Tesseract Drummer Says Tips For Merchandise Sellers Are Bigger Than Band Members' Income

Drummer prog metal band Tesseract, Jay Postones (Instagram @jaytesseract)

JAKARTA - Tesseract metal prog band drummer Jay Postones claims merchandise sellers make more money from tips than band members earn from tours.

Jay Postones wrote in an Instagram post that he learned about the difference in revenue after speaking with other bands about selling merchandise in concerts.

His comments come amid increased sensitivity to merchandise in concerts, after venue operators were criticized for taking sales deductions in some cases up to 41 percent.

Postones explained that many fans did not realize that the tip stoples and/or contactless tip options at the merchandise stand sent money to merchandise sellers, not to other bands or crew.

He then went on to say, after talking to his colleagues, some merchandise sellers generated tips of 30 thousand US dollars during a 5-6 week tour, which was crazy compared to the band's overall earnings.

Postone's Instagram post reads in part: "From the talks with colleagues, we found that some merchandise sellers were making tips over 30k during the 5-6 week tour" and this was crazy. No one else on tours at our level could approach this. Band members certainly don't. Other crew members get paid agreed upon, away from that.

We understand that in the US service industry, a culture of tipping is normal. This brings low-paid jobs to a level that is expected to be occupied. The jobs we recruit are not low-paid jobs.

While this goes against our wishes, our advice is that all tips taken on the merchandise table should be shared with the entire group of bands, and crew. We are all here, working hard throughout the day to present this show to you. It seems unfair to one person to monopolize tips for the whole package."

To solve this problem, Tesseract and their tour entourage added a QR code "Tip the Band" on their merchandise table so fans can choose to send money there instead of just to merchandise sellers.

Postones' remarks followed protests over the matter including from Tomberlin, who in September felt compelled to contact the venue after asking for a 41 percent discount from his merchandise sale.