getting an agent. whens the right time?

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Originally Posted by massplanck

bigup eyes... listen to what he says. SOS **** all that business/career shit. what are you on about>

jesus fcuking christ

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What I said was....
do what you feel is more condusive to your own career.

This is in the english language for "do what you think you may need to do for yourself."

Sorry but the people here saying dude don't get an agent you are not big enough?

That just sounds crass and jealous even, misery loves company.

If an agency approached rhythm and advised him they would be able to give him opportunities that were not present before then why not give it a shot, because he is not Preach? That is an insult, as far as I am concerned. I say do not let anyone hold you down Rhythm, let's be honest in the business aspect of this industry, regardless of how "big" your name is, when an agent is involved, not only does it add to someone knowing the level of professionalism you have involved in your craft, it also saves you in the booking realm from getting "jerked" finance wise. There are some real shady and sheisty people and promoters involved in this genre. I don't mind paying someone 100 dollars out of a 1000 to make sure I am not in a foreign land penniless after delivering my services. Some of the nay sayers in here must have never had any involvement in the business world. Quite Obviously.

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Originally Posted by SummerOfSam

Sorry but the people here saying dude don't get an agent you are not big enough?

That just sounds crass and jealous even, misery loves company.

If an agency approached rhythm and advised him they would be able to give him opportunities that were not present before then why not give it a shot, because he is not Preach?

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Speaking from experience, I would echo what Ant said, basically, from what I've found over the past 5 years is, if you're not getting bookings every weekend off your own back, you won't get bookings every weekend just because you join an agency. I don't think it's jealousy that is making people here say what they say, just the pure reality of the situation.. And just because you do a release on a big label doesn't neccesarily mean it will be a big seller.. More important is very good music and consistancy, that is better promotion than either being on an agency or banging out 500 e-mails or mix cds..

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Originally Posted by SummerOfSam

Rhythm, let's be honest in the business aspect of this industry, regardless of how "big" your name is, when an agent is involved, not only does it add to someone knowing the level of professionalism you have involved in your craft, it also saves you in the booking realm from getting "jerked" finance wise. There are some real shady and sheisty people and promoters involved in this genre. I don't mind paying someone 100 dollars out of a 1000 to make sure I am not in a foreign land penniless after delivering my services.

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Shady booking agencies exist also you know..... it's possible to get "Jerked" by them also....

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Originally Posted by crime

Speaking from experience, I would echo what Ant said, basically, from what I've found over the past 5 years is, if you're not getting bookings every weekend off your own back, you won't get bookings every weekend just because you join an agency. I don't think it's jealousy that is making people here say what they say, just the pure reality of the situation.. And just because you do a release on a big label doesn't neccesarily mean it will be a big seller.. More important is very good music and consistancy, that is better promotion than either being on an agency or banging out 500 e-mails or mix cds..

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thtas the thing though.. i am getting bookings 3 weekends of 4 most of the time..

anyway, it was just a question..

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Originally Posted by rhythmtech

thtas the thing though.. i am getting bookings 3 weekends of 4 most of the time..

anyway, it was just a question..

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Ok, but you're saying this is just in Ireland, if you want to branch out into playing overseas, I don't think getting an agent is really going to do that for you, you need to have the interest there in the first place i.e. booking offers from overseas..

As Ant said, booking agents primarily arrange bookings you are already getting, to save you the trouble of having to haggle over fee & conditions etc, and whilst there could be the chance you might get a gig if you are on an agency and one of the other artists is unavailable, you would have to really be putting all your other work through the agency..

I think the real important thing if you are going to get an agent is to find someone you know and trust to do bookings for you, and I really cannot stress enough how important this is. If you are dealing with people you don't really know so well, who might be working for a "big" agency you can end up feeling like you could do a better job yourself..

I've been exclusive to 2 different agencies over the past 5 years, both of which I left because of things happening that I didn't like, and then had other people doing my bookings since, but for the past year have dealt with everything myself, because I havn't felt I could really trust the people I was working with. I've finally found a booker I think I can trust but I'm still waiting to see how that's going to pan out.. to be honest, the whole booking agency thing is a bit of a minefield, and countless times it's ended up being more stress for me because I was working with the wrong people..

So above all else I think it's important to work with people who you can really trust, who understand your music, and the kind of gigs that are suitable for you if you are looking to go with an agency otherwise it really can end up being more trouble than it's worth. ;)

Ok.
I am not a scapegoat for this discussion.
All I am suggesting is for Rhythm to do what he feels necessary to boost his craft.
If he wants to get an agent so be it.
He asked for people's opinions and he got them.
Just because I tell him do as you wish does not make a focal point to express the pros and cons of having an agent.

you know what? just go for it. if it all goes to sh!t you still have 3 weekends a month in Ireland. done deal.

i was chatting with clodagh about this a while ago and she said that although she's with a few agency's she gets the vast majority of her gigs through her own website.

with what you said about emailing promoters, it's easy to ignore emails. try and build a friendship through email or phone, then maybe post a mix cd then broach the subject of gigs.

i dont know what its like for promoters but i get sent shit loads of links from people who i don't know with little more than 'have a listen'... or words to that affect. i think **** em, if they can't be bothered to first make some kind of contact and build a friendship then i can't be bothered to listen to there music. also if possible send well labelled mix cd's... who can be arsed downloading mix's they take ages. it's all about looking professionnal

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Originally Posted by MorePunkThanFunk

i was chatting with clodagh about this a while ago and she said that although she's with a few agency's she gets the vast majority of her gigs through her own website.

