An eleventh hour cancellation is every live music promoter’s worst nightmare. Last week, we published an interview with Mos Def’s 2011 Australian tour promoter, who also revealed – in graphic detail – the financial burdens attached to such outcomes.

Another prime example of this type of behaviour on the Australian touring circuit occurred at the 2011 Fat As Butter festival at Newcastle’s Foreshore Park, on 22 October. Headlined by Empire Of The Sun, The Living End and Illy among a line-up of 38 Australian and international acts, event promoters Mothership Music had also booked the American rapper Flo Rida (pictured, with orange) – known for such modern classic as ‘Low (feat. T-Pain)’, ‘Good Feeling’ and ‘Right Round’ – to play the main (‘Fat’) stage at 5.10pm, after The Jezabels and before Naughty By Nature. Twenty minutes before he was due, organisers received a phone call from his tour manager: Flo Rida wouldn’t be able to make it to the show. Uh oh.

The aftermath was covered in detail by FasterLouder, and event organiser Brent Lean posted the following message on the festival’s Facebook a couple of hours after the cancellation: “We’re as upset as you are. We paid Flo to appear months ago and since he’s been on his Australian tour, he’s been an absolute Tonk. He’s been in Sydney today, and he’s had a hissy fit. We did everything we absolutely could to get him here, but he wouldn’t come. We’re absolutely devastated he decided not to be a part of Fat As Butter.”

What happens next, though? What recourse does a burned Australian festival promoter have in terms of recouping the artist fee they’d paid to Flo Rida and his entourage months in advance? I connected with Mothership Music managing director – and Fat As Butter promoter – Brent Lean back in November 2011 to find out.

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TheVine: It’s been a couple of weeks since the Flo Rida incident went down, Brent. How are you feeling about it all now?

BL: Look, we’re OK about it. We’re going about the correct processes to find out exactly what happened. We know the circumstance of what happened, but now we’re in the process of seeking the return of the [performance] fee. That’s with the agent and record company over in America. Overall it’s disappointing he didn’t appear, but we’re happy that we got the message out there so that the fans know exactly what the circumstance was. We’re just being truthful in the process.

At any point during the negotiation process did you have an inkling that this might happen?

No, not at all. We bought the show from another company that was touring him in the country. We were tracking his movements at other shows, leading in [to the festival]. We were aware of certain incidents and bits and pieces that made us wary, but they were more about when he was at the event, as opposed to whether he’d turn up. At no point did we think that he’d cancel, and not show. That was never on our radar.

You always expect that something may go wrong, and you work every contingency you can to avoid that, but at the end of the day, when the news came through that he was cancelling, that was an absolute shock. We had to go into damage control straight away, because it’s a large festival – with 38 acts appearing – so we had to work out how to fill the spot and advise the punters. We understood that they’d be very frustrated and disappointed by the announcement. We had to go into contingency plans as to how to handle that.

Will you be hesitant to book hip-hop acts in future, having had this experience with Flo Rida?

Not really. You pick and choose where they’re at. Last year we had Ice Cube headline Fat As Butter, and he was an absolute joy to deal with. Very professional; met all of his contractual obligations, we met all of ours; a hug at the end of the night and ‘great job’.

What we do find with some hip-hop artists is that they tend to disrespect Australia, I think. They tend to disrespect the audience and promoters, because effectively – and it happens quite often – they don’t stick to the terms of their contracts. They arrive here, then they’re seeking additional things on top of the contract; left, right and centre. And in some cases, strong-arming promoters into paying for additional things outside of the contract.

Now, in comparison to Australian artists? That would never happen. In the 20 years I’ve been doing [event organisation and promotion], I’ve never had a contract dispute with an Australian artist. Everyone’s up front; everyone signs a contract, everyone knows what the terms are, and each party meets those terms. I find it very disappointing that, for whatever reason, some of the American hip-hop artists can come out here and think that they can disrespect promoters, events, and the audience by, clearly, wanting additional conditions – or money, whatever it may be – outside of the signed contract. And as I said, and I don’t mind saying it: strong-arming promoters into doing that. It’s disappointing.

So without a doubt, buyer beware. All you can do is make sure your contract is watertight, and then you need the strength of your convictions to say, “Well, I’m not going to give you anything outside of that contract.” I think in the past, perhaps, [Australian] promoters have given in to the additional considerations, or whatever they’re trying to put on you, and there seems to be a threat, at times. For us personally, we just don’t stand for any of those sorts of things. If we’ve got indications through the negotiating process that anything like that is going to happen, then we’d rather not have them appear on any of our shows.

