You have been told you need one – but what do they do?
You are probably aware of booking agents in the live music business, and you have probably been told you need to get one to further your music career. (This may be true and I will explore that viewpoint later). But first, what is a booking agent and what do they do?
A booking agent is a critical player in the live music business, responsible for finding paid gigs and securing live engagements for artists. They act as intermediaries between artists and promoters, helping to negotiate deals for performances at various venues such as concert halls, festivals, clubs, and colleges. In many ways, the booking agent’s role is a ‘sales job’ – the booking agent must pitch their music artist clients to concert promoters and festival organisers. This can be difficult when the client is an unknown entity with few fans.
Booking agents do not organise the concerts themselves, but facilitate the connection between the artist and the event promoters. Their role includes planning touring schedules, negotiating fees, administrating applications for work permits and visas, and issuing contracts to promoters.
Unfortunately, having an established booking agent is essential for artists looking to get gigs beyond the local bar and pub level. A ‘good’ booking agent should have relationships with concert promoters – relationships that music artist do not have when they are starting out.
Full-Service Agencies vs. Boutique Agencies
There are generally two types of booking agent: full-service and boutique agencies. Full-service agencies, often based in major hubs like Los Angeles, provide an array of services beyond just booking concert performances. They assist with touring, festivals, and may offer opportunities in film, TV, literature, and digital branding. No article on booking agents would be complete without mentioning the two full-service giants – Creative Artist Agency (CAA) and William Morris/ WME/ Endeavour (they keep changing their name!).
Boutique agencies focus specifically on live touring and festival work, sometimes specialising in particular music genres or regional markets. These smaller agencies may not offer the same breadth of services, but they provide personalised attention and expertise in specific niches.
You can research booking agents using Showcase – the International Music Business Guide.
Identifying Opportunities for Live Performance
Whether full-service or boutique, booking agents identify lucrative performance opportunities for artists by considering several factors and data sources. They work closely with the artist and their manager to devise a comprehensive live performance strategy. This involves assessing the artist’s genre, fan base, primary location, previous live performance history, recording history, forthcoming releases, and production considerations.
Data plays a significant role in decision-making, where digital service providers like Spotify are used to gather data about fan engagement and demand, which helps in crafting a live performance strategy. Booking agents also look for incoming offers and identify potential opportunities such as showcases, opening for other artists, headline club shows, the college circuit in the US, and festival slots.
Incoming vs Outgoing Offers
Incoming offers are those that come directly from promoters who wish to book an artist, while outgoing offers are initiated by the agent to secure gigs – a sort of ‘sales job’ when representing less established music artists.. Agents must balance these types of offers to ensure a steady stream of performance opportunities while maximising the artist’s exposure and income.
Hard Ticket Sales
Hard ticket sales refer to events where promoters sell tickets directly to fans to see a particular music artist in concert. This differs from festival appearances, where people buy tickets for the event itself – the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (AKA ‘Glasto’) does not announce the artist when tickets go on sale, for instance. Determining who a fan is paying to see at a festival is impossible.
There must be a temptation for the booking agent to book festival slots for her artists, as these can generate higher performance fees and the artist can reach more people on the day (although there is some opinion on the effectiveness of music festivals for discovering new artists). However, a good booking agent will like to prove her clients’ ability to sell hard tickets. Performing a series of sold out club shows is proof there is a strong demand for a particular artist, and that hard-ticket success gives the artist, and her booking agent, bargaining power for securing higher profile, and higher-paying, festival slots. This objective may be easy to to visualise – the artist has proved demand beyond streams and ‘follows’ – and the tactic of going for hard ticket shows is difficult (and expensive) to implement. See ‘How a Booking Agent Makes Money’ below for a further explanation.
Routing the Tour
Routing a tour efficiently involves planning the sequence of performances in different locations, taking into account travel logistics, venue availability, and the artist’s schedule. A well-routed tour maximises exposure and minimises travel costs and downtime, increasing the profitability of the tour. Booking agents must coordinate closely with artists and their management teams to ensure that tours are planned and executed with an objective and strategy in mind.
What a Booking Agent Can Do for a Music Artist
As I have mentioned, having a booking agent is seen to be a ‘must -have’ for any emerging artist. There are exceptions of course (some disciplined searching online will throw up results about Change the Rapper, Bruno Mars, and others who apparently work without an agent) and my experience leads me to believe it is difficult and time-consuming to launch an artist’s live career without an agent on board.
So, a new artist needs a booking agent. But how can they significantly enhance an artist’s career?
There are five major benefits to having an agent:
- Access to better opportunities: Booking agents have established relationships with promoters, venues, and festivals. This network allows them to secure high-quality gigs that the artist might not access on their own. For example, performing at major festivals or opening for well-known artists can snowball an artist’s visibility.
- Professional negotiation: Agents are skilled negotiators who ensure that artists receive fair compensation and favourable terms for their performances. This allows artists to focus on their craft without worrying about the business side of things.
- Strategic career growth: Booking agents help craft long-term strategies for live performances that align with an artist’s career goals. They should plan tours or festival appearances around album releases to maximise promotional impact, for instance.
- Increased revenue: Live performances are often one of the most lucrative aspects of an artist’s income. A good booking agent can help maximise this revenue by securing well-paid gigs and optimising tour schedules to reduce costs, although this is a lot easier to type and do.
- Time-saving: Managing bookings can be time-consuming. By handling all logistical aspects of live performances, booking agents free up time for artists to focus on creating music and engaging with fans.
How a Booking Agent Makes Money
Booking agents get paid a percentage of the money artists make from shows. Booking agents usually take a 10% commission for musicians, rising to 15% for DJs, as they handle extra duties like travel and lodging arrangements. Major entertainment unions in the US, like AFM and SAG-AFTRA, set the rules for commission rates. The UK commonly uses a 10% rate, but it’s not regulated or enforced by anyone. Booking agents do not have contracts with their clients, for instance.
Agents have quarterly revenue targets set by their agencies. I could not verify the numbers set for targets and the rumour I’ve often heard is that senior agents working for full-service agencies have quarterly targets of $500,000.00 – $1,000,000. Each. Which is achievable if, as an agent, you have some super-star acts on your books. One arena or stadium concert could gross $2 million; the agents’ 10% revenue of a tour at that level will easily reach the quarterly target.
Agents can not rely on their clients becoming superstars and selling out arena tours, though. Established agents will have a large (10-20) number of clients, all at different stages in their respective careers. So, while an agent can hit their targets by booking a superstar act, they are going to have to work their less established artists hard to ‘make the numbers’ (hit the targets*). For instance, an agent booking a tour for a newly signed act can probably negotiate performance fees of $500 per concert. (This assumes booking her client into 100-200 capacity rooms). A ten-date tour will gross $5000.00, of which the agent will earn $500.00 in commission! The agent will have to book a LOT of concerts, for many artists, to reach her target of $500,000.
influencing their potential earnings.
* To get a clear idea of revenue targets in a full-scale agency, I recommend you read “Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency“. The book contains numerous stories of agents failing to ‘make the numbers’.
End
So that’s my take on the work of the booking agent. I enjoy sharing my knowledge with you, please let me know in the comments if you found it useful.
There is also my book on the live music business, imaginatively called ‘The Live Music Business‘ and an in-depth video on my YouTube channel: ‘The Bookings Agents‘.