (coincidence?) how this suddenly prompted them to respond (in a vicious way) for the very first time?! ...
The 2 Emails (from AAPA to Melkweg prior to the TRAVIS gig) ...
-----Original Message-----
From: A.A.P.A. [mailto:info@aapa.nl]
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 5:34 PM
To: Melkweg Amsterdam
Subject: REPEAT: TRAVIS @ Melkweg (5 juni) - gig review..
Hi,
please see below email ...
we hebben nog geen reactie gehad? - En heeft dus weinig zin om iemand naar Amsterdam te sturen als ze geen recensie kunnen doen. Eigenlijk is dat jammer, want het ziet er nu uit (geen toeval dus) als precies dezelfde scenario als bij de AIR concert in Maart? (AIR management zei ja en jullie reageerde toen ook helemaal niet) en dit is ook een keer eerder voorgekomen vorige jaar. Als jullie niet willen dat er recensies worden geschreven kunnen jullie veel beter dat gewoon zeggen, en niet naar de "kop in de zand" scenario afwijken! - eerste keer kan toeval zijn, 2de keer kan eventueel (met voordeel van de twijfel) ook toeval zijn, maar bij de 3de keer is er intussen duidelijk sprake van "total incompetence" en/of wat mensen beschrijven in engels talig landen als: "enemy action" van jullie kant. Want een andere uitleg zou ik niet kunnen vinden?!?
Dus, voor vanavond geen gig recensie, maar in plaats "een artikel" over deze scenario is volgens ons meer geschikt. Hierdoor kunnen we de artiesten ook op de hoogte brengen van jullie praktijken, etc.
We zullen ook voor de eind van deze week een kopie van artikel (met link) voor info naar jullie sturen (and cc the band, agent and other UK based bands for future reference... )
cheers,
AAPA
www.aapa.nl
"subsidy kills creativity"
concert reviews can be found at: http://www.aapa.nl/Concertreview.html
-------Original Message-------
From: A.A.P.A.
Subject: TRAVIS @ Melkweg (5 juni) - gig review..
Sent: 04 Jun '07 09:28
Hi,
Re: TRAVIS @ Melkweg, Amsterdam (5 june)
We have already done an album review (see link below) and would also like to do a gig review when TRAVIS play at Melkweg tomorrow evening. can one of our reviewers be put on guest list please?
we hebben al een recensie gedaan (link hieronder) van de nieuwe album van TRAVIS, en zouden ook een gig recensie willen doen als ze spelen in de Melkweg morgen avond Zouden een van onze schrijvers op de gastlijst gezet kunnen worden aub?
album review (from 24th May) at:
http://www.aapa.nl/albumsreview.html
cheers,
AAPA
info@aapa.nl
also our album of month (for May 2007) at:
http://www.aapa.nl/MonthList.html
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The Melkweg reaction ...
Email 06 June '07 15:56, from Jon Heemsbergen (Marketing Manager / Head of Publicity, Melkweg)
beste persoon die onder de naam AAPA mailt,
Elk professioneel medium weet dat het belangrijk is om persaccreditaties op tijd te versturen, zeker bij populaire shows als Travis. 'Op tijd' is enkele weken van tevoren.
Dat u pas een dag van tevoren een mail stuurt, naar het algemene adres van de Melkweg, en hoopt via die weg nog op de perslijst te kunnen voor een uitverkochte show lijkt mij zeer optimistisch. Om er dan één dag later een mail als onderstaande achteraan te sturen vind ik zelfs bijzonder onvriendelijk. Verwacht u dat er hier een team van 10 man zit te wachten om elke binnengekomen e-mail binnen 5 minuten te beantwoorden? Dat is natuurlijk onmogelijk. Een reactie binnen enkele dagen lijkt mij heel correct. Bij deze. Voor dringend gevallen hebben wij ook een telefoonlijn. Sowieso loopt accreditatie voor shows in veel gevallen via het label of de platenmaatschappij van de artiest, zoals bij professionele journalisten bekend is. Zo werkte het ook bij het concert van AIR, hetgeen jullie indertijd is medegedeeld. Als het management / de platenmaatschappij accoord was, waarom hebben zij jullie dan niet op de perslijst gezet? Erg knap om daar ons probleem van te maken. Eén dag niet reageren op een e-mail is geen 'kop in HET zand' scenario. Dat u spreekt over totale incompetentie onzer zijde, zal ik maar als een grap opvatten, want een mens met gezond verstand durft toch niet te oordelen over de competentie van een persoon die hem of haar onbekend is. En de enige 'enemy action' die ik observeer wordt hieronder gequote.
hoogachtend,
Jon Heemsbergen
hoofd publiciteit
marketing manager
MELKWEG Amsterdam
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copy of Email sent from AAPA back to Melkweg on 7th June (in response to Jon`s "very professional" comments) ...
Hi Jon,
Thanks for the response. I would have taken the effort to reply in Dutch but on reading your Email comments like "Eén dag niet reageren op een e-mail is geen 'kop in HET zand' scenario" with your emphasis on the word "HET" instead of our "de" (Jon appears to want to put the emphasis on an incorrect Dutch word we used in our original Email rather than the actual issue itself!) make us suspect that apart from being responsible for Marketing you may also be a fully paid up member of the "nederlandse taal politie" ("Dutch language police") and we wouldn't want to upset them now would we?
