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COMPUTING GIANT IBM has revealed that US regulators are investigating its accounting procedures in territories including Ireland.
In a one-line addition to its latest filings for authorities, the company had this note:
In August 2015, IBM learned that the SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) is conducting an investigation relating to revenue recognition with respect to the accounting treatment of certain transactions in the US, UK and Ireland. The company is cooperating with the SEC in this matter.”
It is not clear what kind of transactions the probe involves and the SEC has declined to provide extra information.
IBM said it has a “rigorous and disciplined process” for preparing financial statements and reporting revenue and it was cooperating with the investigation.
In 2013 the SEC launched a probe into how the company reported sales from its cloud-computing business, but the investigation ended without any sanctions against the firm.
Finger pointing
IBM opened its first office in Ireland over five decades ago and now employs over 3,000 people in the Republic across campuses in Dublin and labs in Cork and Galway.
Like many other multinationals, it has had the finger pointed at it for using aggressive tax-minimisation schemes to slice its bills on offshore profits to historic lows.
However it has been a Dutch subsidiary of the company, rather than the Irish arms of firms like Apple, that has been involved in those moves.
Revenues at IBM have been sliding over recent years, although that hasn’t stopped it delivering an improving bottom line. Net income at the company was $8.7 billion (€7.9 billion) over the past 9 months – up from $6.5 billion a year earlier.
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Because cancelling the stage altogether is sure to turn that negative publicity around…
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
You’re not damned if you do it right!
What way would that be in relation to virtually unknown acts then?
Let them play without the ticket sale deal, show you’re supporting up-and-coming acts, and if one or more get big they’ll be more amicable to coming back and playing the main stage.
Besides, I’d reckon they’d have family/friends paying in to see them as well, so more ticket sales would be generated without having to reach a quota or pissing people off.
They don’t have the money for a stage! Did you read it?
They have a handful of unsigned artists every year who preform, but couldn’t accommodate anymore. So they used this stage as an opportunity for them, if they could sell tickets. The festival organisers saw the opportunity in the amount of unsigned bands available and in turn created an opportunity for the bands to gain exposure. It’s good business.
could the acts not show they are supporting the festival – same same
I think unknown artists should be given everything on a plate instead.
Interesting false dichotomy you propose there. Unknown bands should either be shafted or given everything? You don’t visit the real world often, do you? Not unless it’s anonymous anyway …
Let me put a few facts and figures to your miniscule nugget of wisdom…
Unknown acts were being asked to raise a minimum of €3850 from their own family and friends. It had to be their family and friends, right? Cos they’re unknown.
Of that money, around 25% goes to VAT and Ticketmaster commissions (even though TM never handle the tix), with the remaining balance split 70/30% in favour of the festival. This effectively means the band pay €2000 of the money they’ve raised to the festival to play for probably 45 minutes.
The remaining €850 of the original €3850 goes to the band to provide transport, possibly a technician, accommodation and a meal. Not much left for a payday for the average 4 piece band with a technician, you’ll agree?
Is that the kind of days work you approve of?
Spot on Darren
Darren – how much would a relatively unknown band normally be paid to play a festival of this size?
Presumably, this scheme was aimed at bands, probably like fox jaw et al, who have something of a fan base and who’s fans may not get to see them in this size if venue.
Exactly Darren, very well said.
Fox Jaw have played to sizable venues and such. They like a lot of ” unknown” bands do a lot of gigging and are hard working. Fox Jaw have done the Saturday night show too last year.
Its not about a days work Darren its about exposure..no advertising is ever free. So no I don’t agree.
Should have left it in Westport. Great line up last year.
Poor guys had to sell some tickets and do some promo work. Just not the X factor
Exactly the BAND would have to do the promo work.
Bands play music, the festival run and promote the gig.
The festival wanted to get paid for the band to do what the festival themselves are meant to be doing. 70/30 split is farcical
ah well the bands concerned play to no one and remain unknown.
@mrgillhouley I assume your Twitter account is suspended because you’re trolling on behalf of a promoter?
this festival was hosted in Westport for 3years , and was moved for no reason to Killarney
More hotel beds = more funding
They would most likely be getting a large sum of money from bord failte
A lot of monies outstanding to businesses in Westport might have something to do with it.
I don’t get what the issue is? If the festival are going to the trouble of setting up an exclusive stage for bands which would have zero appeal to the average punter, what’s wrong with asking them to sell a few tickets? This is very common at amateur level battle of the bands and stuff. The only thing that might be shady is the the cut the bands get, seems a bit harsh.
makes perfect sense. its business not socialism
It’s business for the festival. It’s exploitation for the bands.
Don’t trolls go to gigs anymore?
The problem with this bullshit is that almost all people get paid for their days work,but with music,people who have practiced for years to do something not many can do are treated like any shitty gig they get is a privilege,and they should be glad of the gig,nobody has any issue with ticketmaster and whoever else getting their cut,now if any of ye went to a new job and had to do a months work for a hundred euro you would lose the will to live,but because its music,its dead on.
