Russian Circles protest venue’s merch cut by not selling merch at Paris show

Instru-metal greats Russian Circles have been on tour in Europe, and ahead of their show at L'Olympia in Paris on Wednesday (3/22), they announced that they would not be selling merch at the venue. They posted a statement on social media, revealing that the venue "enlisted an outside company to sell artists' merch," and the company takes a 25% commission and withholds a 20% VAT tax. The band wrote:

Our options appear to be either raising our prices or losing money, so we've opted to not sell merch tonight. We apologize to our friends and fans in Paris who were hoping to grab a shirt or LP at the show, but we don't want to partake in this arrangement with this company. If you want our merch, it is always available at Evil Greed.

Read their statement in full below.

Russian Circles are one of multiple bands who are choosing not to sell merch at certain venues due to fees and financial losses -- others include Monuments and Igorrr. Anthrax, meanwhile, had to cancel an entire leg of their tour due to rising costs, as did Animal Collective, Santigold, and Metronomy last year.