Booking Agency Contract

It is often the case that agents do not have written contracts with the artists they represent. They prefer to work on trust, they tell the artists tour manager to sort out things such as the riders. The risk of an agent in not having a contract is not as great as for a manager. A manager who has no written contract may find it difficult to claim that they should be entitled to comission on that tour. Agents have no interest in ongoing record or publishing royalties or in merchandising or sponsorship income. That said even though some agents don’t bother with written contracts, most booking agents like to have them to keep things clear and to give them some certainty so that they can plan what is to happen in future. In many ways the booking agency contract is very similar to a management contract. They are several parts of the contract that are common to all booking agency contracts.

Exclusivity

Your booking agent will be looking for an exclusive arrangement. They won’t want to be competing for your work with other agents. Your arrangement with your booking agency  sits alongside your management agreement. Indeed your manager may be very involved in the appointment of the booking agent. Your management contract will usually give you the right to approve the identity of any booking agent that your manager appoints on your behalf. Your manager looks after all other aspects of touring other that the actual booking of the concerts. There is a danger of an overlap in the comission arrangements. You don’t want to be paying a booking agent and your manager out of gross income. The management contract will usually say that the manager takes his comission after any comission to a booking agent has been deducted. The management contract will usually give you approval over the term son which your agent is appointed if they want to charge more that the industry norm of 15-20%. Your booking agent’s fee should be deducted from the gross income first and manager’s comission should be calculated on the net amount that is left after the agency comission and any other deductions agreed in the management contract.