Garmin Software: Booking Agents

Saturday 3 November 2012

Booking Agents

One of the most common questions I was asked by artists during my time as a venue booker was how they could find a booking agent. I inevitably answered that they should just keep playing gigs, grow their fan base, and an agent would find them. But is the answer really that simple? In a word, yes. By far the best way to get a professional booking agent is for bands to book themselves until the point where they are selling out shows on a regular basis on their own.The biggest reason for this is that most of the time, a friend/family member/fan is a very temporary solution, so all too often I’ve seen situations where someone starts booking a tour for a band, but then bails on them halfway through. And if you have reliable friends who will stick through it? I still think it’s better to do it on your own. The more you learn about the industry as an artist, the more informed you’ll be when your career starts to grow. So if you book yourself 200+ shows, including a few tours, you’re going to have a much better understanding of what it takes to be a good booking agent, so you’ll know what to look for when you are at the point in your career when hiring a booking agent becomes a reality.