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Re: Nationals result and transfernews

I wrote:
> > At my own band, Brighouse & Rastrick, there is no
> > sponsorship (our own choice) and no huge fees to players, but we do
> > sometimes struggle to fill vacancies, especially when another band
> > offers a player money. Obviously the player will take the money most
> > times.  Our philosophy is that we only want players who join because
> > they want to play for B&R.

Phil Green wrote:
> I agree with Martin.  Although we do pay retainers to players 
> (myself included) they are not the sort of money that would make a 
> player join us if they didn't want to.  Our Sop player was 
> offered,and I'm not making this up, 10 TIMES what she gets from us to 
> play for one particular band but she refused, and our Solo Euph 
> offered DOUBLE and a bit to join another top band but again he 
> refused.  When our band didn't have a sponsor we polled all our 
> players about giving up expenses and retainers and everyone was 
> willing to give up expenses and all but one willing to give up their 
> retainer.
> The bands who can't say this will have a real problem when their 
> sponsorship IS pulled.
> 
> Choosing not to have a sponsor is not really an option for most top 
> bands.  We have not had enough chart success to have our investments 
> paying us an income, nor do we have the public awareness to be able 
> to sell out concert venues where-ever we go.  The Brighouse and Dyke 
> (and more recently Grimethorpe) names still have a much bigger draw 
> than the rest of us.  With costs going up, and every player thinking 
> they ought to be paid something, sponsorship is the only way to stay 
> at the top for most bands.

Whilst it is true that due to chart successes now 20 years ago and the fact
that we get big sell out concerts and good concert fees at B&R, we only
have so much money to operate with.  As contest results over the last 3
years and in particular last weekend proves, we can now back up the name of
the band with good performances as well, we are not just a name anymore.

For the last few years the band has actually operated at a significant
loss, but income from investments usually made up for that and the bands
worth increased.  Since we built our own bandroom (at a cost in excess of
200k, in cash) a couple of years ago, there is not as much money in the
bank to gain interest to cover the losses with, so the band is very careful
with its money, and is always trying to cut back and be careful what it
spends.

Obviously the band is worth a lot in assets, but there is only so much cash
at the bank to keep the thing running day to day.  In summary the band has
significants assets and money because it looks after it well.

Also, I think it is a credit to banding the way the Fodens players stuck
together through a sticky patch and were willing to give up their money for
the good of the band.  Sponsorship does take away some of the financial
worries, but paying players creates other problems, and taking on a
sponsors name usually hides the past name & history of the band.  Maybe
bands like Fodens do not always get sell-outs because the general public
don't know who they are.  Taking back on the Fodens name I think is a good
move.

Martin Irwin.


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