In this chapter: The UK live music scene’s heyday was in the 1960s and 70s when legendary svengali Larry Parnes brought US acts over and every town had its own concert hall. But times changed and the rise in accessibility of home entertainment like videos and computer games in the 1980s took a big chunk out of this industry sector.
Nowadays the gig-goer is lucky if a major rock star’s so-called ‘UK tour’ takes in more than just London, Manchester and Birmingham. And yet today the UK live music scene is in robust health, with major music festivals now as much a part of the national calendar as Wimbledon (Glastonbury tickets in particular selling out within nanoseconds), a rise in so-called ‘boutique festivals’ such as The Big Chill and All Tomorrow’s Parties, and the now-habitual phenomenon of unsigned but hotly-tipped bands selling out London venues before even inking a record deal.
A new generation of guitar-music-loving gig-goers are swarming into live gigs. And importantly the live music industry has one big benefit that the record companies don’t – it offers an experience they can’t burn from their friends or blag for free off the internet.Not all tours ‘break even’ (make enough money to cover costs) for the record company, but they nonetheless remain an essential part of the marketing strategy, keeping the band in the public eye and satisfying the fans.
A healthy live music scene is to the advantage of virtually everyone in the music industry, creating not only a healthy revenue stream in its own right but also boosting sales of albums, videos and DVDs, posters, books, magazines, souvenir underpants, the lot.
The Highs And Lows Of Working In The Live Music Arena
HighsAs much live music as you can handle plus the chance to be at music’s grass-roots level – a very exciting place to be and often a lot more ‘real’ than the recording side of the industry.
Lows
Late nights, long hours, jet lag, artistic tantrums, last-minute disasters in front of thousands, and a very thin line between making it worthwhile and people losing money and face.
Booking Agents
What Is A Booking Agent?A music booking agent handles a band/artist’s live performances and tours at home and abroad. The agent works with the manager (and the record company if applicable) to guide them on the best venues, towns, duration of the tour at that period in their career, as well as organising all the practical details. The agent is also a link between the artist’s manager and the concert promoter (see below). They are paid a percentage of the band’s profits from the tour – anything from 5 to 30 per cent – or alternatively, a retainer, i.e. a monthly salary.
What Does A Booking Agent Do?
The agent negotiates with concert promoters (see below) to get gigs for their client. If the band/artist is just starting out and trying to get established it’s the agent’s job to persuade promoters to give their client a chance to perform. If the band is unsigned (as is often the case) they do this by emphasising past live triumphs, showing past press coverage and promising (often rashly) the attendance of music journalists who in reviewing the gig will, as a byproduct, also plug the venue and possibly the promoter.
In the case of bigger, more successful acts – who tend to arrange live dates or tours around the release of a new
– the boot’s on the other foot and the agent will find their work is now in deciding which of several competing promoters it will be best to go with, and trying to maximise the fee, and the billing (i.e. top of the bill or third support – this gets particularly pressurised and ill-tempered in the case of festivals, which is why you may find it odd that your favourite band has been beaten to the headline slot by someone ostensibly less famous or marvellous).
Agents for bigger acts will also negotiate with the record company to reduce the costs to the promoter of staging the gig (security, staging, endless bottles of Cristal . . . ). For example, they might agree to joint poster campaigns, joint radio adverts with the record company to promote the album at the same time as the gig, or even US-style ‘street teams’ – gangs of young hipsters lured by the promise of free concert tickets and t-shirts into handing out flyers and talking up forthcoming gigs.
It’s more complicated than it sounds – for example:
Venue capacity: do you book a venue which you know your band will easily fill, perhaps leaving people unable to get in? This will create the ‘buzz’ of a sold-out gig and help with hyping the band up. Or do you optimistically book a slightly-too-large venue and hope they fill it, giving each potential fan the chance to see the band live and be persuaded? Each case has to be judged individually.
Ticket price: agents work with local promoters (see below) to set a ticket price. In the case of provincial pubs
Figure 5a.Booking agent’s contract for a live performance.
