How to become a booking agent for musical acts?
Becoming a booking agent for music acts is just like starting any kind of business and requires a plan. This list of to-do’s is not intended to be a substitute for a business plan but more of a guide to get you motivated in the right direction. Because this is a service based business the biggest keys here are your abilities to network and your interpersonal skills.
- Research. Do you live in community that has a big local/regional music influence? Where do bands come from and where do they play? How often? Where would bands find out about shows, are there forums or community boards? You need to know what your market looks like before jumping in.
- Venues. Here is where the networking starts. After you’ve established your goals for the business and your plan of attack it’s time to go introduce yourself to as many of the venue owners as possible. Let them know that you book talent and find out about their rates and anything else a band would need to know before trying to play there: space limitations, power limitations, etc. You need to be a resource.
- Finding talent. You need to be able to prove to bands and music acts that you are worth your booking fee. Get on those forums, community boards, go to shows and concerts to get to know as many bands as possible. You are trying to tell them how great a booking agent you are and what you can offer.
- Keep a system. Like any other business staying organized is your key to avoiding wasted time and effort. Start a tracking system to help measure the success of your interactions so that when you have a bad day you’ll know exactly how much more you need to do tomorrow to get ahead. Keep track of all your contacts from bands, to bars, to bar owners.
- Use all available resources. The web is great for finding almost everything. Don’t get dependent on it people still appreciate snail mail. You are more likely to get someone’s attention as well when they see a hand written note offering something of value to them.
- Charging. How will you take your fee? Are you charging bands a commission based on what the venues are paying them? Are bars paying you to find bands to fill up their drinking holes? I would guess that starting out you should base your charge on a percentage of from whatever the bands make. This bands don’t have to pay anything up front and you’ll have more of an incentive to negotiate prices with venues once your service proves itself to be a valuable one.
- Get involved. This is the extra mile after a while people are going to know what you do and hopefully how well you do it. Get involved with your community to let them know that it’s not all about making a few bucks. Help round up your bands and venue spaces to plan a fundraiser for a charity of your choice. Lots of bands in one place can fill up a bar, which owners like, get bands some stage time and raise money for a good cause. Things like that will be sure to help your reputation and show your value as an agent and a resource.
Again this is no substitute for actual planning. Everyone who comes across this will have different ideas about what it means to be an agent. People will have different goals and measures of success. The important things are to get your goals on paper then create parameters to measure them against. You can’t know how to move forward until you know where you are and have been. I hope these points help you get going and if you still think you need work on your networking skills check out Gitomer’s Little Black Book of Networking. It is one of my personal favorites and I am constantly referring to it.
I’m assuming you’ve already got a band that’s asking you to be their booking agent? If so, your job is to be a salesperson, essentially for the band. Get ready for rejection and keep right on pitching them. Find local venues. Talk to the owners and listen carefully. What are they looking for? How does your band fit their needs? There’s an art to negotiating so read some books on the subject. You’ll probably be asked to negotiate a lot. Promotion will also be important. You should be computer literate and be able to make a website, publish flyers, etc. Good luck.
