Q & A
Each month, MusicBizAdvice.com answers your questions about the music industry.
Here, we discuss concert promotion, radius clauses, the importance of
capitol cities in the live music marketplace, what it takes to build a
reputation as a concert promoter, and where to find additional resources.
Concert
Promotion, Market Cities, and Radius Clauses
Q. I would like to
become a concert promoter. I have completed a couple of shows and they did
great. But I am missing lots of knowledge that I really need. I don’t know
how to actually get things going, as far as getting venues and the known
artist. I am trying to “trial and error” this thing but I don’t have much
room for mistakes. The area that I'm from, there are no promoters, so I can
not find a mentor. I am HUNGRY for knowledge! If you can point me in the
right direction, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
A. Thanks for
getting back to me when I contacted you to ask what your nearest major city
is and your distance from it. In concert promotion, information about the
market city is key.
You said there are no promoters in your area...Perhaps not in your immediate
town (I'll explain why in a minute), but you do live 45 minutes away from
your state capitol. Your state's capitol is known for having some great
tours come through--including the current Rolling Stones tour--because a
major highway goes right through town and distance-wise, the city is
situated for convenient routing in three directions. (In fact, many artists
have either started tours there or begun the next leg of a tour there after a
break.) Where there's a tour, there's a promoter. That's where your market
city is; not the town where you live.
If you're focusing your efforts on your immediate area instead of your state
capitol, there's a reason you're coming up dry: radius clauses. Most
performance agreements for major artists contain radius clauses that prevent
the artist from performing another concert within a certain number of miles
for a certain length of time. This is to protect the promoter's territory by preventing another promoter from booking the artist for a show nearby and
stealing the audience, and it helps increase the likelihood of a financially
successful show for all.
Being 45 minutes away from your state capitol puts your town smack in the
middle of the area covered by the radius clause, so you'll likely be limited
to local and regional artists and the occasional new national-level but
relatively unknown artist. Media consolidation plays a role here, too; until 8 or 9
years ago, your competition was a local promoter who covered your capitol
city's area. Now large media companies are your competition. I'm not trying
to dissuade you or saying it's impossible; I'm giving you the facts so you
can develop your plan of action. If the town where you live is a college
town, you have a better shot.
Trial and error is usually how concert promoters get going, and it usually
takes years to build a reputation for successful, money-making shows and to
build the trust of artists, managers, and agents. Since you're hungry for
knowledge and have had some successful shows already, you're off to a great
start. You can either continue on your own with local and regional artists,
with an eye toward club ownership later, or get a job for a year or two with
a concert promoter who handles your capitol city (and not necessarily
mention your goals of getting in on his territory).
Taking a year or so to
work under the wing of an established promoter is a great way to learn the
business from the inside and would probably save your making some expensive
mistakes down the line. Better to learn on someone else's dime than your
own! There's no shame in doing this; many people in the industry, including myself, have
temporarily side-barred into another area to pick up additional knowledge
and contacts before going back out on their own.
Promoters often have unlisted numbers, so you can find them by checking out
sources like the Pollstar Talent Buyer Directory  or The Recording Industry Sourcebook. You can also find the names of the promoter (s) in your nearest
market city by doing a Google search of "concerts [insert your major city
here]" and checking each venue's website to find out what promoter handles
that venue. In Los Angeles, for example, it would be: concerts Los Angeles.
You can also try Googling the term "talent buyers" and the name of your
city.
If you're interested in formal education as well,
here's some information that may help.
Good luck!
Randi Reed
Editor-in-Chief / Founder
MusicBizAdvice.com
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