Members wheresgrant3 Posted April 10, 2012 Members Share Posted April 10, 2012 We've used a few out of state agents to score gigs in other markets and as the economy has turned ugly alot of their business and opportunities have dropped off as well. One agent we worked with pretty frequently a few years ago is handing us alot of excuses lately on why he can't get us bookings in certain rooms, yet his competitors are placing higher priced bands all of the time. When we finally do get into a room usually the bar manager is usually surprised and wants to immediately rehire us. We've been told on more than one occasion that the agents roster has hurt us, that the bands he's booked haven't been the best quality. Still we've been loyal thus far and haven't looked toward jumping ship at all. We've understood that needing only 10 bookings a year doesn't make us his #1- go to band and we're certainly not making him a ton of money. Last fall we approached him about a room at the edge of his market and ours. It's close (less than 90 mins) and they've started using agency booked bands. It's close enough that we would bring some people, yet far away enough to play in front of a fresh new audience. Again the excuses started piling up "I just got into this room... let me work you in." "They are warming up to trying new bands, give me a few more weeks" and each week we're watching his #1,2,3,4's band book and he's handing us another excuse. So last week again we asked "What is the deal?". So the agent CC's us with the bar manager on an email thread, explains about our band and then redirects the email to our manager "can you please mail him a press kit" A PRESS KIT! Why do we need to send anything?? Isn't that the agent's job? To sell the band??? Shouldn't his rep as an established agent with over 20 years experience provide some foundation for a reference. Why are we paying 15%? Keep in mind this is a agent we've booked over 50 shows in 5+ years with... When you go to the agents site we're in the top five of his listed 'Marquee' bands. We could have easily contacted the booking manager and attempted to book this (this room isn't agent exclusive). We went through him as a courtesy. He hasn't offered us any new opportunities in over a year, and constantly cries how bad things are. In our eyes he isn't really working all that hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kmart Posted April 10, 2012 Members Share Posted April 10, 2012 Did your band manager already send the bar manager a press kit (I hope, since you said this happened last week)? If so, any bookings at that venue as a result are from YOUR work, not the agent's, and thus, you've started down the road to weaning yourself from him. In YOUR case, yeah, I'd say he likely has outlived his usefulness, unless those 10 bookings a year he does deliver are mega-great high-end and high-yield gigs for you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted April 10, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 10, 2012 Did your band manager already send the bar manager a press kit (I hope, since you said this happened last week)?If so, any bookings at that venue as a result are from YOUR work, not the agent's, and thus, you've started down the road to weaning yourself from him.In YOUR case, yeah, I'd say he likely has outlived his usefulness, unless those 10 bookings a year he does deliver are mega-great high-end and high-yield gigs for you... Unfortunately he's tied to two existing rooms we've had regular bookings from for 4-5 years now. Actually when I add them up it comes out closer to 12-15 bookings per year. We used to average closer to 20-25. The remaining 80+ we book locally, independent and at a higher rate than what he's been able to deliver to us for a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members goosefartfan Posted April 10, 2012 Members Share Posted April 10, 2012 It sounds as though you've already answered your own question. The only thing left to think about is if you did jump ship, would the next agent give you a higher priority than this one? Answering that question could be tough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted April 10, 2012 Members Share Posted April 10, 2012 It sounds as though you've already answered your own question.The only thing left to think about is if you did jump ship, would the next agent give you a higher priority than this one? Answering that question could be tough. I think the problem is that they do a ton of their own booking and just a few shows for the agent. Why would they not thow stuff to their exclusives? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zon5string Posted April 11, 2012 Members Share Posted April 11, 2012 I guess I've never been in a high-profile/busy enough band to need BOTH a non-band-member manager AND agent/agencies so I fail to understand the work division. Can someone explain that to me? I'm not trolling here, I really don't completely get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted April 11, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 11, 2012 I guess I've never been in a high-profile/busy enough band to need BOTH a non-band-member manager AND agent/agencies so I fail to understand the work division. Can someone explain that to me? I'm not trolling here, I really don't completely get it. A-list rooms in other markets rely on agencies for their prime bookings. These are rooms in Long Island, Boston, Philly, NJ Shore... destinations 2+ hours away. We don't have followings in these markets so in order to get decent bookings at decent pay in the better rooms you need agency representation. Each agent manages a bunch of rooms, sometimes exclusively... sometimes not. Sometimes agencies will overlap the same room. Bands in those markets usually don't have managers... they usually don't have anyone period other than the 4-5 members. Many times the bands are put together by the agents themselves, throwing together a bunch of players assigning a name and telling them what to play. Other times it's an established band that's moved up the ranks, auditioned and gotten some representation. We're in a unique situation in that our market agents don't exist. Every band books independently. Our manager is a band member... he handles all our bookings, also manages sound, drives the van/trailer and deals with payment at the end of the night. For all that he gets an equal cut. So we're not spending double to book through an agent. It's the same 15% off the top as any band. If we didn't have a manager and my agent called me up and asked me to send a club promo material (material the agents been using to sell us for years) I'd be just as pissed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members trevcda Posted April 11, 2012 Members Share Posted April 11, 2012 Be sure to read your previous contracts carefully. Many agents have a clause that allows them to collect commissions on future dates for a venue they've booked your act in previously. Usually for a specific amount of time from the last booking, but it could still bite you in the rear if you're not careful. But generally an agent only gets paid if they get work for your act, unless you've signed some sort of R&D contract or something. Added: I believe it's called a buy-back clause, but I'm not sure of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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