The official "Not" FNM series discussion.

[Jeph]

I like ham.




I have thoughts on this subject too, but it's all just hemmin' & hawin'...and has been hashed and rehashed. I agree and disagree with most of you.

[B-DROID]

Jeph LaPants, master Democratizer.

[printmafia-connie]

even if it was sarcasm, which i doubt it was, i agree and won't bother typing much more than to say that birdsandrabbits basically summed up my take on the issue too.

the occasional, rare, random free-posters-for-a-band series is one thing, but making it a new unpaid business model is bad news bears all around.

some series have & do & are paying gigs, even if just covering materials and shipping, and that should be what all serieseseses aspire to.

Agree with Luna on this. Also want to add that as of late there seems to be a conflict of interest issue going on with those that arrange the series and also sell posters. Picking the big flipper names and whatnot.

We do posters because we want to do what we want to do. We sometimes do series but not just to be included. We do series for bands that we like, Melvins, Cobras are usually the only series we have done consistently.

We were actually sweating it out for the past few months thinking that a tour we had been told we would be doing was going to be hijacked by the offer of free posters (or at least super dirt cheap posters).

Turns out that doing good commissioned work that is handled professionally, smoothly and on time is appreciated and sought out. We got the call and this upcoming tour will keep us in business throughout the rest of the year. And the day after that call came in we got a second repeat customer for a fall anniversary tour with all kinds of different materials and promotion being done.

Have never been referred any business of this magnitude or really at all from a free series poster. The time to change the business plan is now.

[andydiesel]

Pay to Play is bullshit.

[thenailmc]

I know I've said it in other threads, but I hope everyone knows most of the recent series' I have been involved with have been paid. Not all tour series' should be lumped together as being unpaid. Carry on.

[worthless fuckstick]

Well said sir.

I agree a 100%

WF

[msaputo]

I know I've said it in other threads, but I hope everyone knows most of the recent series' I have been involved with have been paid. Not all tour series' should be lumped together as being unpaid. Carry on.

Yup. I like working with Mitch. He's a stand up guy.

[naduval]

I don't know the details of every tour series out there, but I can say that they always seem to be filled up quickly, which means to me, that there are plenty of people who are ok with any tour series, regardless of the "deal" presented.

I personally have worked with Mitch on quite a few series at this point (and Justin once as well) and I always enjoy them quite much.

Compensation is almost always involved in the ones I have worked on (some of them were paid an extremely fair fee) and if it wasn't, it was made clear what the deal was before you say "in or out."

Even the ones that require a "donation" of the run to the band seem to be filled to capacity every time, so you can't really blame the people putting them together, IMO.

Of course, I don't think its right to "pay to play" but obviously some people do.

I don;t think anyone is twisting anyones arm to be in any of these series and if you don't like a deal, just say no.

I suppose if enough people said no to the donation-type series, they would probably not be around so much, right?

Personally, if a series isn't paid and I do get involved, I normally end up designing a print that works as an art print too. AC NEWMAN was a perfect example of that for me. The "deal" wasn't incredible, but I said ok, made an image that sold great as an art print and was happy to help justin out.

I almost use them as motivation to make a new art print. I also print my own work so my actual costs of producing are much lower than someone who farms the printing out.

[andydiesel]

I know I've said it in other threads, but I hope everyone knows most of the recent series' I have been involved with have been paid. Not all tour series' should be lumped together as being unpaid. Carry on.

totally. you are one of the things that i'm hoping helps switch things around.

currently i'm printing a 95 date poster series with editions of each poster being 100 that is completely paid for by the band. it's really nice to see this happening.

[IVARTON]

Lets change the business model. I do foresee it making it harder for just anyone to get into doing posters and maybe even raising the level of quality work being done. Im not sure what it is about graphic design that makes people want to work for free, but its really making shit hard for people trying to make a living.