Tom, my comment about hype was aimed at a number of heavily promoted bright young things that seem to be getting booked at art centers.
I fully take your point about taking what's available, I in no way critisise the artist. All Art Centers seen to have different crtieria as to who they put on & whether they need to make money on each concert. Our local Art Center's booking policy seems very biased towards Celtic artists, which isn't my cup of tea, but is very popular. But recently a well know duo were booked & only managed to get around 40 punters, but a couple of weeks later one of the duo pulled in twice that number at the local folk club, it'a strange world.
The point that I have been trying to get across is that if, for instance, an artist tells the organiser that the fee is £*** & the organiser says O.K. that's fine, then surley it doen't matter to the artist what the charges are to get in, (unless it looks like the club is going to make a fortune).Thats down to the individual economics of the club.
Cheers
Les