Increase In Cover Charges at Dubstep Massacre at Highdive Were Unauthorized, 217mafia Apologizes

As always, thank you to our fans for turning out in droves once again for our Dubstep Massacre party this past Saturday. We were always confident that our loyal scene would pack The Highdive and you certainly did not let us down.

However, in a way, we the organizers feel like we let some of you down. The show was advertised as costing $5 if you bought a presale ticket. If you just showed up and wanted to pay at the door, it was supposed to cost $7. We advertised those prices consistently.

The night of the show, someone from The Highdive took it upon themselves to raise the price to $10 per person without consulting any of the organizers of the show. Let me repeat that to be perfectly clear, charging $10 at the door was never discussed with any of the Dubstep Massacre organizers, and it certainly was not authorized by us.

We took on the costs of promotions, extra sound rental, hotel for our headliners, transportation costs and the artist guarantees. We had some help from Red Bull, but at the end of the day, the risk of not covering costs of the show falls solely on the 217mafia. With our experience booking shows, we knew that $5 and $7 tickets were all we needed to put on this show. We put on these shows for the purpose of putting on good shows, not to get paid. There was no need for anyone to charge $10 for this show, and there was no way we would take advantage of over a year’s worth of loyalty by jacking up ticket prices with no announcement and for no good reason.

As we sit here on Monday morning trying to figure out how to make this right, we’ve talked about how we would love to take the extra money you spent on this show and give back — maybe throw you a kick ass BBQ or a cool free show to say that we’re sorry. The problem is, we the promoters of the show, have, as of yet, not been paid an amount that reflects the unauthorized increase in ticket prices. We’re working on that issue too.

If you were one of the people that were charged $10 at the door, please contact us. Hit up djbellymusic@gmail.com and we’ll do what we can to make things right with you.

In addition to that, all we can say is that we’re sorry this happened. We have never had this type of problem since we started throwing the Massacre in February 2009. We are already taking steps to make sure this sort of thing never happens again, even if we do end up back at The Highdive for another show.

We know that none of these shows would be possible without our fans. We know the value of your loyalty, and we would never exploit it. We are very sorry if any of you felt otherwise on Saturday.

Thank you again for your continued support.

Sincerely,