I have agreed to the following:
1. What is Invisible City?
Invisible City is a non-for-profit organisation on a mission to help you perform more and get paid fairly.
Everyone working at Invisible City is in this because they believe that you contribute to a life worth living, creating meaning, alleviating pain and highlighting hope.
2. We work to maximise happiness
Our relationship with you is a cooperation based on mutual respect and freedom. There is enough suffering in the world out there, hence we work together only as long as it makes you and us happy.
3. Invisible City is NOT a good choice if:
- You dislike performing online
- You are not ready to invest time into finding the right equipment for your performance
- You are not interested in getting to know the people who come to your performance
- You are not ready to share post-performance feedback with Invisible City.
4. Who is Invisible City looking for?
We give preference to original work. We are open to performers from all walks of arts: musicians, dancers, poets, theatre groups – you tell us.
5. We are ethical and friends of this planet
Together we shall follow the highest standards of environmental conduct, higher and stricter than those stipulated by law. We do not accept single-use plastic at our performances: discardable bottles, coffee cups, straws and the like.
6. How we pay
We pride ourselves on how we pay artists.
We need you to fully understand our payment model for our cooperation to be a success.
For each performance we guarantee 100 euros. We arrived at this number after hundreds of interviews with artists from dozens of countries, and consider it fair for most geographies.
Everything that we receive in donations on top of these 100 euros, we share equally in between us: 50% goes to you, 50% goes into the Invisible City reserves.
This is important: no, we do not share the total 50% - 50%, we share only what is on top of 100 euros 50% - 50%. There is a big difference. Let us explain with a few examples:
Example 1 (most common): If total donations are 200 euros, you get 150 euros, and Invisible City retains 50 euros.
Example 2 (it happens): If total donations are 75 euros, you still get 100 euros, and Invisible City loses 25 euros.
Example 3 (wohoo!): If total donations are 500 euros, you get 300 euros, we retain 200.
Please see our colourful infographic to make sure this model is clear.
In a nutshell, as a non-profit Invisible City puts you first: you get paid no matter what, and we take the downside risk. If both you and us work successfully as a team, then both you and Invisible City win.
7. Invisible City payment terms
It is our commitment to pay you on the day we receive your invoice. If you send it right after the concert, it means we pay you right after the concert.
In fact, the donations made for your performance take two weeks to arrive on our account. However, we will not make you wait, and always pay you from our reserves the moment you issue the invoice.
8. Processing fees and bank charges
Stripe charges
We use Stripe for processing all payments, which charges Invisible City 1.2% + 0.25€ for EU cards, and 2.9% + 0.25€ for all non-EU cards. We will deduct these fees from the final donation, which usually amounts to ±10 euros.
EU banks
There are no extra charges from EU banks. Hurray!
Non-EU banks
If your bank is not in the EU, we share the transfer cost, which is usually around 5 euros taken from our account and 5 euros from yours (depending on how greedy your local bank is!).
The majority of countries (except Brazil, sigh!) works with Wise, and we have used it to transfer money, which is usually within the 5 euro mark.
Exception: if the total donation is less than 100 euros, meaning that Invisible City is losing its investment, we will cover the transfer costs from the 100 euros. We believe it is fair.
9. Test soundcheck
We need to run a test soundcheck in order to decide whether you have the equipment to be able to run a concert. Only once we are sure we can create a quality experience for our audience do we agree on a date and start the campaign.
No worries, we will provide you with a complete soundcheck guide which will help you set everything up to perfection.
10. Communication campaign
Communication is a joint effort, and we can achieve better results if we cooperate and invite the audience together. We are happy to send out private invites, which are more personal and kind, to your audience.
No worries, we will write only on your behalf and never add any of your audience's emails to our mailing list, nor send out any newsletters. Only if at the moment of making a donation a person opts in to receive our further invites will we contact them again.
11. Emergencies and cancellations
If you have a medical emergency, we expect you to let us know as soon as you can so that we can reschedule and let the audience know immediately.
If you are stressed, not feeling well or have a tech meltdown with cables breaking, let us know so that our team helps you out with all the wisdom we have gained.
If we close a date with you it means that we are not offering it to other artists. This means you can expect commitment from our side, and we will expect the same commitment from you.
In summary:
I can and want to perform online.
I have an appropriate space, quality wifi and necessary equipment (laptop, camera, microphone) to perform online.
I agree to be on time for soundchecks and have everything ready.
I agree to use a single communication channel with you and mark our meetings in my calendar.
I agree to plan, coordinate and run all my communication together with you.
I agree that in preparation for my performance you can contact my audience on my behalf, where needed.
I agree to not use single-use plastic water bottles or cups at my performances.
After the gig, I shall issue an invoice and provide you with my bank details.
