Check the contract before!

I just got the most stupid mail in a long time. The sad part it's from a professional booking agency. Or well I guess not so professional after all. First, they seem to just hang around on sites like Sonicbids and try to book their acts. Anyway, they found us through one of these sites.

One of the bands sounded really good and would fit a spot in the lineup. It says pretty clearly in our description what kind of festival it is and what the payments are. So we took a chance and sent an agreement to this booking agency. The said yes and signed the deal online.

Then we sent out the gig details to the festival, what stage and what time. The answer we got is:

Great, the times and stages look good, we are free on those dates. This is how much we take for a gig.

Here comes the fun part. In the contract, we already settle how much we would pay. It's not like you can sign a contract and then just put another price tag on it. And by signing the contract you tell us that you are available.

Before we even had a chance to answer on that one the next email came in.

How much to do you pay for flights, accommodation and what kind of food does the artist get?

This is also very funny. This is actually stated in the contract, all of it. We slowly realized that this booking agency just says yes to everything and then think they can negotiate afterward on everything.

This is the problem we see now in the business. Before a company like this would be taken off. With the new digital highways, they stay ongoing. They have no clue what they are doing and many artists end up in these shit companies hands all the time.

I don't know if I should break the ice to them and just tell them what they signed? Even if it was digitally.

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Come on booking agents you not in game any longer!

I'm shit tired to explain how showcasing works for booking agents that send me totally useless bands that have no value whatsoever and still think I would pay more than our headliners. We really really need new educations around the live scene if this is gonna work out.

If the booking agents don't get their shit together ( which they don't) yes I will build my own network (which I did). You really need to learn what is sellable what is drawing attention and what is going on in the world.

Right now I book more from managers then I booking agencies because of the lack of knowledge in the new business. And that actually scares me. We need to install much more good or we will lose the good momentum we are building up.

So rule one. No, I won't book an unknown band because they have good music or are good live. I will ask how you did your promotion in the territory that you enter. And if see you just booking shit places in my territory don't expect me to jump on.

Rule two. Get in your brain that your act is not worth that much money, especially not in the niche countries.

Rule three, be prepared to work some PR to get somewhere that includes some free shows, you really need to invest in the market.

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Managment is not a booking agency.

I'm really tired getting from artists seeking management that they want a manager to get more gigs.
Managers are not booking gigs. We could look to get you a booking agency, but at the same time if you can't get a booking agency interested there a very slim chance that the manager could fix that problem.

It seems artist thinks a manager is a personal butler fixing all these things that they think is hard to do. They are not. If you have a hard time to find a record deal, they will have the same problem. The manager then can fix things around you so you have a better chance to get a  record deal. But then you have to do other hard working things even work twice as hard as you already are doing.

Stop looking to the manager as a personal slave so you can sit around and feel important. Think of the manager as your personal investor on the bank.

Oh yes, when I write this I just got that exact stupidity. If this artist had management they would surely do this to them. An artist (not even on my management) asking for a link. This link is not even hard to get, it's on the homepage they are asking about. You can easily google the thing and get it. No instead they send two text messages and three facebook notes that they need "the link".
Why not just go to the homepage and check it, or google it. A five-year-old can do it. No instead they use valuable time and money to get me to do something that they really don't should ask about.

You would not send a stupid request to your bank like "do you have the address to your login". No you won't you will go to the bank's homepage and look for the login. If it doesn't work you really can't find then you send a message.

It's too many that don't really know what the different people are doing in the industry. Also the new world today is more that people just scream for help without checking some easy options. And thinking it would be great with a  personal server that can fix this easy stuff.

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Disturbing things in the industry

Late the sinner will wake is a quote they use in Sweden and here is really written on the wall.
I got a really disturbing message from an agent asking “where are the kids going now a days?”. Well pal that is your job to know that. But the live industry seems to be sleeping quite much so I’m not surprised that the message was sent out.

Right now I know several record labels that build in their own network and platform to get the artist the live experience they need. Also they won’t share this with the booking departments. My guess is that the live stages will have serious problems in just two years. And they will cry in the public that it is so unfair to them. I will just referee to this blog post when they do it.

Even more disturbing is that some Swedish official teams are using these old methods when they are doing things. Got a mail that the government hired a firm that really is outnumbered and just famous for heavy cost and no results. The funny part is that the firm takes money from the government to do their shows. Then they ask for money from the artist as well. It’s nothing new and I thought everyone knew this, but yes like the bookers it seems like so many are so after in the Swedish industry right now.