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Falling in Reverse’s Ronnie Radke slams “criminal” merch cuts by venues: “I’m not selling my merch to lose 25% to this f**kin’ venue”
“The only way this bulls**t is gonna change is if we as bands all stand together and f**k their bottom line up.”
Image: Erika Goldring / Getty Images
Falling in Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke has slammed concert venues and their “criminal” practice of taking a 25 percent cut from the band’s merch sales.
Last Friday, Falling in Reverse played the Armory in Minneapolis as part of the 93X Nutcracker Radio festival. Pointing out the distinct lack of merch sales at the event, Radke told fans that all of that could be attributed to the “fuckin’ venue” that’s “trying to charge us 25% of our fees”.
“What that would mean is that we’d have to charge you guys way more to make any money,” the frontman said. “So what I did was [holds middle finger up], ‘Fuck them!’ We’re not paying [this venue] fuckin’ shit! That’s fucked up. If you guys want our T-shirts, go online and pick them up. We’ll probably lose a little money … but I’m not selling my merch to lose 25% to this fuckin’ venue.”
After the show, Radke took to X to denounce the business practice, stating: “Last night I refused to sell Falling in Reverse merch in the venue we were playing in because The Armory demanded I paid 25 percent of gross sales to them, so I told The Armory to go fuck themselves and just didn’t sell merch because it didn’t sit right with me to have to up charge the fans $100 a hoodie because the greedy venue thinks 25 percent of gross merch sales from a band is okay.”
Describing the act as “criminal”, Radke said, “There is no reason or excuse for venues to take bands merch percentage – they do it because we let them get away with it, it’s literally stealing.”
The musician also called on other bands to “do the same”, explaining that “the only way this bullshit is gonna change is if we as bands all stand together and fuck their bottom line up. Streaming takes our money, the venue takes our money, the artist gets destroyed and disrespected by these greedy fucks.”
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