Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

Hey everyone!

I hope I am not breaking any etiquette rules by posting here, but I would greatly appreciate your help. I've been juggling around the idea of paying an agent to represent me, but I figured that I would solicit your advice prior to doing so. I imagine many of you have some great life experiences to share with me before I take the leap of faith and provide another being with money to hustle for me.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. But, to keep the discussion focused, it may be helpful to focus on the following questions:

1. Do I really need an agent nowadays to market myself? If not, how do I go about securing gigs and, hopefully one day, promotions?
2. How large of a following do I need before securing an agent makes sense?

Thank you so much for all your help.

-John

Here are some thoughts on that:

Note - I've worked with an agent / manager who kept us working for a solid year in four states then got us an album deal. He always made sure he got paid first. But we were getting paid too so that was cool.

Inn FL I had a female booking agent who got us rather crappy gigs. Places were it could turn ugly and did, regularly. Her husband was a jazz player who taught me a lot.

An agent can brag on you in a way you can't brag on yourself.

He knows people you don't and knows what kind of places would be appropriate for your act.

Hopefully, he knows the going rates for what you are doing and knows how to negotiate.

You'll want to have some good recordings ready so he can determine, a) if you're good enough (I know that sucks- he can't book you if you aren't); b) where you should be placed genre wise. He should know the circuits at least in his area with contacts outside that area.

I played a few months in a cover band in LA (to my shame) and an agent booked us in Needles CA - all four in one hotel room including the chick singer. The club owner was expecting a soul band. We made it work. sigh.

An agent can be several different positions really- so find out - you want one that can get you moving at your level (whatever that is) and position you to move up to the next level and so on. You can do these things yourself but it is not trivial and is time consuming.

I don't know anything about how a following would impact - could be negative if too small. If you are making money - they like that.

If you're networked in with other players they may be able to give you recommendations.

Yod? You know more about this than me.

Good luck

Talbot

Solid advice from Mike T.

You DON'T pay an agent, he gets a commision (percentage) of your gig fees. Don't sign an 'exclusive' contract - in fact don't sign anything unless an attorney looks it over first.

You talking about an agent who represents you exclusively (personal manager), or an agent who represents a lot of venues? It's not likely that a good (personal) agent will take on an artist that isn't already working or in demand.

The thing about an agent is that they get paid on the gross, not the net. So when they put you out on the road and you get more than a day off between gigs, YOU are the one paying for living expenses. If the agent only gets you booked a day or two in any particular week (or only on weekends) their 10-20% of gross will end up being 70-80% of net (or more) after expenses.

Anytime you can do something yourself, it will be better. If you already have some kind of venue network, it would absolutely be better to do it yourself. It's really not that hard, but you tend to have what I call the "see-saw effect" where you're working hard for a month or two, then get a month off because you were too busy traveling to keep up with the booking calendar.

I have had a reputable manager and agent in the past, where they started a company with me as their #1 artist. Then they built their agency over the next few years and attracted some major Christian artists, and I began getting less attention, less support and consideration, though I was the "golden goose" of the agency. They were making 40k a year off me but when I put out a new CD and my manager didn't call to discuss a strategy in the first 6 months of that release, it was time to move on.

Since I had established a network of venues since 2002, I just trained my 24 year old daughter on how to represent me, and serve the needs of the venues. My experience would be very different than someone just starting out (haven't needed a press kit since the 90s) but in-house is always the best way to run a business.

With all their big-time connections and a large team of agents, my former manager/agent was not nearly as effective as my daughter is for me now.

She gives me all of her attention and focus, and we work on every tour strategy together. I pay her 15% (gross) of performance money but keep merch sales, which managers/agents all want a piece of these days.

Sometimes I think she's trying to kill me, though. In the last week I played St Augustine FL, Orlando FL, Orange Park FL, Meridian MS, Jackson MS, Waxahachie TX and Houston.

That's a typical week with my "agent".

You don't need an agent. Just get a nice racket and a good tax accountant.

I can't think you all enough for your feedback. I really appreciate the responses, particularly the gems that Talbot and Yod provided. You guys are awesome!

After reading your feedback, I am under the impression that I should plan on hustling for myself -- pending the chance that I can't swing a personal manager to hustle for me right now. Anyway, given Yod's success with securing his own gigs, I will try to set up my own gigs, but I have a few follow-up questions before doing so:

1. How do starting artists seek out their initial gigs? I am relatively new to the business aspect of the craft, so I have yet to develop a substantial gig/venue network.
2. Has anyone used online venue-booking sites with any notable success? I have read a few "testimonials," but I want to hear thoughts from people on this forum.