Two posts by Steve Marcus, former head of Grateful Dead Ticketing, from the WELL, reproduced here with his permission.
539, 416 of 428: Steven E. Marcus (smarcus) Sun 4 Dec 05 01:56 65
I am just happy for all that I have received in the past and for the
over 100 times that I was allowed to plug into the board.The facts are fairly simple. When the Dick’s Pick’s series was started
each one sold about 25,000 units, but in the last few years that has
dropped to 10,000 or less (which is why the Fillmore boxed set was
limited to 10,000. Hind sight is most likely now telling GDP that they
could have easily sold 25,000.)Offering a new Dead Download every month is NOT going to make any one
rich, and the fact is that because of the way that the band ran their
business none of them are rich in the true sense of the word. Some of
them put away their money and invested, but I would be very surprised
if any them are worth more than $15,000,000.This band was overly generous in the wages they paid their employees.
At the peak I was paid a base of $62,500.00 (which was at the time
about $20,000-$40,000 more per year than all other box office managers
for all the major stadiums and arenas in the country and a hell of a
lot more than any other ticket sales manager for any other band) on top
of that base you can add four bonuses per year; one for each tour
(Spring, Summer, Fall at approximately $5,000 per tour) and a Christmas
bonus of around $10,000 although I believe it was $20,000 in 1988.One top of that add in the 15% of the TOTAL amount earned that GDP
contributed into a profit sharing plan and COMPLETE Dental and Medical
coverage plus four week vacations (not including the two to four weeks
GDP was closed after New Years.) The free tickets for almost every
show for almost every employee. Hell the women that were basically
receiptionists were getting over $45,000 per year plus all the above.
In the real world they would have been lucky to get $30,000 total per
year!A few months after Vince was brought into the band he finally asked
how much he was getting. He was told $1,000 per day. His response was
so we play 80 shows per year, that good. He was corrected and told
that it was for 365 days plus tour and Christmas bonuses. He was paid
exactly the same as Garcia and everyone else. Do you think Ron Wood
was paid the same as Mick or Keith? Not a chance. Do you think Darryl
Jones is getting paid the same as Bill Wyman was getting even after 15
years in the band? Not even close.My point is that this band could have cut everyone’s pay almost in
half and we would still have been well paid, but their basic attitude
was share the wealth.In a period of one year I went from sitting outside Frost because I
couldn’t get a ticket (1982) to NEVER having to worry about getting a
ticket for ANY show AND being paid for it. I am thankful for all of
that.My point is that all of us have benefited from this bands generousity
if only from the years of allowing us to tape shows and share them.
Even as an employee I bought EVERY single music or video release.And when I have the money I still do.
I have hundreds and hundreds of hours of incredible music that I can
listen to some of it high quality board source and some of it high
quality audience source. Everytime I listen to one of those tapes I
thank the Grateful Dead for letting me relive incredible times, and if
they choose to take all the free stuff off line it is their choice. I
can still trade what I have.Shit, it’s 2 am and I am rambling…
539, 418 of 428: Steven E. Marcus (smarcus) Sun 4 Dec 05 06:43 13
I left off the “per diem” when on the road which was $45-$60
per day for expenses, but the Grateful Dead traveled with a four star
chef from a major resteraunt AND a Vegan chef, plus we could order food
“bags” with custom made meals for the days off. 30 days on the road
at $45 per day = $1,350 of which I would usually spend less than $300.And another point about sharing the wealth. When David Bowie was paid
$1,500,000 to play the 1983 US Festival he paid each member of his
band union MINIMUM!!!! Which I believe was $350 each!!!!! Stevie Ray
Vaughn was supposed to be on that tour until he found out what Bowie
was planning on paying him.
539, 429 of 429: Steven E. Marcus (smarcus) Sun 4 Dec 05 12:48 17
… in 1987 when they
started making $50,000,000 per year in ticket sales […] their song
lyric writers were living off royalties from record, tape and CD sales
which was and is very little. At that point the Grateful Dead voted to
pay Hunter and Barlow annual salaries, plus the royalties.Also I wanted to make it clear that my above posts are relating only
to the Grateful Dead with Jerry, not The Other Ones or The Dead who I
am very sure aren’t paying every player the same, and that that policy
ended with Jerry.
wow, so much information.
who knew?