Ah sure the poor little lambs. Imagine having to do a bit of work to get an opportunity like this. There just might be a reason they are unknown.
An opportunity like this? Having to raise €3800 to play a new and unknown festival?
To play at a festival with some amazing acts headlining. Think of the experience that they could gain by doing that instead of whinging that they have to do a bit of work to try and improve themselves.
Gerry – the way I see it is the unknowns had to earn their way onto the bill, otherwise they wouldn’t be warranted being on the bill anyway; which as it happens is now the situation.
Suppose Patrick you’d only love to be on jobbridge. You’ll be getting your dole and you pay for all your transport to work out of that. But why complain, your getting ‘experience’
What everyone wants is a proper PAYING job not a company trying to get others to do their work for them, minimising their risk, while giving them less than 1/3rd back
It’s a jobbridge for musicians
The full amount raised per act will be split 70% / 30% (festival / act), after deduction of Ticketmaster commission and Vat. The 70% retained by the Festival will cover the costs for the stage to include staging, sound, lights, insurance etc.
There seems to be quite a few misguided comments o what seems to be a misguided article, so heres a link that provides decent insight.
Even though they got it badly wrong, they are playing the victim, claiming they were subject to ‘incorrect reporting’ No lads. You just got it wrong. The best route, PR wise, would have been to put your hands up, apologise and work out a way to make it right. Now you will go down in history for all the wrong reasons instead of the right ones..
Careful now
Festival just hit a new low, time to rethink there next move carefully or no one will pay
I think it sounds fair enough. This sounds like it was 1 stage, with exclusively unknown acts. The act gets a portion of the tickets they sell, and they get to play a festival with all the exposure that generates. What’s the problem?
Work out the numbers, and you’ll see the problem. A band has to sell €3,800 worth of tickets to even have a CHANCE at doing this, which means that in the weeks before the festival, they have to spend countless hours running a Fundit campaign, hassling their friends and family and basically begging people to hand over €76 so that they might be able to play the festival.
Let’s say you’re a 5-piece band from Dublin. If you get your minimum ticket sales and manage to scrape onto the bottom of the bill, you be getting paid €1,140. That’s €228 each.
Not bad you say…but then factor in the cost of transport to and from Dublin, accommodation in Killarney on a very expensive weekend, food, drink, and possibly a sound technician. You might come out of it with €100 each after spending the whole day (and possibly night) getting there, setting up, playing and getting back home.
€100 per person isn’t bad. But you’d get that if you were playing in a covers band in any decent-sized venue for a 2-hour gig. And you wouldn’t have to sell €3,800 worth of tickets and badger your friends and family for weeks to get your €100. You’d rehearse, turn up, entertain the crowd, and get paid for doing your job. Much as any other person working there, be they behind the bar or setting up the stage, turns up, does their job, and gets paid for it. Why should musicians have to do weeks of extra work in order to get their €100 at the end of the night?
Quick run, you’re talking sense, they wont like you here
Gwen – in an ideal world, the bands would be getting well remunerated, but the bands at the heart if this discussion, firstly are obviously not being forced to play, so of the ones that want to play, in order to justify the risk/reward ratio on the behalf of the promoter have been asked to cough up for a spot on the bill they otherwise wouldn’t be provided with anyway. Bands with little or no fanbase shouldn’t even consider this type of arrangement. But I’d still say it could prove a good launch pad for a group with a dedicated following. I mean you really wouldn’t want to be just scraping over the line in ticket numbers really now.
The thing is though, is it really a launch pad? Is the work that goes into raising €3,800 in ticket sales worth a spot on a small stage at a relatively small and unknown festival?
It would be better if the promoters and organisers would just do their jobs – listen to demos, look at the band’s following, decide if they actually like them (and if their audience will like them), pick some bands, book them for a reasonable fee and promote the festival line-up. I guess they just don’t have time for all that.
Sure, it’s a gamble, but running a festival is a risky business. By getting the bands to self-select and do all the work, they remove any of their own responsibility if people don’t turn up to see them. There’s no risk for them – they’ve already got their ticket sales from the band’s hard work.
Running a festival is a very risky business. I know people who do it and lost a lot of money in the first years, but seem to be doing ok now.
I think part of the thing is, a band wouldnt want to have to badger their granny into buying a ticket in order to take part in this.
I think the Proclaimers are a Doubtful act now, after their song 500 miles on the Bud advert
well done to the organisers, they gave people a chance they didnt want it so its not going ahead. can’t be fairer than that
At what point do musicians get to stop “advertising” for exposure and actually start earning? 5 years? 10 years? Because that’s where some bands are at now because of this “it’ll be good exposure” war cry promoters are so fond of.
It’s going on a long time now, but you’re only hearing of it now because a large portion of the musician community have finally stood up to cry foul. This was one scam too far.
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