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Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
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Author:  Kveldulfr [ Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Today I knew about an uber metal fest with ZERO bands confirmed, but with tickets already on sale:

Image

Borknagar, Immortal and Aura Noir already denied the involvement with this bullshit and Apollyon went further saying that the producers had a reputation for being rip-offs.

I'm not sure if this happens often in europe or the US, but here in Southamerica is everyday bread. There are always ripped-off people with this and of course the deception and subsequent rage sucks.

Maybe you have/know something to share related to this? some places where this happens all the time or it's happening right now? some producers that are well known rip-offs?
Author:  dreadmeat [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
wow man that sucks! :nono:
Author:  Inspector_Satan [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Why is Mayhem listed so far down? Below Pain? Seriously??

The last Rites of Darkness fest is a fairly recent example of disaster. One promoter tried to arrange a 4 day festival in Texas with some 30 international bands and due to a combination of incompetence and happenstance ended up with MUCH less than half of the bigger name bands that should have been the big draw for the weekend.He had similar issues with the fest the last time he organised it apparently and seems to have properly dragged his name through the mud with this fiasco. Naturally he's announced plans for RoD4 next February
Author:  VampireKiller [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Pure fucking bullshit at a level such as this is something I've never heard of in Europe regarding festivals. I can't think of a single European example even remotely close to this
Author:  tehfoks [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Wow, I had no idea shit like that happened. Bummer.
Author:  dreadmeat [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
http://www.ticketek.cl/ has it on their site :o
Author:  ENKC [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
You're telling me that none of the bands on that lineup have agreed to play that show?
Author:  Acrobat [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Inspector_Satan wrote:
Why is Mayhem listed so far down? Below Pain? Seriously??


Yeah, the total cheek, I can't believe a con-artist would have so little knowledge of Mayhem's influence and importance to the metal scene! He must, like, only be in it for the money!
Author:  Kveldulfr [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Ole Jørgen Moe:
FAKE FESTIVAL?

Aura noir&immortal are NOT playing this festival.
We were asked,but both Aura noir and Bömbers(abbath's band)are busy playing a festival in Holland,so we had to say NO.
Who the fuck knows how both bands still ended up on the poster,but I hear that the organizer is a famous rip-off.

Save your money and spread the word!I doubt that any of these bands are coming...

I guess that speaks volumes about the promoters.
Author:  godsonsafari [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Jack Koschick and Milwaukee Metal Fest/New Jersey Metal Meltdown/November To Dismember, 2000s. Hell, late 1990s too come to mind. No one has a positive thing to say about him. Death In The Forest I remember being a point where I had things to say on the internet that people didn't like because I thought the entire thing was flawed and fucked up from the jump and people wanted to believe there was really going to be an open air death/black metal festival in New York. The last Ohio Deathfest was a complete disaster.
Author:  samekh [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
It sounds like the promoter just put a bunch of the big names in underground metal on his poster, because it's a pretty impressive lineup. I feel kind of bad that a number of people will likely be fooled by it (unless it has happened so many times before that everybody has caught on to it).
Author:  Mimogrede [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Can't they be sued for shit like this? I mean, come on, things like that should not be happening...
Author:  Kveldulfr [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
ENKC wrote:
You're telling me that none of the bands on that lineup have agreed to play that show?


Basically, just The Devil's Blood confirmed, although I doubt they will finally come, since bands are getting out of this shit pretty fast.

In fact, the promoters posted in fb that ALL bands will be there! I mean, you read the Apollyon's message - taken from fb/Immortalofficial, also Oystein Brun said that 'it's a mistake', so how can they be so shameless to assure every single band will be playing? Hell, this is a fucking mess.

Ah, and the venue is not reserved for that day. Go figure.
Author:  slavonic777 [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Image

This completely fake shit made it even to the regional TV, where they had a phone call with organisers. There was a lot of contorversy...
Author:  Zerberus [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Wasn't there some North American death metal festival where a bunch of bands that played there never got their money?
Also I can't believe how shameless some people are. I have a very low tolerance for con-men who cheat hardworking people out of their money. (Insert joke about governments and taxes)
Author:  Kveldulfr [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Btw, Vortex himself confirmed that Borknagar and Arcturus are not going there. I hope some criminal prosecution occurs if the tickets are sold.
Author:  IanThrash [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
hate this scumbags...the tumors of metal
Author:  Oxenkiller [ Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
I have NEVER heard of shit like that progressing to this level- promoting (and selling tickets for?!?) a festival that was never even intended to take place, and booking bands that were never intended to show- how fucking ruthless. I have heard of bands cancelling and then leaving ticket purchasers holding the bill (no refunds- Death pulled that crap at the Stone in San Francisco once but at least the other scheduled bands got to still play) And I have heard of incompetant promoters fucking up in other ways- advertising shows for the wrong day, etc. (Boise's own Neurolux did this once!) But nothing like an entire whole fictitious day-long festival- I don't know what the laws are in South America but if someone tried that shit in the U.S. he'd probably get sued!
Author:  Kveldulfr [ Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Mythology Agency confirmed that Borknagar, Arcturus, Aura Noir and Mayhem are not going to play there.

