How to book artists and agree a fee

Booking is the part of running an event that most resembles a negotiation between strangers, and it goes wrong in the same three ways every time. The fee was agreed in a voice note. Nobody said who was paying for the flights. The set time moved and the artist found out from the flyer. All three are avoidable with one email that says what was agreed.

Work out who you are actually talking to

A local artist with no representation answers their own messages, and a direct approach is normal and welcome. Once an artist has an agent, the agent handles the money, and going around them damages the relationship you were trying to build. The dividing line is usually visible on their own channels: a booking address in a bio means use it.

When you do reach an agent, expect a different tone. They handle dozens of enquiries a week, they are assessing whether you can pay and whether the show will happen, and they will decide in the time it takes to read four lines. Give them the date, the venue with its capacity, the fee you are offering, the set length, and the other names on the bill. Everything else can wait for the second email.

The three shapes a fee takes

• Flat guarantee. You pay an agreed amount regardless of how the night sells. Simple, and all of the risk sits with you.
• Door split. The artist takes an agreed percentage of ticket revenue, often after costs that you have both written down in advance. Risk is shared, which is why new promoters should ask for it.
• Guarantee against a percentage. The artist takes the guarantee or an agreed share of the door, whichever is larger. Standard above a certain level, and it means a good night pays them properly without exposing you on a bad one.

If you offer a split, say what comes off the top first. A split of gross ticket revenue and a split of revenue after the venue's cut and the platform fee are different numbers, and discovering which one you meant at settlement is a bad way to end an evening.

What to agree before you announce

The announcement is the point of no return, because after it the artist's name is attached to your event in public. Everything below should be settled before then, in writing, in one place.

• The fee, the currency and the payment date. Including whether it is paid on the night or by transfer, and whether tax is withheld.
• Set time and set length. A headliner who expected 90 minutes and gets 60 has lost money and a set they had prepared.
• What you provide technically. The booth or backline, the monitors, the mixer, whether the CDJs are linked. Send the venue's technical specification rather than describing it.
• Travel and accommodation. Who books, who pays, and what standard. This is where most budget surprises live.
• The rider. Usually food, drink and a private space. Read it and say what you can and cannot do rather than agreeing and improvising later.
• Cancellation. What happens if either side cancels, and at what notice. Nobody wants to discuss it and everybody needs it.
• Recording and photography. Whether you can film, record the set, and use the images. Agree this now, because asking on the night gets a no.

What a fee is worth

New promoters routinely overpay for a name that does not move tickets and underpay the residents who actually fill the room. A fee should be tested against a simple question: how many additional tickets does this booking sell? If a 600 guest adds forty sales at a 15 ticket, the booking loses money and the residents were the better spend.

Our own city data is one place to sanity-check this. The cross-city figures show what published tickets cost in each market, which tells you what an artist fee can be as a share of a realistic gross. If the fee is more than half of your projected ticket income, the maths only works when the room sells out.

Paying people properly

Pay on the night where you can, in full, without being chased. Count cash in front of the person receiving it. If you are transferring, do it before they leave the building and show them the confirmation. An artist who was paid without friction tells other artists, and that reputation is worth more than the twenty you saved by rounding down.

When a night loses money, pay the artists first and take the loss yourself. Doing that once buys you a scene that will work with you again.

Booking a bill rather than a headliner

A well-built bill sells better than a single expensive name. Open with someone whose crowd arrives early, put your strongest resident in the middle where the room fills, and give the guest the peak. Tell each artist honestly where they sit and why. Musicians read a running order as a statement of standing, so an unexplained slot is how you lose someone permanently.