This course provides an engaging and methodical insight into the past and present cultural and commercial music industry developments, directions, and trends. It will equip the students with the knowledge and skills necessary to appreciate, understand and more productively participate in today’s music industry field.
Methods and Practices: Concert Promotion (Part 3)
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Del curso dictado por West Virginia University
Today’s Music Industry
55 calificaciones
De la lección
Live Music Industry
Conoce a los instructores
Darko VelichkovskiMusic Industry Program Director
Music Industry
Since contracting an act for a live performance through a booking agent, as we have seen previously,
requires a preliminary plan and budget, these important elements of live performance organization
need to be outlined and defined during the contracting process, and will serve as a blueprint
for various actions, expenditures, and schedules to be followed by a promoter and the promotion
team during the time leading to the performance.
The communication with the booking agent regarding the act’s financial, technical, and hospitality
requirements, as mentioned earlier in this module, would normally clarify these crucial
budgetary parameters of the act’s requirements, which were not precisely itemized on the original
preliminary budget. Now that those requirements are known and the relevant cost researched
and calculated, the budget and the plan can be completed, and the process of live performance
preparation can begin.
The first in line is the venue engagement. You would recall that we mentioned how the
promoter has already put the venue and some possible dates on hold with the venue’s
management, prior to the initial communication with the booking agent. Now that the date
is agreed upon, the promoter can finalize contracting the venue. Live performance venues
usually offer several different rental options and fee deals. While a flat fee deal is the
most common one, some venues do offer a lower rental fees in exchange for a percentage of
the box office sales. (Meaning, a fee, plus a percentage of the box office.) Some small
venues also offer a “percentage of the door only deal” as a rental payment, instead
of a fixed fee.
In addition, different venues offer different venue services and staff, either as a part
of their standard rental deal, or as an option, if the promoter needs such services and personnel
provided by the venue. “Four walling” is the term used to describe a venue rental
deal, which includes only the hall and the stage manager. Venues that offer additional
services and personnel, usually offer some or all of the following: box office operation,
ushering, entry points management, cleanup, parking management, basic stage management,
merchandizing operations, and even security. Since all of these services need to be obtained,
contracted, and organized anyway, the promoter may decide that it is easier, more productive,
and often cheaper, to use the venue as a one-stop-shopping source.
In essence, music venue contracts are lists of facilities, services, and personnel, offered
by the venue at certain price, and at certain date and time. A down payment is usually required
at the signing of the contract, and the remainder of the total fee is normally due on the day
of the performance, prior to the performance hour. Whatever the venue’s practice and
expectation in this area, the terms and the schedule of the payments are always outlined
and defined in the venue’s contract and may, or may not, be negotiable.
When initially working on the concert’s budget and the financial potential of the
event (revenues vs. expenses), a seasoned promoter would commit only to the performances
that will break even, including the promoters initial pay, at about 60% of the available
tickets sold. For example: Estimated total expenses (including act’s fee of $2,000)
= $10,000; Promoter’s initial pay = 15% of the total expenses = $1,500; Split point
= total expenses + promoter’s initial pay = $11,500; Venue seats: 1000; Ticket price:
$20; Tickets sold = 60% of total seats available = 600 X $20 = $12,000; Back end = tickets
sold – split point = $500; Act’s back end cut = 85% of $500 = $425; Promoter’s
back end cut = 15% of $500 = $75; Act’s total: $2,000 guaranteed fee + $425 back end
cut = $2,425; Promoter’s total: $1,500 initial pay + $75 back end cut = $1,575.
If all the expenses are stated and calculated correctly, this is an example of a concert
opportunity that breaks a bit over even, at 60% tickets sold. It is worth noting at this
point that the total expenses calculation in a budget is usually padded by adding 10%
-15% to the sum of all the foreseeable expenses in order to account for the unforeseeable
ones. Meaning, the above stated amount of $10,000 for the total expenses should, at
the very least, represent $9,000 in estimated foreseeable expenses, and $1,000 in unforeseeable
expenses. That way, if an unexpected expense occurs, within the defined 10% boundary of
course, the production can still remain inside the planned financial parameters.
Once the venue fees are defined, and the venue itself contracted, the act’s technical rider
needs to be addressed, and the relevant live production gear and services obtained and
secured. Stage, light, and sound can be a major part of the budget, and is absolutely
crucial element of the live performance. Local and regional live production companies that
provide such equipment and services are versed in the technical details and execution of
an act’s rider, and it is often enough to simply share a copy of the rider with them
in order to obtain an accurate price for their engagement, including all the necessary equipment
and personnel. Like the venue, this entity normally requires a down payment at the signing
of the contract, and the remainder of the agreed upon sum on the day of the concert,
prior to loading and assembling the gear.
The act’s transportation and hospitality rider would be the next in line. The rider
may specify the details of these two areas that are to be organized by the promoter,
or the act may only define the mode of transportation they will utilize to arrive on location, as
well as the quality of hotels they will use, but prefer to organize it all themselves,
and simply bill the promoter accordingly. In either case, the expenses for these items
are easily researched and defined, and should not differ drastically between the “estimated”
and the “actual” columns on the settlement sheet. The catering is also specified in the
same rider, and is normally organized and contracted by the promoter according to the
rider’s specifications.
The next budget item to define is the promotional budget. The promotional budget for a live
performance needs to reflect and be in balance with the overall scope of the event. It is
usually recommended that this figure should be around 20% of the total cost of the production.
It should be further subdivided into the planned funds for different kinds of promotion: print,
broadcast media, Internet, etc. This is also a good time to contact all the possible coop
ads partners, such as radio stations, music stores, or any other local businesses that
might want to place their ads with the local media, which would include a mention of the
live performance being organized, and share the cost with the promoter.
Ticket printing, and ticket sales mechanisms need to be budgeted as well. The venue may
have a contract with one of the online ticket sales companies, and it may be a requirement,
or an option of the promoter’s contract with the venue to use the venue’s online
ticket sales company. If not, the promoter needs to contract an online ticket sales company
of the promoter’s choice to handle the Internet based sales, and a number of businesses in
the area to serve as the physical ticket sales points. In addition, the operation of the
venue’s box office needs to be contracted and budgeted as well.
The ushering, entry points and parking management, security, and basic back stage management
budget will depend on the size of the venue and on the consequent number of workers needed.
The venue may have these type of services offered as well, and the promoter might decide
to have these budget items defined and contracted within the venue contract itself. If not,
each one of these services would need to be staffed, budgeted and contracted separately.
And now that all the budgeting, scheduling, and organization is done, including arranging
for all the licenses and insurance we talked about earlier in this module remember?, all
that’s left to do is stick to the plan, and execute it in a disciplined and methodical
way. The weather, traffic, ticket sales, profits and loses, are at that point in somebody else’s
hands, a little further up the chain of command.
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