When I started the Music Menu, supporting great local live music was my goal and still is to this day. I believe and have great hope that the day of the traditional booking agency is coming to an end. I do not see Music Menu as a traditional booking agency however. Traditional booking agencies cause everyone in the live music industry to lose. In addition, they lower the quality of music, they set limits on the availability and access of music and lead venues into believing that in order to get quality music, they have to pay a excise tax for it. It's truly a false paradigm that agents, musicians and venues are all complicit in promulgating.
The bands want agents in order to get work. The venues want agents to tell them who's good enough to occupy their stages. The Agents want bands that will leave the booking of gigs entirely up to themselves and the agents also want venues to believe that "exclusively represented" bands are the only good source of live entertainment. The agents have to convince the venues of this in order to justify their representation fees of 15-20% of the show price.
Day in and day out, I am amazed to see venues hiring bands that come along with a 15% gratuity for being "exclusively represented". A band does not become more valuable to you just because a third party is promoting interest of them to others. This fact proves that venues that use traditional booking agents do not get a higher quality of music by using bands represented by them. They are guaranteed however, to pay an unnecessary "lobby tax" on music.
Unlike the Music Menu, traditional booking agents are not Music Critics. They simply pursue booking for those that pay them to do so. When an agency is promoting a band to a venue, it doesn't have the venue's best interest in mind, it has it's own interest in mind; selling the bands that pay them to do so. So, the bands are sort of slapping the venues in the face as well. For some reason, the venues do not know that there are a zillion bands out there that are really talented. But lets not leave it up to the agents to go out and critique local talent, their too busy 'Lobbying' for their bands. Sounds like D.C. to me.
The equation.
Venue A has 8 bands a month
Venue B has 8 bands a month
Venue A pays an average of $1,000.00 per band
Venue B pays an average of $1,000.00 per band.
Venue A's bands have an "exclusive agent"
Venue B uses his own time to pursue gigs
Venue A pays a 15% gratuity to the ghost agent
Venue B pays no gratuity tax
Venue A hires bands that are worth $850 but pays $1,000
Venue B hires bands that are worth every penny of the $1,000
Venue A pays a tax of $14,400.00 to an "exclusive agent" every year
Venue B realizes that in order to out-compete venue A, he can start hiring the same quality
bands as venue A for $150.00 less each night.
The agent got paid $14,400.00 for making 96 phone
calls or $150.00/call. CHECK OUT THE FAT CAT!
Venue B just saved $14,400.00 a year because their competitor, Venue A used an "exclusive agent"
If you wanna find out what makes the Music Menu a popular option to "exclusive representation" send us an email @ musicmenu.com
Doug Larson
Music Menu
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