BUT...The producers blamed some bands' members and people who was looking for confirmations that the bands didn't want to play. Holy shit.
Author:  Eh_Timeghoul [ Fri Mar 16, 2012 11:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
this seems like such a 80s-90s thing.....it totally would still be a common thing in South America and Eastern Europe-those places seem to be stuck in that era (and it's a great thing.....well, not this, this ain't cool)
Author:  Wrath_Of_War [ Sat Mar 17, 2012 2:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
The "Age of Luciferian Intolerance" guy in Tennessee is a ripoff. He has put on a couple festivals in the Tennessee mountains....basically a "Gathering of the Shadows" ripoff fest, and from what I hear, they have failed miserably. He books normal shows, too. He does zero promotion, constantly shows up late, and NEVER pays bands even a small fraction of what he promises...ever.

As previously mentioned by another user, Danny Serna of the "Rites of Darkness" fest is a ripoff. I don't feel like going into that one...I'm sure everyone already knows the story anyway.
Author:  Idrownfish [ Sat Mar 17, 2012 3:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Ensiferum and Mayhem below Six Feet Under \../

Would that be enough reason to simply not go to the festival? >.>

Recently in Rock in Rio during the day that would supposedly be dedicated to metal, we had Sepultura and Angra (with Tarja Turunen helping Angra with the vocals) in the secondary stage, playing for less than an hour with Slipknot on the main stage. There were 50 thousand metalheads who simply couldn't get anywhere near the secondary stage and were PISSED about that.

They didn't miss that much tho, pretty much everything about the sound went wrong. The vocalists couldn't hear themselves and were constantly out of tune. The lead guitars were invisible. The rhythm guitars were almost invisible and the drums were insanely loud but badly-equalized.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lp_guu3kIg

When all you care about is money, wrecks like this happen, you don't even have to scam anyone.

But yes, this kind of bullshit happens a lot in South America, to the point where you are limited to a few trusted producers. Recently they sold tickets for an event that would be headlined by Sepultura - Ferrock. They negotiated Sepultura's payment with the band itself, only to announce one day before the concert that there wasn't enough money to pay the artists and that Sepultura had been cancelled. No one had their money back, after all, it was only one cancellation and the event would proceed normally... Well whoever bought tickets for that should have seen it coming tho, there were 0 remotely significant bands other than the main event that never happened.
Author:  Kveldulfr [ Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
In the end, the festival was cancelled. The promoters said they had 1 guy to handle all contacts and negociations with all bands and he just lied to them.

The problem comes for the ones who already bought their tickets, since Ticketek doesn't return the service charges for cancellation.
Author:  Metallumz [ Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
This happened in the UK a couple of years ago, I've been a little out the Metal scene since. However I remember this particular 'underground festival' had such acts as Winterfylleth/Wodensthrone/Primordial on stage across the whole weekend.

Many people had booked it, and the tickets weren't cheap either. Only for the organiser to completely drop-out with no explanation only a month before the supposed festival was about to go ahead. People wanted refunds and found they either didn't get one, or had only 40% of their costs returned (with the organiser profiteering 60% on ticket prices alone.)

I'm just lucky I was fortunate enough to already be out of pocket and unable to afford the ticket until closer to the event, before which the news broke through.
Author:  OzzyApu [ Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Idrownfish wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lp_guu3kIg
When all you care about is money, wrecks like this happen, you don't even have to scam anyone.

That is one of the worst live sounds I have ever heard in my life. Holy hell would that have been awful in person. Feel bad for Angra having to perform with that abhorrent sound.
Author:  dreadmeat [ Mon Mar 19, 2012 3:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Abhorrent Sound would be a cool band name :nods:
Author:  Subrick [ Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Idrownfish wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lp_guu3kIg

When all you care about is money, wrecks like this happen, you don't even have to scam anyone.