You also had Naughty By Nature on the bill at Fat As Butter 2011. I gather that they were a pleasure to deal with?

Yeah, they were great. They met all their contractual obligations. They came to the event with a good attitude, performed well, and really enjoyed it. They ended up hanging around in Newcastle that night; they had a great time. No problems there at all. But obviously, the Flo Rida situation – a direct cancellation that had nothing to do with being ill, or not being able to get the event – was obviously quite a shock for us.

We’re encouraging his Australian fans to be vocal about it, not for the sake of our event, but for the sake that the message gets across to them in the States that you can’t come out here and treat the fans with that much disrespect. It’s just not on. That message needs to get out there because otherwise there’s never going to be a situation where we’ll be able to stem that tide. If they think they can get away with it, then they will. There’s a lot to think about in that situation.

Your point about disrespecting audiences; do you have any theories on that? Do you think it’s a cultural thing that they bring to Australia; do they expect the Australian touring industry works the same way as the American circuit?

I think so. Look, I’d be very surprised… I’m not privy to the absolute ins and outs of the touring circuit in America with acts like this, but my personal opinion – and it’s not based on anything other than that – is that I think they see Australia as a cash cow, and a place where they can come down and go, “It’s only Australia, it’s got a small population, they’re paying us well – maybe we can lean on them a bit.” I don’t know whether it happens in Europe or America but unfortunately, my personal feeling is that they look at us as the unwanted cousin, as such; “we’ll go down there, we’ll do the shows, and we’ll get out of it what we can.”

Again, I can only talk of acts I’ve dealt with, and a general feeling of that, but I think there is that [attitude]. There’s obviously a lot of big hip-hop acts who tour Australia without a hitch. It’s not the majority, I don’t think, but there’s a minority there, and it depends on all sorts of things, and just their attitudes as performers. I think some of them maybe look at Australia as a place where they can misbehave and no-one will ever care.

Can you tell me about the process behind the legal proceedings at the moment? You mentioned you’re in discussions with Flo Rida’s agent and record label in the States.

We’ve put forward a statement of claim, basically outlining the expenses that we’ve incurred plus the payment of the fees, and flight share, accommodation share – all of these things that are paid up front. I can’t be disparaging about that process so far; it’s early days. It’s with them for consideration. We’re obviously hoping it’ll be a swift, clean resolution without it becoming lawyers at 30 paces.

Clearly, Flo Rida broke the cancellation clause; we’ve got a cancellation clause in the contract, which is watertight. We’ve just put it forward. We’re being very matter-of-fact. We’re not trying to be disparaging toward him at this point; we just want, rightfully, our money back for his non-appearance. Should that not be a nice, clean process, then obviously it’s going to get harder.

Will you be hesitant to pay fees up front in future?

Yes and no. I’ve got to say, in 20 years of doing this, this is the only international act that has ever even come close to something like this. It’s really something that you don’t forecast. It’s okay that, within their terms and conditions, they need that money up front, as understandably, they’re flying a long way to come down here. They need to make sure that, on our side, the Australian promoters are fair dinkum, and that we’re not going to try and do anything morally wrong. It’s a touchy one.

What we are checking at the moment, and what’s important, is that those monies are held in trust. So until each party meets its obligation, those funds shouldn’t be released. That’s the process we’re in at the moment. We’re hopeful of a good resolution. As I said, his management company and record label are very reputable, so I’m hoping that – the circumstances of his cancellation being as clear as they are – there’s no dispute, we get our money back, and everyone’s happy. And we never deal with him again.

Are you able to give me an idea of the fees and expenses involved?

No, we’ll keep that confidential.

Alright. Do you want to add anything else, Brent?

Just – buyer beware. I don’t want to besmirch the entire American hip-hop community, because there are events like Supafest, who… I believe that all of their dealings have been great with everybody. This is an isolated incident in terms of a full cancellation, and the way it happened, but I’d like to reiterate that I do think there is that ‘poor cousin’ sort of scenario going on, where perhaps they step outside of what’s contracted, and require more [from Australian promoters]. Whether that happens with other promoters I don’t know, but in my experience there always seems to be a bit of that going on, regardless.

Andrew McMillen