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University of Maine v. My Chemical Romance?

Posted by aubin on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 4:00 PM (EST)

Super-popular My Chemical Romance is on the verge of a suit by the student government of the University of Maine.

The band were due to play the University on October 27, but pulled out at the eleventh hour blaming an apparent "medical issue" within in the band. Now the Student Government at the campus have sent two letters to the band asking for $20,500 to cover "lost" costs, covering money paid out for advertising, money paid to contractors and compensation costs.

They've given the band and their management until November 12 to stump up the cash, otherwise they will take a vote over whether to launch a lawsuit. This is all despite My Chemical Romance saying they will honour the show at another time - an offer that the university turned down.

Of course, playing another gig doesn't really solve the problem since the promoters will again have to spend money on advertising and other promotions.

Warner Music Group (46 comments)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Seriously.

ExtraCheesePizza (November 6, 2007)

$20,500 is soooo many flyers handed out between classes.

How big of a venue does the school have that is was going to make that kind of money back?

2+ Replies

NotPatriotic (November 6, 2007)

They probably had to pay the stage crew a hefty sum of money unless My Chemical Romance build their own stage (I don't know). They also had to probably pay for the use of a building. $20,500 isn't that much money in the scope of things. 5,000 students pay a $15 ticket charge and that is $75,000.

ExtraCheesePizza (November 6, 2007)

Jesus, never thought about it that much. I think my band needs to start wearing guyliner and cash in.

Jag (November 12, 2007)

Behold, you have all now witnessed how every one of these crappy bands starts.

DiscoFucker (November 6, 2007)

MCR are a HUGE band, I would be shocked if they didn't have some paperwork preventing this type of suit. Also, you don't need to spend too much money promoting a second time if the tickets are already sold, espeically when the majority (if not all) of the tickets were bought by students who will still be there in a month or so. Just a change of date announcement and you are money.

tylerdurden8136 (November 6, 2007)

If the school has close to $22000 to spend/waste on MCR, then fuck em. They obviously have enough money that they can just throw it around like that.

4+ Replies

NotPatriotic (November 6, 2007)

They were not planning on losing money for the show. Most public colleges really don't have that much extra money to throw around.

tylerdurden8136 (November 6, 2007)

My $12000 a semester would like to argue that.

NotPatriotic (November 6, 2007)

Holy shit, you are getting screwed. This term my tuition was $200 for 12 credits. Gotta love scholarships. What sucks is food and rent.

tylerdurden8136 (November 6, 2007)

Well, I shouldn't have been so lazy through high school and actually gotten my ass to attempt a few scholarships.

PervyD (November 6, 2007)

Do what I did.....tour in a band and try to live your dreams for a handful of years and then go back to school after you're 25. Since I'm broke from all the touring and the obvious non-fulfillment of said dreams, the government and schools love to throw grants at me. I work part-time for food and rent, and school is pretty much free compared to what 18-year-old freshman pay. Woot!

listofdemands (November 6, 2007)

that's hilarious! that's literally, to the word, my story! GRANTS ROCK!
-nic

jonnyganas (November 6, 2007)

You may think that is a lot of money, and granted, it very well is. However, do you know how much it costs to have bands play at a college? I was a part of my college's concert committee and to rope in a national popular band for under 30k is a tall order. Of course I was pulling for Bad Religion (around $20,000), but we ended up getting Guster ($60,000!!! for a shitty band!) Needless to say I was pissed, but it opened my eyes to how much bands get paid to go on tour. Now I don't know how much went to the band themselves or how much went to the label, but that's way more than I thought. The bands I play with only get paid 500 - 1000 to play at bars.

Nameless (November 6, 2007)

Yikes! Why did they get Guster when Bad Religion was the cheaper band?

StormShadow (November 7, 2007)

Because college students, for some strange reason, LOVE Guster. I don't get it, either.

thomas7155 (November 6, 2007)

The second time today I've wanted to say something funny/insightful and haven't been able to.

2+ Replies

PervyD (November 6, 2007)

Your honesty is appreciated. At least you didn't leave some half-assed, non-sensical comment that TRIED to be funny. Kudos.

TheeValiantRA3 (November 6, 2007)

Give in to the despair and just kill yourself.

Jimmy_the_Saint (November 6, 2007)

Shouldn't they have insurance to cover this?

PervyD (November 6, 2007)

Is the accidental misplacement of band uniforms and the subsequent inability to quickly find costume rentals really a "medical issue"?

martinNZ09 (November 6, 2007)

Good on them, fuck MCR - $20k ain't nothing to these rockstar scum

Pay up you fuckers

Thus_Spoke_Sean (November 6, 2007)

Man, gotta love UMaine. Anyone remember when Redman canceled?......or when Fat Joe canceled?.....hahaha and now MCR incredible.

MCS rocked there one time, and RBF ALWAYS showed up and killed.

