Tag: act of god

Currently the COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) is going around and people are freaking out. I know of a lot of events that are getting postponed or cancelled, and a lot of performers who are losing shows. Some of these cancellations are justified and some aren’t.


Over the last few days I’ve done a lot of thinking and talked to a lot of people who run event venues and produce shows. I’m trying to figure out what is the artist’s responsibility in regards to cancelling shows. Many times the artist has no choice and the decision is made by the venue, booker or producer. However sometimes the artist has a choice, generally in a contract this is called a Force Majeure clause. This allows one or both parties to the contract to cancel for reasons beyond their control. This is slightly different than and “act of god” clause, which covers things like weather. A Force Majeure clause covers a few more things like riots, or virus outbreaks.

**NOTE** I’m not a lawyer, find an actual lawyer for legal advice.

In show business there’s the old saying, “The show must go on” and sometimes it should, and sometimes it shouldn’t. I’ve seen or performed in plenty of shows where things have happened that should have stopped the show. I’ve personally seen fights break out, had someone die of a heart attack at a show, and famously in the Seattle area a comedian was assaulted with a baseball bat and almost killed onstage. All three of those instances the show didn’t go on, it stopped.


All three of the examples are pretty extreme, let’s move to an example that happened early in my career. I was schedule to perform at an assisted living facility for senior citizens and they called me the day before to cancel because the flu was going through their facility. I agreed to cancel, and this was a point in time where the money really meant a lot to me, I was living gig to gig. I understood that spreading the flu was potentially deadly to the seniors, and I didn’t want to get the flu and agreed to the cancellation. If you look into the current Coronavirus situation most of the deaths happened at an assisted living facility and they think it was spread during a Mardi Gras party there.


You can read about it here:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8084659/Germ-fest-Mardi-Gras-party-Washington-care-home-sparked-deadly-coronavirus-outbreak.html

What Can You Do?

Losing gigs sucks, and losing them out of an “abundance of caution” and not something that’s currently happening isn’t fun and it’s stressful. Here’s what you can do to prepare. Build up some savings, so you can ride out the cancellations. I think the common advice is to have three months of what you need to pay your bills saved up. I know a lot of people are stressing out about losing a gig or a dozen gigs. I’ve been there, it’s not fun, however it’s your duty as a business owner to have some money put away in case you can’t perform. I’ve had to perform sick, or with a broken arm to pay the bills, it’s not fun. Save some money.


Another thing you can do is not to post how many gigs you are losing. I think it makes people who wouldn’t otherwise cancel a gig start to think about it. If I’m a corporate gig and I have you booked, and look at your facebook page and see you’ve have 5 gigs cancel this week, it’s going to put it on my radar that maybe we should postpone our monthly meeting that we have you booked at. I know those posts get comments and interactions, but it’s for the wrong reasons. You can’t complain about the hysteria when you are feeding it. If you’re going for social media content, post about the gigs you are doing, post video of magic trick from your office, or post some video of you at a show last month.


Let’s wrap this up:


I’ve come to the conclusion that for my personal ethics I need to keep my audience safe. How do I do that when I also personally believe it’s still safe to go see shows, especially if you’re not in an “at risk group” for the Coronavirus? I’m going by what the health department in city or county the venue recommends. Sometimes there are outright bans on things, and sometimes there are just recommendations. The health department is (in theory) smarter than me about things like this. I’m following their recommendations, and I think ethically as a performer that is your duty to provide a minimum level of safety to your audience.