I'm not sure if it's just the bad sound or not, but GODDAMN IS THAT SINGER TERRIBLE. It's like he's trying to do a Bruce Dickinson impression without actually having the proper voice for it; very strained, voice cracks aplenty, out of tune, it's a fucking mess.

dreadmeat wrote:
Abhorrent Sound would be a cool band name :nods:


Imagine a band with that name doing a tour with Rotten Sound. It'd be the "Abhorrently Rotten Sound Tour". :P
Author:  Zodijackyl [ Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Subrick wrote:
dreadmeat wrote:
Abhorrent Sound would be a cool band name :nods:


Imagine a band with that name doing a tour with Rotten Sound. It'd be the "Abhorrently Rotten Sound Tour". :P


A few years ago there was a tour with "Beneath The Massacre" and "Before The Massacre" and one or two other ___ the ___ bands, maybe After The Burial. I still don't know the difference between those bands.
Author:  Subrick [ Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
All the Noun the Verb bands sound identical anyway.
Author:  dreadmeat [ Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Rotten Sound kick much arse, wicked band.
i think the Big Day Out [festival] we have here, and in oz too, was the last one this year.
apparently after they had sold a few thousand tickets they announced on the radio that if you turned up with last years ticket you'd get in FREE, that pissed a few people off.
Author:  DaBuddha [ Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
A few years ago there was supposed to be a fest in Texas called Thunder of Gods that my band was going to play along with Absu and a bunch of international bands, none of which I remember right now, but some were from as far away as Russia. I talked to the promoter on the phone and everything was set. We had to cancel for a reason that I don't remember off hand, but in the end, the last two days of the fest were cancelled because the promoter "disappeared". Apparently he ran off with all the money and fled town. It sucks because Absu and especially all these international bands, showed up to the fest, having no idea what was happening, and they all had to find a way back home on their own. I'm sure plane tickets to Russia and Italy are expensive as all hell.
Author:  Bestialdamnation [ Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Inspector_Satan wrote:
Why is Mayhem listed so far down? Below Pain? Seriously??

The last Rites of Darkness fest is a fairly recent example of disaster. One promoter tried to arrange a 4 day festival in Texas with some 30 international bands and due to a combination of incompetence and happenstance ended up with MUCH less than half of the bigger name bands that should have been the big draw for the weekend.He had similar issues with the fest the last time he organised it apparently and seems to have properly dragged his name through the mud with this fiasco. Naturally he's announced plans for RoD4 next February


Exactly what came to mind when I saw the title of this thread.
Author:  Wrath_Of_War [ Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
DaBuddha wrote:
A few years ago there was supposed to be a fest in Texas called Thunder of Gods that my band was going to play along with Absu and a bunch of international bands, none of which I remember right now, but some were from as far away as Russia. I talked to the promoter on the phone and everything was set. We had to cancel for a reason that I don't remember off hand, but in the end, the last two days of the fest were cancelled because the promoter "disappeared". Apparently he ran off with all the money and fled town. It sucks because Absu and especially all these international bands, showed up to the fest, having no idea what was happening, and they all had to find a way back home on their own. I'm sure plane tickets to Russia and Italy are expensive as all hell.

Woah. Who is your band? And I'm from Texas, so I'm curious to know....who was the promoter? Do you remember his name?
Author:  Morrigan [ Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Wow, and I thought the Frowz Productions guy was a rip-off, but at least the shows he booked did occur... he just (allegedly) cheated the bands out of their money, instead of both the bands and their fans. Not that it's excusable of course, the asshole disappeared after the shows occurred without ever paying the bands what they were owed, but at least the bands did show up for the fans. :/ These fictional shows are... wow.
Author:  Kveldulfr [ Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Just saying, today I knew that the producers from that Ritual gig are the same that will bring Immolation, Absu and Inquisition. I'll wait until the last day to buy a ticket

Ed: it's supposedly confirmed that Immolation will play here, but there's nothing going on in the official site.

Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Ed2:Absu cancelled the southamerican tour for visa problems.
Author:  Fast_Kill [ Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
I just heard of this show yesterday (The day it was officially canceled). When I saw the line up, and how it was arranged I inmeadiatly thaught it was some fake shit.
This kind of scams are not unusual. The promoter said that they will give everyone their money back, but still, how can you star selling tickets when you have just 1 band confirmed.
Fucking fake promoter, getting all my hopes up.
Author:  Goatfangs [ Fri Apr 26, 2013 10:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
I normally do not bump a thread, especially one that is over a year old, but I do have something to add that is pertinent especially to anyone who is currently in Portugal.

The Lisbon Dark Fest, put on by someone named Rita Alves of Fabrica da Musica has been having a whole lot of trouble lately. Several of the bands - Haggard, Crematory and Finsterforst were cancelled last minute. Therion was also scheduled to play. They recently landed in Portugal but have heard nothing from the promoter of the festival. She won't answer their calls or anything.

Here's a video from Asis from Haggard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPWm7x4p2Cc

Apparently, the bands that were cancelled are the ones who contracted with the promoter for her to provide flight tickets for them. Or perhaps the theory shared by Asis is true - that these promoters scheduled big name bands just to attract ticket sales, but then cancel them at the last minute to avoid paying them. And use subversive tactics to do so.
Author:  hakarl [ Sat Apr 27, 2013 6:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Subrick wrote:
All the Noun the Verb bands sound identical anyway.

