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Topic: Hiring A Booker/Agent? |
Garth Highsmith
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Posted 11 Jun 2003 11:42 am |
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| . [This message was edited by Garth Highsmith on 09 January 2006 at 08:45 PM.] |
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Miguel e Smith
From:
Phoenix, AZ
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 2:47 pm
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You'll pay at least 10% commission for a agent/agency but, depending on the group's fee, the percentage may be well worth the help. Some venues are controlled by certain agencies and you'll have to go through them but overall it wouldn't be a bad idea to get on a fast track to learning (even by trial and error) to do the leg work yourselves. Unless you're offered some spectacular deal by an agent I would suggest not doing anything exclusive (this is all assuming you are not on a major recording label and trying to tour nationally, but rather just looking for local or regional venues).
You can do an internet search for some sample 'live performance' agreements and edit them based on your own specific circumstances or find a local attorney to custom taylor a generic boiler plate contract. Some venues/agencies will want to use their own contracts, others will be open to yours and some will not even acknowledge a contract whatsoever. There will always be risk. I'd say to just find the most simple and quick way to make contracts work for your situation on the major issues. There are just far too many unexpected occurances that 'can' happen to be able to cover them on paper anyhow.
Good luck and good hunting
Mike |
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Larry King
From:
Watts, Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 5:28 pm
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| If I read your post correctly, you are only working twice a month and local at that.....why would you NEED an agent?? I am not an agent but if I were I would not be interested in devoting very much attention to booking someone with no plans for a future in the business...there's no percentage in it and you can do this yourself and not have to deal with the peripheral issues.My opinion only. |
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Eric West
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 6:20 pm
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Stay away from them if at all possible.
You'll regret it if you ever have a grievance against a club. You'll regret it if you find out that other bands work in the same place without an agent.
If you ever DO sign a contract with them for any reason, make sure it stipulates that you can work other jobs that you might have or get without their geting a piece of them. In those cases, at least in Oregon, judges have a great deal of lattitude in deciding "reasonability" of any contract, so you don't have as much of a problem with BS contracts, but still...
Like I said though an agent will NOT stand up for you should you get "shorted", lose equipment, get fired or otherwise find yourself in need of "advocacy". They are not "advocates". They are leeches. Especially when the "gigs" they get are below the thousand dollar a night mark.
EJL |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 6:48 pm
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| How do you know what the actual selling price for the band is, that the agent is claiming 10% of? Does the artist get a copy of each contract, or have to co-sign each contract? If not, it seems to me there's lots of room for hanky panky there... |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 13 Jun 2003 8:57 pm
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If for any reason at all the agent wants money up front for anything(fees, promotional whatever, expenses) shoot him on the spot. Or at least hit him in the head really hard with a heavy blunt object.
Bob |
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Pete Burak
From:
Portland, OR USA
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Posted 14 Jun 2003 9:21 am
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Belive it or not, there are some good agents out there.
I had a good agent from '90-'95 while I was in college in the Seattle area.
The agents name was Dan Giles (based in Auburn Wa), and the Agency name was King Vac (Based in Bellevue WA as I recall).
They mainly booked Solo, Duo and Trio gigs.
I was singing my way through college doing a midi based solo at the time.
Anyway... Dan would send me contracts for every single gig, that were signed by the buyer, and then myself. All dates, times, directions, meals/drinks included, room accomodations if needed, pay, etc... were all specified.
I'd play the gig and send him his 10% on monday.
His deal was $500 or less was 10%, anything over $500 was 15%.
Most of my gigs were friday and sat nights and were in the $250-$350 range.
I played restaraunt longes up and down the I-5 corridor, alot of yaght club lounges, some resort lounges both in the Cascades and out at the coast, some eagles/elks type clubs, etc.
The only time I really needed to contact the agent was if I needed a weekend off, otherwise this guy had me gigging 52 weekends a year. So I did my thing at school every week, and just went and played the gig on the weekends. The conveinience was worth the 10% (wich I almost always made up for plus more in my seemingly magical Tip Jar!).
Since '95 I've been in 5 piece bands in the Portland OR area, and have occasionally played some agent gigs. They usually call with corporate parties for the likes of Nike or Intel, big New Years or 4th of July parties, big weddings, ect... mainly where each man makes $250-$450 for one gig.
Again, certainly worth the convienience.
So basically, if you are interested more in playing than making that 10%, and don't want to play endless phone tag with the bozo-dom of club owners, use an agent.
All the other advise in this thread is certainly valid, so get a good reccomendation from other musicians in your area so as to avoid the slime-er-y. |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 14 Jun 2003 9:10 pm
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Pete,
I use booking agents myself. The guys that want money up front are usually bottom feeders though.
Bob |
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Miguel e Smith
From:
Phoenix, AZ
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Posted 15 Jun 2003 9:06 am
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I also agree with Pete in that there are some really good agents out there. We've gotten some really good gigs that I would not have otherwise landed if not for them. For myself, I do not have an exclusive arrangement with any agent but rather work sucessfully with many. On the gigs we can book ourselves, we do. (and definately show respect to a certain agents territory or venue). When you're going for this thing yourself, you have the ability to custom tailor agreements to a great degree (within reason).
10 to 20% commission is common but on some corporate dates, your band may be getting $1,500 to $2,000 (or more) and the agent may actually be getting twice that much just for the music entertainment. Hard to prevent that type of activity when your usual contact will be only with the agent or DMC. |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 16 Jun 2003 4:07 am
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Very interesting points raised.
IF you agree on a price from an agent it really doesn't matter what he is getting paid..the deal is with you and the agent..not with you and the club.
Also yes..be sure you can gig without the agent or paying him ( or her ) fees' for the gigs that you book yourself.
get a reference from another band they are booking.
When we worked for an agent it was not all bad , at times it was quite good, we got paid what we agreed to and we gigged fairly often..the biggest problem was at times we were booked in clubs that were not a match for our band..
We were playing "Together Again" and they were wanting "Brown Sugar "
Does Blues Brothers come to mind right about now ?
Some of the best FUN memories I have are from some of those gigs that we booked thru an agent, my friends from those days and I still laugh about some of them.
Just do it..the learning experience is worth it all...
good luck
tp[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 16 June 2003 at 05:15 AM.] |
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 17 Jun 2003 1:50 pm
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| "How do you know what the actual selling price for the band is, that the agent is claiming 10% of?" |
Jim, Around here the agent gives you a copy of the contract. The bandleader collects the fee from the venue, then pays the agent.
The only time I had trouble collecting, the agent leaned on the club owner, and the full fee was paid. That's a good agent.
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