Booking agencies
Booking agencies are companies that arrange shows for artists and have the exclusive right to sell your shows. They also act sometimes as concert organisers or promoters. In addition, there are different types of booking agencies.
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Booking agency or entertainment agency?
A booking agency is an important part of the organisation, because it actively helps build the artist’s career. Clients of booking agencies are usually festivals, concert halls and venues. Booking agencies often represent several artists; this is called their roster. You call the employee who sells the shows an agent. A few examples of booking agencies include Mojo Concerts, Radar Agency and Agents After All. A booking agency may also represent artists from abroad. An agent who represents international artists often has a large international network of other agents, in which artists are exchanged. Some examples of booking agencies that represent international artists include BLIP Agency, Radar Agency and Friendly Fire.
Entertainment agencies
There are also companies that sell shows by artists with whom they do not have an exclusive partnership. These are so-called ‘entertainment agencies’. Customers of entertainment agencies are mostly (corporate) events agencies and conferences and trade fairs. Some festivals also book their line-ups via entertainment agencies. Some artists only perform at these types of events. These artists may, however, have entered into an exclusive agreement with this type of booking agency. A few examples include Twilight Entertainment, Viking Entertainment and Buro2010.
Concert organisers and promoters
Some booking agencies organise their own concerts or festivals. As a result of this, they are less dependent on the sale of shows to third parties and they can proactively contribute to the career of an artist themselves. In addition, this is a way for booking agencies to attract artists and distinguish themselves from the competition. For example, Friendly Fire is responsible for the organisation of the Best Kept Secret festival and the concert series ‘Live at Amsterdamse Bos’. Mojo Concerts organises Lowlands and Pinkpop.
If an agency is asked to organise the concert of an international artist, it is the concert promoter in that case. This often concerns concerts in large concert halls or stadiums. The concert promoter usually earns no money from the artist’s fee, but receives a percentage of the ticket sales (receipts), although alternative deals are also possible. The most important concert promoters in the Netherlands are Mojo Concerts and Greenhouse Talent.
Costs
A booking agency works on a commission basis. A standard percentage is 15%, but different agreements are sometimes made. The agencies add their commission to the artist’s fee or deduct this from the fee.
An agency earns its money by selling shows and receives an agency fee for this. This is often 10% of the artist’s fee for the agency abroad and 10% for the agency in the home country. The regular commission ceases to apply in this case.
The entertainment agencies in the home country earn money by purchasing a show with a fixed discount (agency discount) from a booking agency, while they apply the same sale price. In practice, a buyer of a show may end up paying less with a booking agency that has an exclusive contract with the artist (because it is in direct contact with the artist), but an entertainment agency can save you a lot of work. For example, a customer can have one contact person for buying shows by different artists. In addition, the entertainment agency sometimes bears the financial risk for the artist; if a festival cannot fulfil its payment obligations, the entertainment agency will guarantee the payment.