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 Professional media enquires should visit the Contact Us page for full management / representation and booking contact details |
| Press Downloads including print-ready photos, pack shots, and other promotional materials are also available on the the Contact Us page. |
| The Marillion Biography will give you the whos, hows, and whys of the band from their beginnings until how. Visit the BAND section to find out more. |
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| On the 2007 Somewhere Else album tour, we were not scheduled to play the Manchester Academy - a fan-favourite venue, and always home to a spectacular show. This was due to the venue being refurbished. However, we bypassed Manchester completely on the tour, which led to a barrage of emails from disappointed fans. |
| Why was a city with many alternative venues missed out? All the other suitable venues in Manchester have a policy of charging a 25% merchandise commission. Basically this means that if we sell one of OUR tee shirts or CDs (already bought and paid-for by us) to you, (OUR
fans) we must pay the VENUE one quarter of the money YOU part with!
You might think this is outrageous. You might even wonder how it can be LEGAL and so do we.. Unfortunately, it's rapidly becoming the norm at venues throughout the UK and Europe and we have decided to take a stand against this practice which is really no more than plain extortion. |
| All venues (quite reasonably) charge artists no-small-amount to hire the place, to provide security for the show, and to cover venue staff and running costs. The venue then takes a ton of YOUR money across the bar on the night and despite the fact that we, the artists, are responsible for the bar being full of thirsty customers, SOME venue owners somehow feel they have an additional right to ask for a hefty slice of artist's tour merchandise! |
| We charge £14 for our t-shirts and refuse to put the prices up just to cover the merchandise fees which is what has been suggested to us in the past.
Why should we make the fans pay? Of course we could put a higher price on the concert tickets but we don’t want to do that either. Why should we be forced to do that? Selling merchandise on tour can often make the difference between an overall loss and an overall profit so we don't want to be forced to give it all away.
We've asked for 25% of the bar takings in return but, oddly enough, the venues won't go for that! |
| Some venues want to charge 20% for t-shirts, 15% for CD’s and a massive 30% for programmes - we don’t understand or accept this concept either. |
| With us it is a question of the revenue and also of principles. So we're actively boycott the gigs who want a merchandise percentage, and we're getting together with other band managers and forums to spearhead a campaign against this practice. |
| We have held this position since we began booking our own tours in 2001, and will continue to boycott venues who charge merchandise concessions - which may unfortunately mean we have to miss out your town or city on a tour. |
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