David,
Thanks for reposting those here.
Everybody know that Jerry Garcia’s GRATEFUL DEAD was a democratic organization. It isn’t any more; when some people’s votes aren’t counted and Phil isn’t even told about the policy change.
A public relations meltdown occured; when Bob Weir unloaded a mouthful of BS in a failed attempt to explain his actions. Download the MP-3, listen to him and then throw up in disgust.
Dennis McNally is sounding like a white house press secretary’s official party line…
Grateful Dead/Archive.org Brouhaha Roundup
If you haven’t heard the news, it seems that there’s been a partial reversal of GDM’s (Grateful Dead Merchandising) decision to pull all of the live Grateful Dead concert recordings that had been posted at archive.org’s Live Mu…
Well we finally found out about the true Bobby Weir didn’t we- I just feel bad for his children-think of the values he is spreading to them with what happened over the past few weeks.
Now I can understand why Phil doesn’t want to speak to him anymore and his audience threatened a boycott.
David
Thanks for posting. I very much appreciate Steve’s facts and insight and agree with his decision to purchase official releases. I do the same. I have no quarrels with any of the archive issues, but still feel strongly that the download series is priced out of “market prices”. I want to keep buying official releases and only ask in return for fair pricing. Lower prices will dramatically increase volume and will “spread the music” alot wider. Please pass the message on to those who make such decisions.
Thanks
dave– 40 years old with over 1,500 analog hours and nearly as many digital hours……
Good ol’ Gans. Im sure he has every single note ever played by the Real Grateful Dead backed up on SHN and FLAC, STFU
You keep thinkin’, Butch. That’s what you’re good at.
David,
Thank You for providing this information. overall it is a shame that all of the goodwill, good vibes and good music is getting overshadowed by this nasty tone. I mean I am guilty of throwing a few f bombs myself. But I just listened to Bobby’s interview and there was such an edge. I mean the people he kept refering to in negative ways are the DEADHEADS. The ones that went to the shows bought the tickets etc. The ones who went nuts anytime anyone went to the mic and said anything ….anything to the crowd. The people he is targeting are the ones who went nuts during Sugar Mags…I don’t know I always thought we were in this together. Things just seem strange.
RBM
Lots of new perspective to contend with now. At first, the whole LMA mess had me furious, and I hopped right in with the petition/boycott, made some snotty comments, and should have been a little more patient deliberate. I’m much better now…
I discovered Archive.org by accident last March when I entered the computer age at last. To be honest, I got everything I ever wanted, which was every single show I attended. All 101, from 1977-1995. Most had SBD’s only. Could not beleive they were all there. In a way I felt greedy and that it couldn’t be completely legal.
1995, the year I started my own business. After contending with the madness of new kids (friggin’ balloons), and oppressive police tactics at the Cap Center, and in Birmingham, I skipped the RFK shows. Then Jerry dies…
Ten years of running my business, and sad nostalgia whenever I heard the Dead. All my old tapes, deteriorating, scared to play them.
Having access to those recordings was beautiful, all the happy memories came flooding back. All the fun came back. For a few months…
Each show I listen to again reminds me of things that happened.
Like when we scored front row seats in Saratoga 84. Jerry spit and smiled on me all night. My buddy Juan, has to go back to the car, and get his camera. He never made it back to the seats. Spent the remainder fo the show handcuffed to a chair beneath the stage. He said he couldn’t stop laughing during “I Need A Miracle”. Hey buddy here’s the show you missed.
Like pushing cars out of the mud and the lightning strikes at Merriweather in ’83. Going to the 24 hour drive-thru window, naked and muddy after the show. “Please pull ahead sir”. The “Looks Like Rain” the next day.
Raven space ’82. Forty of us rented a school bus the day of the show and bought out a whole row on the floor at the ticket window. Never forget the feeling when they went into “Wheel” after scaring the crap out of us.
