Promotion advice?

[Tone Ranger]

Hey guys. Not sure where to post this but my band has been turned down by promotors for years. All of a sudden we get an email from a rather big promoter who offers an "artist partnership". They have a few acts that I'm familiar with, but those bands have basically been a one man show with hired guns.

They are asking a pretty decent chunk of change from new bands. We don't get many gigs locally. But we want more.


The agency is Pavement Entertainment

Has anyone heard of them?

 

[japetus]

Hire a lawyer to look over it

 

[Tone Ranger]

Ill pass that on.

One drawback is that my band consists of current/retired firefighters. Family guys with hectic schedules. Try to book a gig... "sorry i can't get off work... sorry ill be out of town on vacation."

Then I'm sure they'd laugh at us because of those issues we get max 3 hours a week to rehearse. Gets old.

 

[VonBonfire]

They are asking a pretty decent chunk of change from new bands. We don't get many gigs locally. But we want more.

So go book more gigs.

A normal booking agent charges approx 15 percent of the gig proceeds, not demands big money up front. That company looks like a jack of all trades outfit to me and they approached you probably because bands are dropping them because they are charging $$$ and not delivering enough gigs, airplay, or promotion so they need a new sucker. You can sink a lot of money into a PR person and most of them aren't going to deliver anything far beyond what you couldn't do yourself, they just want a job they can work from home.

One thing you could do is reach out to a couple of the bands privately and ask their experiences. You might be surprised what you hear....

Regardless, they are violating rule number one by soliciting you. NEVER EVER EVER pay to play.

Try to book a gig... "sorry i can't get off work... sorry ill be out of town on vacation."

Time to find different players. Seems like you have a mentality of moving forward and they are doing it for fun and games.

 

[Tone Ranger]

So go book more gigs.

A normal booking agent charges approx 15 percent of the gig proceeds, not demands big money up front. That company looks like a jack of all trades outfit to me and they approached you probably because bands are dropping them because they are charging $$$ and not delivering enough gigs, airplay, or promotion so they need a new sucker. You can sink a lot of money into a PR person and most of them aren't going to deliver anything far beyond what you couldn't do yourself, they just want a job they can work from home.

One thing you could do is reach out to a couple of the bands privately and ask their experiences. You might be surprised what you hear....

Regardless, they are violating rule number one by soliciting you. NEVER EVER EVER pay to play.

Thanks! This company, which isn't even on BBB wants $7500 just to sign on, promises to help with merch, airplay, but only one song on YouTube. They also ask for 50% of gig profits. Sounds shady to me.

 

[VonBonfire]

Thanks! This company, which isn't even on BBB wants $7500 just to sign on, promises to help with merch, airplay, but only one song on YouTube. They also ask for 50% of gig profits. Sounds shady to me.

These ^ are called scabs, preying on the dreams of people hoping to go somewhere. $7500 bucks and 50 percent. They are fucking nuts. You could do some pretty heavy promotions for yourself with that kind of cash and pocket all the gig money DIY'ing.

The reality is you have to build your act to the point where legitimate PR reps, who actually have real industry connections, and actual legit booking agents, approach you because you have done the legwork to raise your profile to the point where they think you will generate income for them. Even then, the number of gigs available is limited with many bands clawing to get them, and the legitimate agents out there often already have full rosters and aren't going to risk an unknown unless one of their acts quits, gets sick, or dies. And even then, in a lot of cases, by that point there it may just make you more $$$ to continue to do it yourself.

The only real benefit is some of those agencies will have circuits locked up, and you are locked out, save for last minute cancellations the agency isn't available to fill. I had a real problem with that in central FL since Tom White/Skipper's Smokehouse basically runs the entire central Florida blues circuit. His bands get first crack at the best gigs, and I was left to pick up the scraps. He didn't need any more artists on his roster. This is one big reason I relocated to a place where there are just more gigs I can get on my own, period. Even so I worked with a scab agent for a time here because it benefited me FOR A TIME. As soon as the gigs I wanted to take folded I quit taking gigs from that person. That person takes fifteen percent but also tries to hijack bands for a percentage of tips, the mark of a grifter. I wasn't born yesterday so that dog didn't hunt and she knew it, but she tries pulling that with young, ignorant, desperate people.