Dante3000 (rich) (November 6, 2007)

I was looking into this a bit and it appears the event was sponsored by the Student Government, meaning they probably fronted all that money and due to the late cancellation probably lost all or most of it as I doubt contractors are willing to let you slide due to some bands "medical issues".

Additionally, they probably declined having the show redone at a later date because $20,000 is a lot of money to put up front again, especially considering they already fronted that much money and haven't recouped. I know there is insurance for this kind of thing but it usually is for older bands more prone to canceling shows. And if the school did front the money I think the least they could do is get paid back for that. Or do the remake show and have the band front the money for contractors and the rest. It probably works out to the same cost.
-Dante

1+ Reply

Seanzor (November 6, 2007)

Yeah except knowing Sire/WB records they won't have to repay it. The school may have signed a contract agreeing to their terms. When you're the size of MCR, you have things in place for these type of situations so you don't lose money.

That being said, the 20k was probably taken as a bribe to stay away.

MN_punkmaster-skaman (November 6, 2007)

Hahahaha...medical issues? My diagnosis.... This Band Sucksitis. Symptoms: Gonherea of the ears caused by terrible music.

fallingupwards84 (November 6, 2007)

we played at UNC-Charlotte and got paid $250, i was pretty ecstatic about that

1+ Reply

PervyD (November 6, 2007)

One time we drove from Seattle to Colorado to play a show at Colorado College and cancelled two shows because they said they'd pay us $1500 to play to a huge crowd. When we got there, we were first band to play an all day festival, and magically, the contracts they said we'd sign upon arrival were never drawn up. We tried to sue them twice for at least our gas and food, but they keep finding ways around the civil suit system. Pretty shitty.

letthebeatdrop (November 6, 2007)

my chemical romance is a fucking joke. THEY should be paying the university to play there.

rakmike (November 6, 2007)

this sounds like my entertainment law final from last semester...
Not knowing exactly when the "eleventh hour" is, I would think that MCR should be fine. Consider yourselves lucky U of Maine students- MCR could have played despite the injury (my guess is the lead singer's vocal chords are f'ing up again) and you would have had a Creed-level shitfest.
Oh, and UCF had Gym Class Heroes AND Fall out Boy so they win on the radio friendly pop-punk front

ashtraymonument (November 6, 2007)

wtf? why the hell would you front that much money for an event.

2+ Replies

listofdemands (November 6, 2007)

that's nothing. some schools put a lot more up. shit, my school put up $30,000 for that fucking cunt ann coulter to "speak". schools are fucking retarded.
-nic

damnitsderek (November 6, 2007)

HAHA.

Ann Coulter? Are you serious?

Oh man, if I could have one person killed and get away with it, she'd be it.

listofdemands (November 7, 2007)

no shit. i was so pissed off when i found out. of all the low, fucked up, random people they could have gotten to come and talk about politics, they pick that piece of shit. but what can you do?
-nic

nina_d (November 6, 2007)

your tuition has to go somewhere

ThreeChordsAndTheTruth (November 6, 2007)

It's pretty easy to take the bait and be all "OMG MCR SUX" when a topic like this comes up, but I think the university is in the right here. I just assumed it was the norm for bands cancelling shows to stump up some cash to make up for promotional money spent etc. Bad form, Gerard and co.

urzishra (November 6, 2007)

i went to a university show.. last year Flogging Molly came to the University of Utah.. i assume its similar to what this would have been and the band did not have to build the stage.. but there was a lot of promotions.. like obviously posters and such but radio ads, football stadium ads, that kind of thing.. and something like this can't just be "rescheduled" as its probably meant to be a spirit week or something so i don't blame the school.. but pulling out at the last minute.. that just sucks..

its ok.. i remember going to the F2F farewell tour and these guys opened and there were many people who left after MCR which i didn't understand F2F was amazing.. I guess not everyone appreciates that heh ah well..

dlangl4 (November 6, 2007)

Everyone knows that someone is suppose to sleep in the van. I they didn't get insurance, then fuck em.

1+ Reply

listofdemands (November 6, 2007)

are you drunk?
-nic

jacknife737 (November 6, 2007)

"Super-popular My Chemical Romance"

Oh Aubin.....

"otherwise they will take a vote over whether to launch a lawsuit"

Huzzah for bureaucracy!

christian (November 6, 2007)

Expectation damages. Should be interesting to see how this turns out.

Archangel (November 6, 2007)

College students who listen to MCR and actually found a way to get over 20k put together deserve to get fucked.

HeresLookinAtYou (November 6, 2007)

Maine is still a state?

2+ Replies

damnitsderek (November 6, 2007)

Moreso than Wyoming.

NotPatriotic (November 7, 2007)

Not much

Mickster (November 7, 2007)

People live in Maine?

1+ Reply

dlangl4 (November 7, 2007)

Only time the word maine is important to me is when it comes after the before the word line and after the words give it to me.

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