Before and beneath are actually prepositions. Massacre is a noun in this case and not a verb, although it can be both of course. Burial is most definitely not a verb.
Author:  ~Guest 82538 [ Sat Apr 27, 2013 7:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
Goatfangs wrote:
I normally do not bump a thread, especially one that is over a year old, but I do have something to add that is pertinent especially to anyone who is currently in Portugal.

The Lisbon Dark Fest, put on by someone named Rita Alves of Fabrica da Musica has been having a whole lot of trouble lately. Several of the bands - Haggard, Crematory and Finsterforst were cancelled last minute. Therion was also scheduled to play. They recently landed in Portugal but have heard nothing from the promoter of the festival. She won't answer their calls or anything.

Here's a video from Asis from Haggard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPWm7x4p2Cc

Apparently, the bands that were cancelled are the ones who contracted with the promoter for her to provide flight tickets for them. Or perhaps the theory shared by Asis is true - that these promoters scheduled big name bands just to attract ticket sales, but then cancel them at the last minute to avoid paying them. And use subversive tactics to do so.

Sadly this is all true, but there's even more! :(

I've been following this story for around two months now, since I always lurk around in http://www.metalunderground.pt to know which bands play in Portugal and all that. So when I first saw Therion confirmed to play in Portugal I was like "Wow!". But then I started reading. From the start of the discussion there were immediate warning signs coming from all sides. Known promoters that make/made a lot of events started warning everyone about who were the people behind the entity known as "Fábrica da Música", and how they were allegedly the same behind RDA Management, which ripped off several bands by not paying them in the past. So basically it all smelled fishy from the start, mainly because of the same person being behind the two promoters, Rita Dupiás Alves (RDA). Official statements were made from Fábrica da Música against those who were trying to warn people, law suits were mentioned, and a lot of shit flew over everyone's heads. In the end promises were made and the grounds for the functioning of the festival were laid down to the point of the ruling inside the venue and the price of food and beverages. Everything was made known, and I mean everything! "It will happen at X place, with these conditions, these prices for A, B, C..." and on and on. It was like an endless torrent of bullshit to keep people buying tickets.

But a lot of things were indeed fishy, if the amount of known promoters warning everyone wasn't already enough. A national band cancelled while another allegedly "ended", the venue that was booked for 2000 people was a hall with a maximum capacity of 800 and there wasn't even enough room to place a stage that could hold Therion nor Haggard, plus there were no permits issued by the city hall, prices of tickets started rising every week or two... Plus, the show was set to happen today, the 27th of April, at a point where the biggest underground metal festival in Portugal is taking place, and that is SWR Fest. Now look at that bill, it's massive isn't it?! Who in their right minds would book a show to coincide with a festival that big?! I mean, it was an endless torrent of bullshit. But you know... a festival with Therion, Haggard and Crematory? People really wanted to believe, and that was the main scheme for ripping people off.

I can say that this kind of shit is pretty rare here because most promoters and event organizers here in Portugal are generally known by the metal community. Much like one of the comments on the Haggard video said, they're mostly musicians or friends of bands who happen to run a label or book shows. And they are solid, trustworthy people that don't need this kind of shit on their backs! There have been a few rip off attempts in the past two to three years, but they were so ludicrously ridiculous that no one took them seriously. This one however was so twisted and prolonged throughout time, with so many details put out and a will to keep the story straight, that it frightens me to be honest! Next thing you know bands don't want to come here because "Portuguese promoters are rip offs".

I surely want this to be known, every person in the world should know that this kind of things can happen. But on the other hand I feel sad for it because now an entire community will be constantly judged against the actions of one single fucking person. Seriously Rita, if I ever meet you in person I'll kick the shit out of you. And I have a rule against hitting women.

So please, don't judge all of us on accounts of one rotten apple.
Author:  Frank Booth [ Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fake festivals, Rip-off producers and the like
The Shockwave Fest that was supposed to happen last year turned into this. Basically, it was supposed to be a huge touring fest with Fear Factory and Voivod headlining, along with Misery Index, Cattle Decapitation, Havok, Revocation, Forged in Flame, Vildhjarta, Dirge Within, The Browning, and Last Chance to Reason. Seemed cool minus some of the really, really awful bands on the bill. Then bands started dropping off, albeit the ones that no one cared about. Then Revocation bailed as well and the response was a general "uh-oh". The rest of the bands started dropping like flies soon after before the fest was finally cancelled. From what I was told by Pete from Havok and Travis from Cattle, it was one of those things where everything that could go wrong went spectacularly wrong, and the general lack of competence displayed by the organizers was truly mind-blowing.
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