with what you said about emailing promoters, it's easy to ignore emails. try and build a friendship through email or phone, then maybe post a mix cd then broach the subject of gigs.

i dont know what its like for promoters but i get sent shit loads of links from people who i don't know with little more than 'have a listen'... or words to that affect. i think **** em, if they can't be bothered to first make some kind of contact and build a friendship then i can't be bothered to listen to there music. also if possible send well labelled mix cd's... who can be arsed downloading mix's they take ages. it's all about looking professionnal

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cheers joe. i get exactly what you're saying, unfortunatly its getting the initial response from a promoter. im not saying all of them (i've met loads and emailed loads who are very friendly) but some just ignore you because as someone above said - they have their own roster of "name" djs.. so they play it safe with them all the time.

if your wanting agent contact numbers then i'd invest in the MIM "Music industry manual" for dj's and producers its basicly full of contact numbers which are great for networkingwith, you can get them second hand from amazon.co.uk for £22, a brand new one is like £60 odds i bought the 03/04 one from htfr for £5 but im gonna get the o6 one cause i found it that usefull.

thing with agency's is that most of them dont speicalize in the type of music you play, alot of it is based on the more popular side of electronic music . The clubs who are normaly hiring from agencys tend to be chain clubs that are intrested in house, hip-hop , r&b, maybe hardhouse n funky techno , music that girls who are into their high heels and poof drinks can dance too ya know?

Apart from that baz i would honestly invest in trying to market yourself abit more around the internet , start networking and find as many clubs around europe and the uk that play the kinda music you play and send them a demo, get friendly with them and youll probably be invited over to play. You could make anyone famous if you marketed them right SO GET TO IT BOY!

Also get a press pack designed as well, it will make you stand out more when sending things to folk, it also shows that you're wanting to be professional about this

yeah and dont forget to keep letting us know how your getting on.
we're all really interested in hearing about how successful you have become.
who knows in a few months time, the only we may be able to get in touch with you, is through your agent!!

im sorry m8.. my agent has instructed me that i can only reply to tat troug him:laughing:

Hello Baz, i have no time to trawl through this thread (sorry) but it seemed interesting to the point i wanted to put my nose in.

i have allot of experience with agents, some good and some very bad but ALL do the same mate, pretty much sit on there arse's and do **** all until the phone rings and they email a roster over (if your lucky) and if your really lucky they aren’t Dj's who try and get all the gigs, you can sort out what they could be doing already.

There is an advantage though, you have someone to negotiate a good deal without you looking like a money grabbing bastard and deal with all other un pleasantries (please forgive spelling as usual :))

I have just started an agency "Bionic Artist Management" website is being developed now, i am on the roster (obviously) but also on board for uk and European bookings we have Sebastian Prelar and Dj Urban.

like i said in reality we will look after booking details i.e. flights schedules, hotels etc, we are aiming to do our best for our artist's, i would really love and the offer is there to look after all artists on my labels but some are tied down and i don’t want to tread on anyone’s toes.

but what we are doing is (i think) a little different to other agencies is we are actively looking for work for ALL our artist's the is having sponsored links, paid by us where if someone types in one of our artists names it will be first in the sponsored link section, so we are putting money into our artists we are actively trying to get our artists work.

what an agent as such would look for before picking you and "doing you favour of a lifetime" is that you are already getting lots of work and you will have to start putting all that work through them so they get there cut, so basically you have done the hard work already and they are taking the cream off the top.

now, i have said i have an agency now, v. small but that’s the way i want it, and i have kinda blown the lid off to the ppl not in the know, we are more into honesty though im not going to give my artist's bullshit, this is how it is basically... hope this helps

If you really cant live without an agent i will consider having you on my roster, msn me mate we will talk more

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Originally Posted by Aratron

yeah and dont forget to keep letting us know how your getting on.
we're all really interested in hearing about how successful you have become.
who knows in a few months time, the only we may be able to get in touch with you, is through your agent!!

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someones got a case of the green envy :)

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Originally Posted by Rowland The Bastard

If you really cant live without an agent i will consider having you on my roster, msn me mate we will talk more

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brilliant

dunno why people go for agencies, i bet most of them are a scam. i mean if your wanting to make it big, why pay someone else to try and get you there if your determined enough youl eventually do it off your ownback, or so i imagine..:whoops:

if your too scared to put yourself out there, why pay someone else to do it. **** knows, i just dont see the point.

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Originally Posted by Rowland The Bastard

someones got a case of the green envy :)

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i doubt it mate.

i've had an agent for years.

www.got****alltalent.com

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Originally Posted by roxy

dunno why people go for agencies, i bet most of them are a scam. i mean if your wanting to make it big, why pay someone else to try and get you there if your determined enough youl eventually do it off your ownback, or so i imagine..:whoops:

if your too scared to put yourself out there, why pay someone else to do it. **** knows, i just dont see the point.

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firstly, you dont pay an agent. an agents fee is generally charged to the promoter on top of your fee (thats how its always worked with i agencies i've booked artists from), so the agent only gets paid if you're getting work which drives them to find work for you.

theres a number of reasons for using an agent.

1. time constraints (jobs, kids, studio work etc etc)
2. contacts
3. language barrier
4. business know hoh (not everyone has a head for negotiating fees etc)

thats just a few that apply to me and im sure theres plenty more.

well you do pay for them, as the money that goes to them, could have gone to you