Karlsruhe club GOTEC says some DJ fees are up 200 to 300%
The German club says the speed of the increases, above all, is putting event budgets under strain. DJ and activist Marie Montexier said cutting fees alone shifts the burden onto artists.
The Karlsruhe club GOTEC says some DJ fees have risen by 200 to 300 percent in a comparatively short time. The club made the claim in a German-language statement titled “Eine starke Szene braucht ein starkes Fundament” (“A strong scene needs a strong foundation”), Groove reported.
“In individual cases we are seeing fee increases of 200 to 300 percent within a comparatively short time,” the statement reads. GOTEC says it respects every artist’s success and their right to fair pay. Its objection is to the pace: “Not only the amount, but above all the speed of this development increasingly calls the economic viability of events into question.”
Alongside the fee demands, the club cites sharply higher energy costs and increased staffing expenses. If rising costs are passed on through pricier tickets, club culture becomes exclusive and shuts people out. “Electronic music must not become a luxury. It must stay accessible and affordable,” the statement says. It also includes the line “Not against each other. Together.”
DJ and activist Marie Montexier commented under the club’s post. Simply cutting fees, she wrote, often shifts the problem onto artists who already have the least room to maneuver. In her view the negotiation cannot happen between clubs and acts alone. She called for reliable public funding and real recognition of club culture as cultural heritage, and said the ongoing wave of club closures is the best proof of inadequate support. One of those closures is Dortmund’s Tresor.West, which had tried to break away from the hype market with its Community Nights as a counter-model.
