{"id":64606,"date":"2022-01-28T12:17:50","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T19:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=64606"},"modified":"2022-01-28T12:17:50","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T19:17:50","slug":"talent-company-preys-on-bands-says-booker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2022\/01\/28\/talent-company-preys-on-bands-says-booker\/","title":{"rendered":"Talent company preys on bands, says booker"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Warning Young Bands<\/strong>: Darren Ollinger says that bands and artists should at least know what to expect before signing up for a gig with Landmark Events. Ollinger is the entertainment booker for the Ship and Anchor Pub in Calgary and ran the New Black, a defunct all-ages venue in Calgary, from 2008 to 2013.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A<\/span>s concerts are tentatively being booked for the spring and summer of 2022, one company is being called out for allegedly unfair tactics: Landmark Events (LME).<\/a><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he website for LME states that the company\u2019s goal is \u201cto support and empower independent artists\u201d by giving them \u201cthe opportunity to showcase their music in front of music industry representatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, some are not convinced.<\/p>\n

The Instagram account for weekly event Rockin\u2019 4 Dollar$ published a post Jan. 17, 2022 warning bands and artists to \u201cbeware\u201d of the company, further stating \u201cThey do not have your best interests in mind. They only want to make money off of you!\u201d before ending with \u201c#vultures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darren Ollinger, entertainment booker for the Ship and Anchor Pub in Calgary, says that LME\u2019s business model relies on \u201cpreying on an uneducated band or the up-and-starting band that doesn\u2019t really know how it works,\u201d but was quick to note that it is not a \u201cpay-for-play\u201d business model.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re awarded by the amount of tickets you sell [and] if you sell the most, you get the prime slot on the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ollinger says that one of the main issues with LME is the validity of the prizes they promote.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re not winning studio time at a reputable studio,\u201d he said. \u201cYou’re not winning a headlining slot at a cool bar. You’re not getting an opening slot for a cooler band.\u201d<\/p>\n

When reached for comment, LME founder Arthur Kalimidis said that the people who posted accusations about the company\u2019s practices \u201cnever had anything to do with Landmark\u201d and said they were \u201cpretty unfair\u2026 and pretty mean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalimidis says that while \u201cit would be nice to have an opportunity to defend ourselves\u2026 I\u2019ve done that before and it only fuels more and more hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

A follow-up interview was supposed to be scheduled, but Kalimidis stopped communication with the reporter.<\/p>\n

“You’re not winning studio time at a reputable studio. You’re not winning a headlining slot at a cool bar. You’re not getting an opening slot for a cooler band.” – Darren Ollinger<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ollinger says that while there may be upsides to working with LME, a band or artist should know what they\u2019re getting into before working with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only as shady as you want it to be,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you sign up\u2026 and then nothing comes out of it other than the fact that you got a gig and people came and watched you, there\u2019s no real harm in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you’ve never played a show before, go do it [and] play your 15 minutes and you\u2019ll learn and you\u2019ll get some stage time out of it,\u201d he said, but added that \u201conce a band knows what\u2019s up, they\u2019re not going to work with them again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As concerts are tentatively being booked for the spring and summer of 2022, one company is being called out for allegedly unfair tactics: Landmark Events. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":712,"featured_media":64610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 Landmark Events JM","footnotes":""},"categories":[1592],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-64606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/712"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64606"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64617,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64606\/revisions\/64617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}