Good luck out there brother.

 

[NowYou'rePlayingWithPower]

Is this a troll thread?

 

[Tone Ranger]

Is this a troll thread?

No. I'm asking legit questions.

 

[NowYou'rePlayingWithPower]

No. I'm asking legit questions.

Just making sure. Those are some steep fees for a promoter with 2k followers.
Any promoter worth anything collects on results.
Would imagine one of you has a teenage daughter? She will promote you, just ask.
Don't know where y'all are at, but you could probably start by emailing some demos/tracks/performances to venues.

 

[Tone Ranger]

These ^ are called scabs, preying on the dreams of people hoping to go somewhere. $7500 bucks and 50 percent. They are fucking nuts. You could do some pretty heavy promotions for yourself with that kind of cash and pocket all the gig money DIY'ing.

The reality is you have to build your act to the point where legitimate PR reps, who actually have real industry connections, and actual legit booking agents, approach you because you have done the legwork to raise your profile to the point where they think you will generate income for them. Even then, the number of gigs available is limited with many bands clawing to get them, and the legitimate agents out there often already have full rosters and aren't going to risk an unknown unless one of their acts quits, gets sick, or dies. And even then, in a lot of cases, by that point there it may just make you more $$$ to continue to do it yourself.

The only real benefit is some of those agencies will have circuits locked up, and you are locked out, save for last minute cancellations the agency isn't available to fill. I had a real problem with that in central FL since Tom White/Skipper's Smokehouse basically runs the entire central Florida blues circuit. His bands get first crack at the best gigs, and I was left to pick up the scraps. He didn't need any more artists on his roster. This is one big reason I relocated to a place where there are just more gigs I can get on my own, period. Even so I worked with a scab agent for a time here because it benefited me FOR A TIME. As soon as the gigs I wanted to take folded I quit taking gigs from that person. That person takes fifteen percent but also tries to hijack bands for a percentage of tips, the mark of a grifter. I wasn't born yesterday so that dog didn't hunt and she knew it, but she tries pulling that with young, ignorant, desperate people.

Good luck out there brother.

Thanks. One of the first things i did was look this agency up. They do have a few big bands on their roster, but the two were are most familiar with are basically a one man show who can't even keep hired guns in the band. I did reach out to one of them and got no response after several days. Maybe he's been told not to give out negative press. Who knows.

Then i went to reddit. The only thing i found was from a disgruntled artist that is compiling a list of bands that were swindled out of thousands of dollars with nothing to show for it.

I told the guys the whole time we need to stay grassroots and go from there. Northeast MO unless you drive to stl has a horrible scene.

 

[japetus]

Thanks. One of the first things i did was look this agency up. They do have a few big bands on their roster, but the two were are most familiar with are basically a one man show who can't even keep hired guns in the band. I did reach out to one of them and got no response after several days. Maybe he's been told not to give out negative press. Who knows.

Then i went to reddit. The only thing i found was from a disgruntled artist that is compiling a list of bands that were swindled out of thousands of dollars with nothing to show for it.

I told the guys the whole time we need to stay grassroots and go from there. Northeast MO unless you drive to stl has a horrible scene.

If you are a big enough band to even worry about this, you should have a lawyer

 

[Tone Ranger]

Just making sure. Those are some steep fees for a promoter with 2k followers.
Any promoter worth anything collects on results.
Would imagine one of you has a teenage daughter? She will promote you, just ask.
Don't know where y'all are at, but you could probably start by emailing some demos/tracks/performances to venues.

Yeah. What's bugging me is that all of the ideas that were brought up similarly, i brought them up months ago.

The band has been together since 2007. I just joined two years ago. I actually went to the producer of the last album and got master files to rerecord my parts to learn the songs better.

We just got a new bass player, so i said we need to rerecord all the old material and make an ep out of it. Guess what they wanna do now.

 

[Tone Ranger]

If you are a big enough band to even worry about this, you should have a lawyer

Honestly, we aren't. But we did have lots of our shirts in the crowd when we played the big local bbq fest.

I think that they think this could be a big break. I don't think so.

This is right on the heels of me getting a new mixer to help with the iem issues. I have enough to deal with.

