Swings and roundabouts this.

Personally, for all gigs abroad I use a contract, with an advance, so at least some of my ass is covered.
In the UK I generally only take bookings via mates, or people who I know indirectly or directly, with or without contract.
If it`s a small or new event, I will always state, even if things turn out bad, as long as my expenses are covered, ie travel and a drinkie, then I won`t go ape. If a promoter can`t even have the decency to sort out your expenses, to an event THEY got you to make the EFFORT and EXPENSE to get too, then they deserve a good heavy talking to, AT THE VERY LEAST.

For me though, a gig is 1-3 weeks work building a pa, so I do tend to get a little irate if ****ed about.

There are some dire promoters out there, but the case is, find out about who you are playing for. Get some info and then decide if you want to take the gig.

A contract isn`t some evil thing that makes you an arrogant tit, it covers both yours and the promoters ass (as most contracts will have a clause where if you don`t show then they can claim on you), so I generally recommend them for bigger gigs and trips abroad.

There`s a 50/50 situation going on when a gig turns bad due to low door count though.
You can blame the promoters for not promoting properly, but also, your fee generally reflects your draw on the door. So if you don`t pull in the bodies yourself, then it`s partly reflected on you as well I think, to some extent at least.

However overall for me, Techno music is something I just enjoy too much to get into the whole gigs for career thing. For the most part it`s a pretty small scene and is getting smaller, and so will have more than it`s fair shair of shoddiness and serious ups and downs until things settle into an equilibrium. I am now much more into just doing gigs with and for people who are genuine lovers of the scene, who do it out of passion, for me the gig is much more than just the time I spend playing my music, I like to be with the people doing the party, and take in their vibe for a while, rather than play, pay, see you another day. That way I never get stressed, I choose when I want to party, and I always enjoy myself.
I`ve started playing more and more free parties in the last few years (after a long time of getting the hell away from it) and I`m am enjoying these more than anything else.

It is a minefield out there, and all of us have and will get screwed over at some point.
The main point I think, is to keep yourself as informed as possible.
We are all whores to some extent, and the need to perform can blind you to some bad things.