Even a nationwide tour involves extremely complex logistics, and it becomes exponentially harder to manage the travel as the tour passes onto an international level. Getting the band from point A to point B seems to be a pretty straightforward job, but in fact, the routine of the tour manager is dealing with unexpected and solving a dozen of new problems each day — all while keeping the artists happy and ready to perform.
To give you a taste of an international tour route, here's an approximate map of the Lizzo's tour in support of "Cuz I Love You" release, stretching over 64 locations and 74, km — and that is just the straight routs, not accounting for the actual roadways.
It takes hard work and expertise to assemble the stage, set up the lights and the sound system, etc. The live industry relies on the tech crew to make the show actually happen.
Festivals and venues are at the very core of the live business, providing the space and usually the base infrastructure for the show.
Outdoor events are a distinct part of the live performance landscape. Operated by promotion groups, prominent festivals can introduce artists to new audiences, both in terms of fans and music industry executives — all while offering a fat pay-check.
A major festival performance puts the artist on the map, and the promotional effect of the show itself has to be considered. It can become even more important than the immediate monetary gain — especially for independent, up-and-coming artists.
Although recording and publishing industries are not directly engaged in the live business, we have to remember that the music industry is built on collaboration. By convention, most music tours follow the release of an album, and each artist has to report his set after the show to PROs so that the proper songwriters get paid.
The music industry is made up of separate companies and people working on the different parts of the artist career — and, while not completely aligned, they are always interconnected. The six key parties described above work together to bring the live show to the concert-goers. That said, in the next section we will go through the tour cycle step by step to showcase how all these players interact to create the tour.
As it usually is in the music industry, it all starts with the artist. On the first step, agents and tour promoters find and sign the performer. For some types of artists like DJs, for example touring can be relatively huge, while the recording revenues might stay almost non-existent.
As an average show has to be booked months in advance, tour deals are usually signed around a year prior to the actual performance. At the same time, the vast majority of concert tours follow the recording releases to build up the momentum and ride the promotion wave. That has one unavoidable implication: tour promoters and agents sign the artist to perform the material which is not written yet, which can be quite risky.
That is especially true when it comes to the debut artists, that might not even have a minute set or any solid live performance skills when they get their first touring deal.
There is a lot of gut feeling that goes into scouting on the live industry side — more than in the recording business at least, where licensing deals allowed labels to mediate the risks of the creative stage. At this step, the tour promoter starts the preparations: building the light show and live visual materials, booking rehearsal sessions to perfect the live performance, and so on. Meanwhile, the artist, manager, agent and tour promoter work out a general timeframe and draft an approximate route of the future tour.
The initial tour planning is usually done around priority shows, like major city performances or music festivals, while the rest of the route is defined in broad strokes.
Ones the initial route is set out, the agent goes on to book the tour, pitching the show to local promoters and festivals. Starting with the priority shows and then filling in the details, the tour route gradually takes its final form.
The agent negotiates with local promoters to pick out an optimal venue in terms of volume, style, conditions, etc. Go for a small but safe venue — and you risk losing potential ticket sales and disappointing the fans; go big, and you might end up in a half-empty room, losing on the investment and leaving every side of the deal disappointed.
The agent has to make risky decisions in a situation of uncertainty, and given the venue landscape in some of the regions, sometimes that means choosing between a venue capacity of and for what is reasonably a ticket show. As for the conditions and splits of the booking contract, generally local promoters, tour promoters, and artists will split the net profits of the show.
Artists might also get a flat fee to ensure they'll make some money even if all other parties do their job poorly. Others might ask for a higher "safety" fee, lowering both the profits of the tour and their own stake in it.
That might be a lot to take in, but don't worry, we will get back to the splits and give you a clear example with a tour simulation you can find below. Concert marketing is a topic worthy of a separate article, but if we were to simplify things, it could be separated into two main parts.
First is the overarching tour marketing, implemented by the tour promoter and synchronized with the record release. The tour marketing campaign utilizes wide communication channels to promote the tour in general rather than a particular show.
Second is the regional marketing owned by the local promoters, which aims to boost the sales of a specific show, focusing on narrow communication channels, like radio, OOH and locally targeted digital advertising.
First, the tour is announced through the label- or artist-owned channels. On the live event market, the buying intent might not realize itself on the first day — so having direct contact with fans and growing the artist's CRM-base is a key tool in the hands of the industry.
Then, the pre-sale takes place: first, reaching out directly to fans in the CRM database — after all, artist-fan relationships are one of the most important assets of an artist, and a fan pre-sale ensures that engaged followers will be able to get tickets to the show. Keep scrupulous notes about all your presenter contacts.
Make a log of all presenter interactions so that you can track when you called, what you sent, and when to make the follow-up contacts. Whether by phone, email or in-person, be personable and positive. It may in the future, or it may not. You need to determine if this presenter is appropriate for you and your music.
Be cordial and ask the presenter for suggestions of appropriate other series where you might be a good fit. Presenters all know each other, so no matter what the results are, make sure you leave them with a positive impression. Thank them for their time. You may want to periodically send career updates maybe 3 times a year at most or invitations to your performances in their area.
Talk in terms of the fit your performance might make with their series. Ask questions and remember you are building a relationship with this presenter, not simply trying to score a single gig. Sometimes, a presenter is interested in a future season, not the immediate one.
If this is the case, ask when it would be best to follow up and then make sure you do so. Challenge: identify 3 presenters or venues where you think your music is a fit.
Draft an email pitch appropriate to each of them. Do you have a question about booking your own concerts? Hit me up in our free Facebook group. You're busy, so let me send the latest Music Career Byte direct to you each Monday. That way you won't have to find your way back to the blog to get more great career tips! Username or Email Address. Remember Me. Even if you promote a wide range of acts, try to make most of your posts relevant to the people you most often want to attract to your events.
An artist that currently has only one big hit out is perfect for booking at a nightclub. In fact, at a club, being known for one particular song can work out very well. If the artist will only be playing a couple of songs, then the crowd is going to want to hear the hit they know.
Known bands, including some big artists, may also play at the most popular nightclubs. Of course, for this to be profitable, the club needs to have a large enough capacity. Remember, when you book an artist, they have a fee for putting on the performance. Concerts tend to require more collaboration in planning. If you are handling booking and promotion for the headliner, there are multiple reasons to book an opening act as well. Booking clubs can be a profitable way to build your booking business and form relationships with artists that can grow.
And if you are just starting out as a booking agent, a club booking requires less preparation and can help you get the hang of the process. Billy Bones is Marketing Director at Bookingagentinfo. This was extremely helpful! This totally changed my perspective about booking artists. Interesting point of view, however, in our experience this could change by three simple factors: 1. Kind of audience 2. Day of the week 3. Kind Of night club. For example, is not the same to have a live event on a Friday or Saturday where the people wants to go to dance and have fun just like say , than have it in a Wednesday where people only go if the artist is good; and all changes if the night club is a Son Cubano Club where no matter the day, the people goes to dance only or to a dance class and having a live perform should be to interact with this, or if it is a Rock Night Club, or a Electronic Night Club or is just a simple Bar with a Place to play music.
Log In Sign Up. Booking Artists for Concerts vs for a Nightclub. Share on Facebook Share. Share on Twitter Tweet. Share on Google Plus Share. Share on LinkedIn Share. Photo by Richard Clyborne of MusicStrive. Imani Onyia. Glad you found it helpful.
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