The Secret World of Booking Agents
The world of booking agents is a mystical mix of cold hard business and passion for music with a large web of connections that could span the globe. From the streets of Nashville to the studios of Los Angeles, every musician dreams of being able to say “Let me call my agent.” Before your search, you’d better be able to answer two very important questions: What does an agent do exactly, and do I really need an agent?
Types of Agents
If you ask 10 different agents what they do in a day and what their typical duties are, you will get 10 different answers. The truth is just like every musician, every agent has something different to offer. There are independent agents, agents connected to big agencies like William Morris or CAA, agents who have started their own agencies; big agents and small-time agents. Some musicians can go through three or four agents in their careers. The trick is finding the type of agent you need at this point in your career.
Primarily, agents book gigs and organize performance fees for an artist playing. Unlike what you see in the movies, agents don’t organize travel plans, promotional work or stage production. That’s what a band manager does, “We get artists gigs,” says Bruce Houghton, president of Skyline Music, “No more and no less. In the current environment, we also advise the artist and often managers about how best to navigate in what we like to call ‘the new music business.’ ”
Agents typically work for 10 to 15 percent of what the band makes at a performance they have booked. That means many agents are only interested in representing artists who already have a large following and sell out clubs and venues or are looking to take their career to the next level. So why get an agent if all they do is dial a phone number and call a club? Easy. Connections. No matter how hard a musician may try, there is often a limit to how far they can with only their own contacts.
What They Do
“We all know various types of clients,” says S.S. ‘Sparky’ Sparks of The Sparks Agency, “Basically, it’s the connections and a full-time commitment to the job—the business of the business. [I also] know to ask questions that the band may not think of asking, like ‘Is it going to be outside?’ or ‘Will you be filming done?’ and ‘What percent we get from that?’ and ‘What does the band get out of it?’ These are things a good agent [will] do.”
However, keep in mind that an agent will inevitably be concerned about the bottom line, and that bottom line is how much money they’re getting.
“My job is a professional middleman and to give both entities, the band and the venue, the tools to have a good performance,” Sparks says. “Entertainment booking is translation. It’s our job to make sure both sides of the fence are treated well and happy so it’s easy to book a second time. You have to sell to make money in this business, and you only get 15 to 20 percent of that date. That’s the bottom line.”
Most individual agents represent anywhere between 10 and 20 artists depending on the size of the agency and size of the artist. Houghton from Skyline Music recommends looking for a 10 to 1 ratio of artist to agents. According to Tony Saldano, CEO of T&T Management and Booking Agency, agents tend to focus on a few clients in order to compete with the number of gigs out there as well as give each agent as much individual time as possible. The amount of individual time can range depending on the client load of the agent.
“I care very much about providing (musicians) with the best services I can possibly provide, and care very much about their needs as both people and artists, as their successes are also my own,” Saldano says. ”Their failures are a reflection on me as well, and that is why I prefer not to spend my time wasting it frivolously.”
Sparks says that he hasn’t seen much competition among agents themselves, and that agents will actually help each other get gigs at time. Houghton however, says the market for gigs is very competitive if a band doesn’t easily sell tickets.
Keith Case, owner of Keith Case and Associates also says that for some clients he offers a to book interview requests, hotels and anything else they may need if the artists don’t have a manager who can book their dates and accommodations for them. While it may contradict the sometimes elusive nature of an agent, many can be very attentive once they’re hooked in with an artist. “It’s hard to get us to sign an act, but after we do we go to war for them and will be bloody stumps before we give up,” Houghton says. “If you can’t find an agent that makes you feel that way; keep making calls yourself.”
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Author's biography:
Miranda Koerner is a freelance writer who lives with her husband in San Antonio, Texas. Her fascination for music came from growing up in Austin. She currently writes for several magazines and websites, on everything from peanut butter to garage bands.