Deer Creek ’90, thinking the boys are at the top of their game. Then Brent dies…
Somehow everything comes to an end. Glad I got to get back some memories. I’ll share them with my friends, along with the recordings I now have. So Bobby… See ya…
I am glad to read another perspective – one that shows how all this anger is unjustified. we are indeed lucky to have had all this free amazing music till now, we shouldn’t be shouting like teenagers at a rally – “music should be free”.
I too only found the archive last year, and every show i got i have been grateful to have – how lucky, i thought…
I don’t know much, but it always seemed those people at GD have shared their wealth, shared the love, shared their lives with us – we have no right to ask for more. Many of them still do and i am thanking them right now for just that.
Thank you 🙂
After forty-years on this bus, it seems that before I launch into this message, I should tell everyone that I find it most unfortunate, not to mention distasteful that this message even had had to be written.
First, the misinformation: the majority of those I refer to here (deluded faux-Deadheads) suggest that they are all looking out for everyone else’s best interests. Yeah, right! Where the hell do these lotrats come up with that line of crap? Any true Deadhead (whatever the hell that really is), using common sense, must unequivocally ask themselves questions like that before buying into the ‘…they owe me…’ line of BS before these deluded souls get the opportunity to tinker about with a lot of halfway prescriptions of what they think others actions and thoughts should be.
Just to add a little more perspective, the more delusional of these dunder-heads’ latest manifestos, like all the ones that have preceded them, is usually an unfathomable consummate anthology of disastrously self indulged ‘…me me me…’ rants with misquotations and inaccuracies, an odyssey of selfish anecdotes that are occasionally entertaining, but certainly never informative. That’s mainly due in part to the self-centeredness that these types are truly being driven by.
Now for some parting advice: Look at all the facts. Analyze all the arguments. Think about all the motives of the people who are telling you that a richly evocative description of a problem automatically implies the correct solution to that problem. And have confidence in yourself. Think for yourself. Remember, most deluded faux-Deadheads support rule by Man according to his own passions, opinions, and dictates, rather than rule by the natural law of another’s inalienable right to hers/his own space.
In closing: Stop the god damn whining and keep on keeping on…
I just found the blogs by Steve Marcus from Dec 05 about the Dead culture of democracy in sharing the wealth among the family. What Steve didn’t mention was the incredible generosity of the Dead family itself. I met Steve in a sushi bar in Menlo Park circa 1983 or 84. We hit it off and became more than just acquaintances over the next several years. I had already long moved from the Bay Area, but we stayed in touch. Steve was just a great guy–I always insisted on paying for tickets (but just the fact that I could count on getting them was incredible)—Steve almost always threw in backstage passes as well. I’ll never forget one of the New Year’s runs–maybe 86 or 87? A whole bunch of us were there for all the concerts, and we topped off New Years with a great lunch at a Chinese Restaurant in Berkeley. We invited Steve to come join us, and he actually showed up! He didn’t know any of my friends, but we were brought together only as fellow Dead Heads can be. They were just great times, and I really miss those days. For me they all ended the day the Fat Man died.
I haven’t seen or spoken to Steve in many years–we just lost touch. I hope he’s doing well. He deserves it!!!
Barry H, M.D.
The RockDoc
Radnor, PA
ATTN: Steven Marcus: Thank you for miracling me into the shows and making me eternally grateful. I hope that you are doing really well and can’t believe that I haven’t seen you since forever. It sucks that the band has gotten so inscestual. Whatever, typical Cali crap! We still re all trying t make it somehow on the dreams we still believe in.~Don’t give it up.
Tricia, who are you???? and you are very welcome…my life has been a series of ups and downs including triple-by-pass surgery on 16 November 2001…other health problems and just plain being a “dumb ass” to quote Red Forman (played by my former drama instructor Kurtwood Smith.)
Went to the Jerry Day celebration in San Francisco yesterday (1 August 2010) and saw a lot of old friends.
Can’t afford going to shows anymore (no, I have not been to a Furthur concert!)
Funny thing, when I had money and COULD afford tickets I was always offered comps. Now that I can’t afford tickets, nothing!
To quote John Lennon: “You don’t know what ya got, until ya loose it!”