News Chop Suey Cuts Ties With Poster Giant
posted by on June 1 at 15:45 PM
Chop Suey booker Colin Johnson has ended his club’s long-standing business relationship with divisive local company Poster Giant. (For background on Poster Giant and the “poster wars” see here, here, here, here, and here). If an outside promoter “wants to go with Poster Giant I’m not gonna tell them they can’t,” Johnson says. “Anybody who does any show here can go with whoever they want. But when it comes to the in-house production shows we do, we’re not going to work with them.”
According to Johnson, the falling out began when Poster Giant was unable to adequately poster for an outside promoter’s Chop Suey show on two weeks’ notice. Poster Giant’s Doug Cox told Johnson that the company needs for 4-5 weeks lead time for a proper poster campaign, and that Johnson should tell his outside promoters as much. When another outside promoter approached Johnson with a poster only a week and a half before their event, Johnson told them that wouldn’t be enough time for Poster Giant, and the promoter decided to go with Poster Midget instead.
“[Cox] called me up with an ultimatum,” says Johnson. “He basically said, ‘I’m tired of seeing the Chop Suey name on posters that I don’t put out. You’re either with me or you’re not with me.’
Johnson says Cox then threatened to “specifically target any Chop Suey show that [Poster Giant] doesn’t put up” if he didn’t “start getting those customers back.” (Poster Giant has a reputation for targeting the competition. They’ve denied it.)
“We’re not going to go with somebody who’s trying to use scare tactics to retain our business,” Johnson says. “Somebody needs to stand up to it, and that’s what we did.”
“We’ve been around five years,” Johnson adds. “We’ve been working with them since the beginning. I’ve always tried to push Poster Giant to meeting with other poster distributors and kind of coming to a place where they can all stay out of each others’ way and still accomplish what they want to accomplish. But what they do tactically, for their clients, is they go to a pole and, regardless of what’s on there, they’ll take over the entire space. There’s no respect for anybody else’s work, it’s just bottom-line. There’s an ongoing war; it’s Poster Giant versus everybody else.”
“I wouldn’t say that we’ve severed ties [with Chop Suey],” says Poster Giant’s Doug Cox. “I mean, we’re still friends or whatever. I don’t know that they’re going to be using our services in the future or not. That’s up to Chop Suey. We’ll wait and see what happens.”
Colin is the man. Really, he is.
Colin is the man. Really, he is.
I've gained so much respect for Chop Suey and Colin's the reason why.
There’s an ongoing war; it’s Poster Giant versus everybody else.
As postering is essentially obsolete, Poster Giant won't be around long anyway.
Poster Giant deserves to go bankrupt and some of thier staff probably deserve to get busted... One of their drunk off-shift goons -- and they do hire goons -- once threatened me in front of the Satellite becuase he said I was covering up PG posters (the pole was completely covered with PG posters except for the one I'd just put up). The guy's girlfriends said, "Leave that guy alone, he's just doing what you do but he's prbably not getting paid." But he kept saying he was going to kick my ass or something. Poster Giant is a lame fucking company run by posers. Fuck Poster Giant, or Giant Poser, as the case may be.
Nobody needs Poster Giant. I hired them for a show and they sucked. I ended up having to do the postering myself, and my posters were everywhere. It wasn't that hard and I'm just one guy.
I'm with Chad, I think.. but I'd love for someone to post some words that would convince me that posters make a real difference in show attendance anyway. Is there any strong evidence? Seems to me most people that are interested in live music are not out there perusing the telephone poles to help them decide.. they grab their weekly rag of choice or look online. I can see some value in posters *in the clubs* you're gonna play, but canvasing the town? Maybe helps some w/ name recognition, but the cost of doing it right seems way out of whack with what most bands get paid for a given show.
I occasionally learn of shows through posters - but I couldn't imagine their cost effectiveness warranting anything more than the band memebers/promoters themselves putting them up on their own time.
htjbn euqcjfphk zmwp avhriu gwpoxz uibzo yhljp
htjbn euqcjfphk zmwp avhriu gwpoxz uibzo yhljp
eqbvwx mhwjr lkxdptyoh kymioptsb wjyhcpraf xeunshtpc dlvf http://www.hstcow.glasuitnc.com
The joke appears to be on us.
a) I'm not sure of the legal issues surrounding this postering business. To me, telephone poles seem to be owned, the physical poles themselves, by someone other than the postering companies or any band who posters. When a postering company charges to hang posters, how are they skating away with money for postering something that's not their property? My understanding is that postering is OK as long as no money changes hands. This is obviously not the case.
b) Not only do postering companies have HANGING UP posters as part of their charters, they also apparently have TEARING DOWN other posters as part of what they do. I know of several "patrols" that Poster Giant uses as part of their business.
c) I'm curious about the postering companies' environmental stances. What a giant fucking waste of paper. And, a lot like other eco-criminals at corporations they probably scoff at while snorting blow and staples off the toilet tanks at The Comet, they are horribly guilty.
d) These companies' stances are, "Lawyers first, ask questions / use common sense later." See the last point about huge corporations.
e) From personal experience, the postering companies have exactly ZERO quality control mechanisms in place to ensure that what they've been paid to do actually gets done. What stops these thugs from taking the 500 posters you have delivered to them and throwing them in the trash and getting high or hosting a staple-encrusted circle jerk with the rest of the staff instead? That's right - nothing. See the discussion about huge corporations, above.
f) Yeah, the fucking Alaska Airlines Concert Series really needs to be advertised. All my crusty punk friends on the Hill really need to know when Travis fucking Tritt or some other overly polished douchebag is coming to town.
g) Feel free to threaten or menace anyone carrying a hammer stapler who isn't working for your fucking company. We're already cold, wet, and pissed off trying to keep up with your worthless asses. Bring it.
...
BOYCOTT THE SEATTLE POSTERING CABAL.
BOYCOTT THE SEATTLE POSTERING CABAL.
BOYCOTT THE SEATTLE POSTERING CABAL.
SAVE YOUR MONEY and DIfuckingY.
Repeat.
just sitting here at work, looking out the window onto pike, watching the poster giant guy, doug cox, tearing other peoples posters off of poles. hmmmmm... so, not only do they cover up other, independent artists posters with no consideration, but they even remove them as if they "own" the phone polls. hmmmm....
this is all very interesting. oh, sorry, i meant scummy.
... again, just sitting here at work after having a long conversation with "poster giant's" doug cox, who is more than open to hearing concerns/complaints about postering issues, and willing to work on solutions. as with all things, time will tell, but, while we have very fundamental disagreements on approaches to space, we definitely found common ground on other issues, and hopefully this debate/conversation will continue. he is also open to this sort of dialog with anyone, and i was surprised to hear that i was the first person to approach him one on one to sit down and have a discussion.
i also inquired about his aforementioned "scummy" tactics of removing other posters off the pole out side this window... in short, he said it covered several of "his" posters, and looked like shit.
just passing my own experience along to update my above post, as i am only speaking for my self and the band and record label/publisher i am involved with.
cheers! -e-
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