Also, your Email is littered with what can only be seen as being very patronizing comments like "Elk professioneel medium weet dat..." ("Every professional organisation knows that...") and "zoals bij professionele journalisten bekend is" ("which would be known by professional journalists"), which tends to suggest that you think or actually believe that 1 - only the "official media" matters, 2 - you are both very knowledgeable and very important, 3 - Only you have the right to an opinion!?, 4 - You are assuming that we (AAPA) have no knowledge of how the music industry works and are unimportant, 5 - You seem to be of the opinion that an independent site like AAPA should not offer any opinions, and most importantly as far as you/Melkweg are concerned that nobody should dare to criticize your world? - To which all I would like to say to that is: big fish in a very small pond.
As for your comment "Een reactie binnen enkele dagen lijkt mij heel correct" ("A reaction [from us] within a few days seems very reasonable") - at least we seem to agree on something, which therefore raises the question: So why has nobody ever bothered to respond from Melkweg on all the previous occasions then? - You are now responding as far as the recent TRAVIS gig is concerned but as prime examples this also relates to the gigs by AIR on 27th March and HAPPY MONDAYS (5 Days Off) in July 2006 when all our requests still remain unanswered from your end to this date.
As for your comment "Zo werkte het ook bij het concert van AIR, hetgeen jullie indertijd is medegedeeld" ("This is what happened at the AIR concert, which we informed you about at the time"), you appear to be suggesting that someone from the Melkweg responded? Well keeping it factual they didn't. In fact we had copies of Emails from various people connected to AIR before that gig (in original copy of Email here was list of 3 people in France representing AIR or their record company) who were fine with us coming to do a review but upon arrival our reviewers name was NOT on the door, which therefore sadly totally contradicts your subsequent comment "Als het management / de platenmaatschappij accoord was, waarom hebben zij jullie dan niet op de perslijst gezet? Erg knap om daar ons probleem van te maken." ("If the management / record company was in agreement, why had they not included you on the press list? Very clever to try and make this our problem") because who else other than the Melkweg got it wrong on the night?
Like we tried to explain in our last Email, our conclusion was based on giving the Melkweg 3 separate chances. You only decided to respond for the first time after I had informed you we would run an article on this, which we believe even more now to be incompetence at your end, and now also an attempt by yourself to try and divert attention away from the real issues on display here. And I believe that the (paying) public deserve to know how some people and organizations within the Dutch music industry attempt to run their business (compared to a lot of other countries - badly!)
At the end of the day, all we try to do is give people an unpaid (therefore unbiased) view of the music scene, which includes album and gig reviews. We are not (as is the case with almost every media outlet in Holland) a sponsored or paid website. - "The Dutch language music publications, which provide reviews, do interviews and announce forthcoming concerts, only cover acts from either the major record companies–big budgets–or ones that they are helping to plug–various budgets depending on the act. What you end up with is a magazine full of positive reviews, as if the reviewers are afraid of handing out critique even if appropriate at the risk of upsetting their "sponsors". These magazines are more advertising vehicles than music magazines" - You could have had a review from the TRAVIS gig but someone (not saying you) at your end decided not to bother and now it is like more energy is being spent to try and divert attention away from the underlying issue (where only the likes of OOR [the Dutch language high street music magazine] are entitled to have an opinion!) rather than looking at the actual cause. And while OOR have now done gig reviews from both The Who (at Ahoy) and MCR (At HMH) gigs in Holland on 5th June, the TRAVIS gig has remained unreported. And that is a real shame.
Also, ask yourself this: If only the major record companies and major publications are acknowledged, then how many jobs will the music industry be forced to shed in 5 or 10 years time?
Hope that clarifies the situation more.
AAPA
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The Melkweg reaction ...
Well by 6pm on 11th June we were still awaiting a response. So it seems that they can`t even follow their own quotes about timing?! ...
A few days later the Melkweg then sent an email demanding that we removed all replies and references relating to themselves. They also declined to provide any explanation as to this entire scenario...
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As an afterthought, and also worth mentioning, this reminded us of when OOR did their so called "professional review" of the AIR gig back in March (AIR - Tuesday 27th March - Melkweg, Amsterdam) when it quickly becomes apparent that the OOR reviewer wasn't even familiar with the bands music, and where as part of their review he goes onto describe ‘La Femme d'Argent’ as a "psychedelic jam session" and concludes that "we didn`t even get to hear all our favourite tracks"?! (Met een extra toegift die verzandt in een psychedelische jam, hebben we lang niet al onze favorieten gehoord)?! - Their Dutch language review can be found at: http://www.oor.nl/deruit_concertverslagen_details.asp?id=474
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In summary, the Dutch music industry appear to spend tons of arts subsidy employing people and funding projects with little or zero accountability, where criticism is not welcome, and where if you do dare to raise questions or issues they then defend themselves by initially ignoring and then if pressed, denying there is a problem, if that fails to convince they then try and divert attention away (smokescreens) from the real issues, while maintaining a stance that they are the most knowledgeable people and the only voices that matter within their industry (or is it just bullshitters protecting their own positions?) ... But what the majority appear to forget is that it is the public (you and me!) who pay for and fund this annual subsidy. We are in effect paying their wages, and we think it is time they showed a lot more accountability and professionalism!
To be continued ...
© AAPA - June, 2007
PLEASE NOTE THAT REVIEWS CAN BE IN THE ENGLISH OR DUTCH LANGUAGE
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