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Red & Black Music has had its fair share of tricky clients over the years. Actually, it is quite compelling to sit back and reflect on some of these experiences and we can thank our lucky stars we made it through. Here is a ranking of the absolute worst. 12. MP (2015)Request for "gutsy" music. The audience abandoned the artist mid-performance and expected the artist to follow them out into the garden when he was performing with a wired amp. MP was critical that the artist did not play any of the "gutsy" music she requested. Clearly, the interpretation of "gutsy" did not quite hit the mark. From: MP 11. OP (2022)On the night, OP continually moved the goal posts, changing the running order, timings and even complaining about the band being too loud. The band were not supplied with a proper dressing room or rider, resulting in lots of musician complaints. In the end, the band ganged up on OP and almost pushed him into a corner. It was an incredibly stressful evening. From: Rory Duffy 10. Emma (2014)The clients caused issues in the organisation of the event due to their continual insistence on doing business verbally over the phone. Although the performance was succesful, she was critical of the band's management and described it as "horrific". From: Claire Maillot 9. Zara D (2018)There were two issues with this engagement. The first issue was the unsubstantiated client critique regarding the music on the night. The client booked a jazz band and expected a function band. She continually interrupted the band telling them that they were not "upbeat" enough and requesting music that people could dance to. The second issue was that the final payment was made to the agency and this was not picked up until three months later. From: Production 8. KF (2019)When the performance was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, KF's father (who was drunk) physically threatened the artist. The artist relayed this information to the agency. Unfortunately, the clients refused to pay, despite the artist travelling from London to Wiltshire. Fortunately, the travel expenses were covered, but the clients also misrepresented rider-related that the artist had said during the course of the event, framing the artist in a negative light to the agency - using this, as a justification for not paying. The sax player before hand seemed brilliant letting me know that he was getting the train and what time it arrived so this put my mind at rest and felt really chilled going in to it! When Rory arrived became and introduced him self to me and let me know the plan. So at this point I was really happy and excited as I know this was going to make my husbands night! 7. RM (2021)RM complained about the dress code, even going to such calculated and cold-blooded lengths as filming the artist without consent during the performance and sending in the footage to the agency. He also alleged that the artist departed five minutes before the end of the performance. He threatened to pursue a refund and accused us of lying. Fortunately, we had learned from the lessons of Zara K and obtained settlement the day before, otherwise it would have been very difficult obtaining payment afterwards. From: RM 6. DM (2013)Not only did Diáspora supply a heavily discounted performance, but also made an additional journey down to Surrey ahead of the performance to discuss the client's needs in person. On the day, none of the timings reflected what was agreed beforehand. DM positioned the clients far away from the seven-piece band, such that the band were effectively performing to no-one. Afterwards, DM ghosted the band's attempts at obtaining feedback for three years, but finally came out of the woodwork and commented "disappointed with the performance you gave on the day, as we felt whilst it was professional and competent, it completely failed to ignite any passion in the audience." He was offered discounted tickets to the band's performance at Jazz Café but no further reply was received from him. The clients failed to realise what a bargain they secured, and should have been charged much more. The event was a whole-day operation and it was an ambitious venue to reach, with little to no phone signal, involving a convoy of about three or four cars and the purchase of a brand new PA system. From: M 5. AO (2016)The wedding timings ran behind. The bride refused to communicate with the artist on the day. The artist was not put in touch with any event coordinator. The artist was left to their own devices, to languish, all the time sensing that the wedding was not running as planned yet powerless to do anything about it. The artist remembers running around madly trying to ask people what was going on and why they would not allow the performance to go ahead. Even the photographer seemed equally confused. Afterwards, the bride accused the artist of not sticking to the contract and said "do your job". She expected the artist to stay longer than contracted, but no one actually made this request explicit. She held the artist responsible for her first dance request not being performed on time. This client was a classical example of poor on-the-day communication. From: Rory Duffy 4. AF (2016)Expected an upbeat performance with the sort of ferocity one might expect from a full band, from a duo. Placed the duo at the opposite end of the building to the guests and claimed that the duo did not interact with the audience. Even went to the length of