How it (should) works, part 1. 1) Musicians play the music. 2) Musicians hire booking agents to book their shows. This will cost the band roughly 10-15% of the earnings from their shows. There are two types of booking agents: A) Type A will book you anywhere, accept any guarantee, and will put you all sorts of shows, but the risk is higher of a bad show. These agents work for next to nothing traditionally. B) Type B will book you in only established venues, and will avoid places that arent willing to pay out a high guarantee, They command a higher percentage of your earnings, but the risk is much lower of having a bad show. 3) Bands that dont use a booking agent at all face many challenges, and have the highest chance of bad shows, and though you save money from not paying an agent, your chances of success are much harder to calculate. 4) Booking Agents (Or Band Members) work with Promoters and Venue Owners (Talent Buyers) to establish a show at a location and date, with a certain level of expectations to be met. Promoters are often paid 10% of show the shows earnings. Venue Owners all have different payment mechanics, and arent tied to any particular style or method. 5) Promoters are there to support the shows attendance, but (excluding the booking agent) everybody who stands to gain from this show must participate in finding people to attend the event. The booking agents role in the the situation is to make sure the band works with good promoters and venues when they are away from home. 6) If a band cannot afford to hire a good booking agent or a promoter for a touring show, then they should not be touring. I know it sounds harsh, but really, if your band doesnt offer up any tangible assets, with the standard metric being known as asses in the seats what do you have to add to the success of the show. There are two known ways to overcome this: It takes exceptional talent to overcome this method, which most bands honestly do not have, or it takes the willingness to participate in the show without taking a share of the shows gross income while stilling putting income into the show (Play for Free, Play for Pay)
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 16:58:04 +0000