Q & A
Each month, MusicBizAdvice.com answers your questions about the music industry.
Here we discuss concert promotion and tour routing, whether the venue
contacts the artist when booking a show, and the effects of media
consolidation on concert promotion and the live music and touring industry.
Concert promotion and tour routing: Does the venue approach the artist?
Q. I have a question regarding concert promotion. I have been wondering how
it works between the venues and the artist... Does the band figure out where
they would like to play and contact the venue? Or, does the venue approach
the artist and ask them if they would consider playing at their venue?
Thanks so much for any information you can provide me with.--Natalie
A.
This is probably a much longer answer than you were expecting, so bear with
me.
There are different booking scenarios, depending on the artist's career
level. Also, with the advent of mega-promoters such as Clear Channel etc.,
the way of doing business has changed considerably over the last eight years
or so.
Overview of Tour Booking and Routing in the Live Music Industry
The way it worked for decades was this: Let's say a promoter--another word
for a promoter is "Talent Buyer"--wanted to put on a concert. The promoter
then rented the venue, hired the artist to play the show (through the
artist's agent), advertised the show, and hired whatever local support staff
and services were needed to make the show happen (stage set up, catering,
transportation, etc.. You probably already know that major artists also have
their own crews. The local crew works with the artist's crew to set the
stage to the artist's specifications). A local or regional promoter handled
anywhere from one show locally to several shows in different cities, and
this process was repeated with each promoter across the US.
If the artist was not well-known, the artist's booking agent contacted the
promoter to pitch the artist and if the artist was hired, the agent
negotiated the contract. (A talent agency is an employment agency for people
in the entertainment industry, just like you would go to an employment
agency if you were looking for a job.) Hopefully, the agent secured enough
confirmed dates to create a logically routed tour that didn't look like a
demented spider threw darts at a map. This is still how it's usually done
for unsigned bands and new artists.
If the artist was well-known, promoters would hear the buzz about the
artist's plans for a tour and would send offers to the artist's agent, and
the agent's role was more about negotiating the best deal for the artist.
(If it had been awhile since the artist toured, the agent called his
favorite promoters for a casual call "to catch up" and let them know the
artist was planning a tour, and offers usually followed.) The agent
discussed the various offers with the artist's manager, and the agent
negotiated the contracts for the ones the manager and artist said yes to.
(The manager's job is long-range career planning and to be the artist's
representative in dealing with everyone--agent, label, publicist, etc.. Not
booking.)...
....The string of offers was put into a logical order to create the shell of
the tour routing, the agent pitched other promoters that hadn't been heard
from yet to let them know the artist would be coming through town and was
available, and offers usually resulted to fill in the rest of the tour.
Again, the goal was to come up with a logically routed tour that didn't look
like a demented dart-throwing spider did the routing.
Regardless of the artist's status, the idea is also to route the tour to
follow the sun, so the artist will hopefully be playing and traveling in
good weather the majority of the time. Major artists are more likely to
actually have this happen. If the artist has a good manager and agent who
care about the artist's well-being, they'll also route the tour to allow for
the artist's needs for vocal rest--not too many shows in a row--and visits
home every few weeks or so. A major artist, who can afford time off and has
the option of flying instead of traveling by tour bus, is more likely to get
it.
Effects of Media Consolidation on Concert Promotion and the Live Music
Industry
Now, to throw a major wrench in the way tours are booked...In the late 90's
media consolidation happened. That meant that media companies (such as Clear
Channel) could now legally own several radio and TV stations in a particular
city. Some of them purchased concert venues and bought out local concert
promoters across the US, because they could use their own radio and TV
stations and billboards to promote the shows. (Clear Channel even owns a
porta-potty company that supplies large concert venues...and sells
advertising space on them.) This created a few huge, national concert
promoters instead of many local or regional ones, and it completely changed
the way major artists book tours. (Included in the mix are a couple of large
companies that promote concerts but don't necessarily own a lot of radio and
TV stations but instead own other types of media, sports, and publishing
entities.)
As a result, the way it's done now for major artists is, one large company
negotiates an entire tour of dates through the artist's agent...whereas in
the old system (which is still used for lesser-known artists), each local or
regional promoter had dates in one city or a few cities. One of the end
results is that fewer major tours are on the road at any given time. Another
end result is higher ticket prices due to the economics of supply and
demand.
Due to the vast number of radio and TV stations and other media entities
some of these media companies hold, the artists have been put in a position
where they must try to get along with them. There have been allegations of
some artists allegedly being banned from radio playlists for speaking out
against it.
Further info about the effect of media consolidation on the music industry
can be had here:
http://www.musicbizadvice.com/qa%20What%20is%20Clear%20Channel.htm
And here's an article that's mainly about music downloading but explains
additional reasons why the recording industries and live concert industries
have changed so much:
http://www.musicbizadvice.com/how_we_killed_the_music_industry.htm
Hope that helps!
Randi Reed
Editor-in-Chief
MusicBizAdvice.com
Q&A Home
Got a question about the music business?
Email
your questions with "Q&A" in the subject line. Include your name or
initials, city and state, and the name of your band, if applicable.
Questions of a general nature will be answered as space allows. (Be sure
your spam filter is set to accept email with hyperlinks from talktombadc@aol.com or muzbizadvc@aol.com
so we can let you know your question is answered and can
direct you to additional
information if necessary.)
Answers in the MBADC Q&A are to be taken as general advice only and are not intended
as a substitute for legal advice from a competent entertainment or intellectual property
rights attorney.
TOP |
