GNR Singapore refund dispute comes to a close
Ending weeks of deadlock between it and RFID supplier Sandpiper, promoter LAMC Productions today launched a dedicated website for refunding unspent wristband credits from last month’s chaotic Guns N’ Roses show in Singapore.
The site, www.lamcrefunds4gnr.com, went live today after third-party vendor Sandpiper Digital Payments Asia, which supplied the wristbands, remitted to LAMC all funds collected for the event, which saw many concertgoers unable to spend their credits owing to huge queues and scarce supplies of food and beverages.
Earlier this month LAMC said it expected Sandpiper to handle refunds, claiming it had transferred “the cash collected from onsite top-ups during the event in one lump sum” with no breakdown of who is owed what. This, said LAMC, meant it did “not know who to return the monies”, adding that it was consulting lawyers on how to move forward.
“Sandpiper Digital Payments Asia has faced multiple issues in working with the organiser, especially over the past two weeks”
In a statement shared with IQ this morning, Sandpiper claims it had faced “multiple issues in working with the organiser [LAMC], especially over the past two weeks. Despite proposing options to them, LAMC [could not] decide on how they can best provide their customers with refunds.”
The company says it supplied “full event data and reports” to LAMC on 6 March. “At this date, the organiser is in full possession of the collected funds, and sales records, so they can best determine how to manage their customer refunds,” the statement concludes.
“We therefore wish to inform the public that our contractual duties have been fulfilled and all claims should be directed to LAMC Productions Pte Ltd only.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
LAMC apologises for GNR Singapore chaos
The promoter of Guns N’ Roses’ first concert in Singapore has apologised for the logistical issues that plagued Saturday night’s show, but ruled out giving refunds to the any of the 50,000 attendees.
GNR’s Not in this Lifetime reunion tour visited the Changi Exhibition Centre on 25 February, and while the performance itself was well received, promoter LAMC Productions was inundated with complaints from concertgoers unable to buy food and enter or leave the venue. There were reportedly queues of up to an hour to buy food and drink – which quickly ran out, leaving many unable to spend the pre-loaded money on their RFID wristbands – and delays on entry and exit, with some complaining of a wait of more than an hour for the post-gig shuttle bus.
Speaking to The Straits Times, LAMC co-founder Ross Knudson took responsibility for the problems, telling the paper that “maybe it [the show] was too big for us”.
He continues: “We needed a lot more staff, buses and F&B [food and beverage] and to manage the site better. […] I want to apologise for that. It’s a very big endeavour and a very challenging venue to do a show there, but I don’t want to make excuses.
“It’s a very big endeavour and a very challenging venue to do a show there”
“We’re not going to be refunding tickets, but we apologise.”
Unspent balances on wristbands will, however, be refunded.
Sandpiper Digital Payments (SDP) Asia, the supplier of the RFID technology, says it told LAMC before the show there were insufficient F&B facilities and entry queues for 50,000 concertgoers. In a statement, released today, SDP Asia director James Kane says the promoter was “made aware their plans were inadequate [ahead of time]. This pertains to entry, cashless signage, pre-event top up collection, top-up stations, F&B fulfilment, etc.
He adds, however, that “it is the final decision of the organisers and their team to follow or ignore the recommendations”.
The GNR concert was the second to be held at the 75-acre Changi Exhibition Centre, following a LAMC-promoted Metallica show in 2013.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Judge sides with LAMC in Singapore court battle
A legal battle between two of Singapore’s biggest concert promoters, Midas Promotions and LAMC Productions, has come to an end.
Midas, led by managing director Michael Hosking, announced in February it was suing local rival LAMC for 50% of the profits from two LAMC-promoted shows by Canadian comedian Russell Peters – estimated at at least S$500,000 – for which it said the two companies had agreed to jointly bid, putting up US$200,000 each in return for a 50-50 split of the profits and withdrawing any existing offers.
Midas claimed in court that LAMC failed both to submit an identical bid and to withdraw an existing offer for Peters, violating the terms of the alleged verbal agreement between the two companies.
A judge found that LAMC upheld their end of the agreement and ordered Midas to pay its legal costs
However, Singaporean district judge Koh Juay Kherng found last Thursday (7 July) that LAMC upheld their end of the agreement – and revealed that Midas had not even put in a bid to withdraw – and ordered Midas to pay LAMC’s legal costs.
Midas produced as evidence a letter from Peters’s manager – his brother, Clayton – stating that “Hoskings [sic] tried to bully his way into a joint venture with LAMC Productions when it became clear to him that he was not going to get the show”. He added that “I did not want Midas promotions involved in the show!” and recommended that its “frivolous claim” be “dismissed”.
IQ has contacted Hosking for comment.
Peters’s two shows, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 5 and 6 May 2012, sold over 18,000 tickets, making them the highest-grossing comedy shows ever held in Asia.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.