I’m skeptical, booking agents are the life blood of a tour. A bad or disorganized booking agent can and often does spell disaster. However, if such skills are not one of the band members, and one doesn’t have a known name or track record, a major disconnect exists. Prime booking agents are not gong to be interested, and diy in this arena, unless somewhat focused and skilled is not likely to be too successful. Thus, I think Derek Sivers is correct, there is a place for the semi-expert, for the band ill equipped to diy, and yet not in the league to work with the big boys.
The problem is… being a booking agent, is not just the knowledge gained from reading 3 books, but the drive, and also the salesmanship to make it happen, and sales is really a big part of the game. Yet, one also has to look at expectations. At $20/hour, the expectations are pretty low. Ie Derek suggests marketing as the following.
The pitch is a humble one: “I’m only doing what you could do yourself, if you felt like taking the 100 hours to learn how. But if you don’t, I’ll be glad to tell you what to do, or do it for you.”
From that vantage point, ie the 100 hour investment, which provides for teaching the basics, or handling the most basic aspects does make sense, and for many struggling artists, is likely well worth the $20/hour.
The end result… I went ahead and have the 3 books ordered up on inter-library loan. At $20/hour, its not really worth my time, as a primary activity. As fill work between projects, and as a way to re-orient myself into todays music business, the 100 hours invested, its well worth giving it a go, even if the financial rewards are not so great. After putting in the time, I may just need to go some of my old friends in the business, and see what shakes out. I’m sure they end up turning down thousands of requests every year, if not more. It might be a unique niche. I do wonder how it can scale, but better to jump in lo-fi and see what works before putting too much effort into perfecting something without any recent live experience.
It will be interesting.
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Tags: business model
You’re right. I’ve been booking for many years. NObody wants that job buddy! Nobody! They want the MONEY they THINK I make, but they don’t want the phone slammed down in their ear when you give the venue owner the price. They don’t want to hear, “No we don’t have a budget for entertainment,” or… “We pay $35 dollars and all the beer you can BUY!” OR… the famous, “I can get those other guys for 1/3rd of that!”
All they want to hear is that you are gonna make them famous!
BLA BLA BLA
Thanks for the comment! I did put in a hundred hours of study, and decided folks would be nuts to do this. Back when, our leader/singer was a super sales guy, and he could get us booked pretty much anywhere we wanted to go, and all he wanted was extra beer. To him, I think booking was nearly as much fun as playing… but it takes a special guy to play that game.
By the same token, I think one could serve as a virtual tour manager for many small bands without too much trouble, nor too high of expectations for Derek’s $20/hr figure. Most youngsters are clueless on the business side of things, so such might be a niche business someone could take up (provided they had been on the road a few times).