claiming that some of the guests were laughing at the duo as they departed. There were other issues. Such as expecting the duo to operate wirelessly without having specified this at the point of contract / show advance. Or booking a Latin duo to play Spanish music. AF was not there on the night but seemed to be spying on the duo via CCTV. Not satisfied with leaving negative feedback with the band manager, AF went above and relayed this negative feedback to the agent, endangering the band's reputation. This client is a classic case in compensation culture and expecting more than was actually paid for. From: Claire Maillot 3. Guy Swindell / Jason @ Book Live (2014) 🥉After transporting a full PA system via taxis / trains to Leeds Football Club and back to London, booking some of the North West's top-class Latin musicians and even staying overnight in a hostel. The engagement itself was long, around six hours, with several performances interspersed with complimentary DJ sets. On the day, although the clients paid no attention to the music, Guy Swindell (the lead client) was very praising. Months down the line, Jo uncovered some unsubstantiated client critique that failed to correlate with the positive feedback received on the day. On sharing this with the agent, Jason @ Book Live, in a valiant effort to resolve the unaccounted for issues, Jason struck the band from his books without even notifying us! When questioned, Jason came up with an alternative wording suggesting that Guy had provided separate feedback to him and not to the band. However, when Jo questioned the integrity of this feedback, Jason refused to provide any further information; instead accusing the band of behaving impersonally. On 1 Dec 2015, at 09:56, Jason @ Book Live wrote: On 30 Nov 2015, at 12:13, Jason @ Book Live wrote: On 10 Sep 2014, at 13:15, Guy Swindell wrote: 2. MM (2021) 🥈MM booked Diáspora to perform for a law firm event. He used the phone as a means to bully, intimidate, and manipulate: both with the initial cancellation request and with the unnecessary phone call disguised as "Show Advancing". The Musicians' Union advised "go with 100% cancellation fee as an initial position" and subsequently failed to provide any useful advice on interacting with this cold, calculating individual. On the day, the client attempted to cancel a third time while the band were on our way to the venue. Before and during the event, he repeatedly implied that the bandleader was acting careless and reckless for adhering to the contract, while ignoring the fact that the government had not prohibited office parties. On the night, he was not present and all correspondence was carried out remotely via exchange of e-mails from Colombia. He tricked the band into suggestively "forfeiting" its contract, exploiting the bandleader's autism / communication difficulties to sabotage our fulfilment of the contract. Finally, he threatened legal action. Ultimately, he used his position as treasurer to bully and intimidate the band into backing down when we refused to cancel without charging a cancellation fee. The Musicians' Union issued a directive to stop sending e-mails unless there was a real problem and subsequently did nothing despite membership fees paid. As a result of this escapade, we quit the Musicians' Union a year later. On the night, it was declared that this was the worst client. In hindsight, we withdrew this superlative. While it was certainly the worst Diáspora client, the repercussions were short-lived: the client did not pursue legal action and nothing happened after the fateful night. Hence, on the basis of lasting repercussions (in the subsequent case of three months), the trophy for the worst client remains with Zara K. From: MM 1. Zara K (2018) 🥇The infamous Jewish wedding. Not only did the band prepare accordingly with song requests that were not charged for, rehearsals, specialist Klezma lessons and expensive equipment, but they were asked to stay for two hours longer than agreed, for no extra money. The groom lied to W Entertainment about the bandleader "throwing down the sax" and "storming out" on four occasions, endangered the bandleader's reputation with both agency and musicians and tried to use his lies as a justification for not paying. The clients took three months to pay (during which we had already paid the musicians, leaving us hundreds of pounds out of pocket, despite the weeks of preparation) and only with Musicians' Union intervention. The gig impacted knock-on effects for other clients and relationships and fundamentally changed the way in which Red & Black Music does business, i.e., taking down payments for all Employment Agency clients going forward. In all possible ways, these clients were rotten eggs. Rude, manipulative, devious, and untrustworthy. Psychological abuse tactics involved triangulation (with the involvement of the bride's father, RK), gaslighting and other forms of manipulation (e.g., painting the bandleader out to be incapacitated). From: AT Comments are closed.
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BlogRed & Black Music was set up in 2012 to stop musicians cancelling. PurposeAt Red & Black Music, we believe in accountability = learning from experience. This blog serves as a record of challenges we’ve faced and how we’ve worked to resolve them. By sharing this, we aim to demonstrate our commitment to professionalism, problem-solving, and continuous improvement. Archives
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