 

[VonBonfire]

Honestly, we aren't. But we did have lots of our shirts in the crowd when we played the big local bbq fest.

I think that they think this could be a big break. I don't think so.

You are right. That's one drop in the bucket. You need to repeat that over and over in your region and build some buzz so your band is a going concern. At that point a good music attorney can probably do more for you when the time is right than most of these made up "agencies" will be able to do.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

You need to determine what it is they are going to bring to the table that you don't already deliver. We had a person that wanted to manage / book us but we're already (fortunately) as busy as we can be. We decided to keep doing what we're doing as she wasn't really going to get us in anywhere that we weren't already booked, and she wanted 10% off the top. We still do shows for her that she brings to us but there's no direct manager / booker relationship with her. It's got to pencil out.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

The only real benefit is some of those agencies will have circuits locked up, and you are locked out, save for last minute cancellations the agency isn't available to fill. I had a real problem with that in central FL since Tom White/Skipper's Smokehouse basically runs the entire central Florida blues circuit. His bands get first crack at the best gigs, and I was left to pick up the scraps. He didn't need any more artists on his roster. This is one big reason I relocated to a place where there are just more gigs I can get on my own, period. Even so I worked with a scab agent for a time here because it benefited me FOR A TIME. As soon as the gigs I wanted to take folded I quit taking gigs from that person. That person takes fifteen percent but also tries to hijack bands for a percentage of tips, the mark of a grifter. I wasn't born yesterday so that dog didn't hunt and she knew it, but she tries pulling that with young, ignorant, desperate people.

Good luck out there brother.

Same situation here in Portland but really only with one guy who reps an entire roster of tribute bands and plays in a couple of them himself...also has a major well known PNW Tribute band event called HareFest that is basically all his bands.. We got hosed by a really nice place that was run by a full dipshit, the club then changed hands and the guy I mentioned above was hired to do all the booking. He's now employesd by the club to book it, places his own bands in there and gets a cut of their fee, as well as getting paid to do the club booking. Aaaarrggghhh

 

[VonBonfire]

Same situation here in Portland but really only with one guy who reps an entire roster of tribute bands and plays in a couple of them himself...also has a major well known PNW Tribute band event called HareFest that is basically all his bands.. We got hosed by a really nice place that was run by a full dipshit, the club then changed hands and the guy I mentioned above was hired to do all the booking. He's now employesd by the club to book it, places his own bands in there and gets a cut of their fee, as well as getting paid to do the club booking. Aaaarrggghhh

There is a lot of that around here with guys charging clubs to book for them, then booking their own bands, inserting themselves into bands "then your band gets the gig", AND double dipping by charging bands to get the gigs too. Scum. A lot of these "agents" are just suck ass musicians trying to keep themselves gigging. I have known a half dozen of those types. Scabs and dipshit club owners are what most of the industry is made from.

I was working through another local agency more recently and they just stopped giving me gigs without any rhyme or reason but I suspect they found out I was not a shrieking leftist trans warrior marching in rainbow jackboots like most of their roster. But even they only had one or two worthwhile client venues anyways so BFD. You basically have to become a cold, unthinking, emotionless person to book gigs and maintain your cool. A machine.

 

[cobrahead1030]

Thanks! This company, which isn't even on BBB wants $7500 just to sign on, promises to help with merch, airplay, but only one song on YouTube. They also ask for 50% of gig profits. Sounds shady to me.

That’s a hard no right there. Everything about that says cut all communication, now.

 

[Tone Ranger]

There is a lot of that around here with guys charging clubs to book for them, then booking their own bands, inserting themselves into bands "then your band gets the gig", AND double dipping by charging bands to get the gigs too. Scum. A lot of these "agents" are just suck ass musicians trying to keep themselves gigging. I have known a half dozen of those types. Scabs and dipshit club owners are what most of the industry is made from.

I was working through another local agency more recently and they just stopped giving me gigs without any rhyme or reason but I suspect they found out I was not a shrieking leftist trans warrior marching in rainbow jackboots like most of their roster. But even they only had one or two worthwhile client venues anyways so BFD. You basically have to become a cold, unthinking, emotionless person to book gigs and maintain your cool. A machine.

This is what they sent us.

 

[Tone Ranger]

Sry. Got the pics out of whack