Figure 5b. Booking agent’s contract for a live performance.
and clubs this is often just the set entry fee to the venue and won’t be changeable. However, in the case of larger acts and venues a price has to be set that is both reasonable and within the market average, and also making the most profit for all concerned. You mustn’t make your band look cheap, but nor must you rip off the fans. Often a deal between the agent and promoter isn’t struck until the last minute – a particularly hot band who’ve just cracked the Top 10 might be worth a lot more on the night of the gig than they were two months earlier when the gig was first planned.
After all costs have been deducted (door staff, sound engineers and crew, resident technical staff, food and
Figure 5c. Booking agent’s contract for a live performance.
drink ‘riders’, marketing . . . the list can be endless) the money from ticket sales is split between the band/artist and the promoter on a ratio of around 70:30 in the artist’s favour. The agent then gets between 5 and 30 per cent of the band/artist’s fee. Sometimes bands play for a ‘guaranteed fee’, meaning a set price however successful or poorly attended the gig is.
Major booking agencies include Primary Talent, International Talent Booking, The Agency Group Ltd and Helter Skelter.
Getting In The Door
See Chapter 2 for more general suggestions on getting a job.
Practical experience will be more valuable than anything. Do you ever organise gigs at your student union, or in your local pub or nightclub? If not, start. It doesn’t have to be the event of the decade, or even a money-spinner. Just the practical experience of organising a band, maybe a manager, maybe a promoter, record company or even just the pub landlord or college authorities will build relationships with other players in this field and impress a potential employer.
If you’re at college, run for social secretary or entertainments manager, or to be on the Ball Committee – anything that’ll get your hands dirty in the live music field and look good on your CV.
Booking agents must be salesmanlike, self-confident and persuasive – sometimes phoning them directly will win respect as they’ll know you’re no shrinking violet.
The Agents Association (see Useful Addresses) represents entertainment industry agents in the UK and offers a very useful online directory of contemporary music agents at www.agents-uk.com. The National Entertainment Agents Council is a similar organisation with a smaller database of music agents.
A first job with an agency will often be on a training basis as a trainee booker/agent or agent’s assistant, learning the business by dealing with contracts, organising work permits, diary management and general admin, before building up to booking college gigs and smaller pubs and clubs. Trainees also act as scouts for new talent – if an agent spots an act they like they will contact the record company or manager to find out if the band has or needs an agent.
Alternatively, if you set up as a one-man (or woman) band and do well, an agency might one day poach you and your bands.
Case Study: Andy Woolliscroft, Primary Talent
‘A love of music and a sabbatical post at uni as social secretary helped me to start off in the music industry as a very, very poorly paid assistant to an established agent who had sold me bands when I was a social secretary. In fact, all my breaks appeared via agents I had dealt with at uni. So whereas what you know is important, who you know is essential.’
‘Each year I booked larger tours – initially for artists represented by my boss – and slowly, as I grew more confident, I took on my own clients. I booked their shows and applied the knowledge I had picked up via my bosses. The only world I had was in gigs and music. Now I’m a director and shareholder in a big agency and represent big international clients and have respect and status within the agency/promoter world.’
‘The best bits of the job include the pride, and the respect given to me by clients – people who you admire for their amazing talents and who you are probably a big fan of (sometimes when I’m in some grand hotel in an amazing part of the world sitting talking to a big star I have to pinch myself). Also the pleasure of being part of a successful tour, knowing that it was me who put that audience together with that artist in that place and everyone had an amazing time – and the pleasure of making your client very successful. ’
‘The money’s good at this level, too. Worst is the lack of loyalty in the business and the way clients are misrepresented by other parties such as managers and record companies who then blame the agent. Telling your client bad news and never getting thanked for doing a good job is also tough. The hours are not family-friendly either.’
‘My advice to young people wanting to get a job with a booking agency is: be prepared for a long, hard struggle for no money at the start, and if you are lucky, and good, the pay-offs can be wonderful. But the love of music has to be paramount.’