Before I started promoting shows, I was a band manager. But for years before ever thinking about going into the music business, I was a bass player who would play with any decent band that had a paying gig. People used to tell me that for my bands to get the best shows we had to know the right people. This couldn’t be more true, and the music business is most certainly a “who you know” type of business. However, most people have misconceptions when you use the term “who you know”. The people you need to know are not the roadies for Metallica, or the brother of an A&R for Universal (although it would be cool to know these people). The people you need to know are right in front of you, you just need to go meet them and present them with something that is worth their time.

As a promoter, I try to make offers on every national tour that makes sense to bring to New England. Many times, tours come as a package with no room for local support. But more often than not, there is room for local acts on a bill, and promoters are looking for bands to fill those slots. Playing for nationals is very advantageous because you’ll have the chance to play for your fans, but also fans of a huge band with a similar fanbase to yours who could become your fans as well. In a time when the music business model is restructuring and labels are making less money, playing live shows has become the biggest piece of the pie for most performing artists who aren’t Ke$ha or Justin Bieber. The most advantageous shows you can play in terms of gaining new fans, are shows where you open for a huge band in your genre that your fans like. By inserting these shows in your schedule to complement your local and out of town dates, you’ll continually expand and be able to bring new fans to shows that hadn’t heard of you before. However, it’s not as easy as knowing the right people, but this is the first step.

In your trek through the small local clubs where you should be playing as a young band, you’ll encounter and do business with local promoters and talent buyers. One of the biggest tips I give to bands is to look at who is bringing in the national tours in your genre. If you’re an indie band, you might want to open for groups who have a fanbase in your area like Crystal Fighters or American Authors. If you’re a Reggae act, maybe it’s John Brown’s Body or Barrington Levy. The point is, before opening for a national, you should know who your fans are and who they like. You can’t just be a newbie band who practices 90% of the time and promotes shows a week before the date on facebook. You really should have developed a skill for engaging your fans and bringing out a nice crowd to most of your shows before reaching out to get on a national tour date in your home town. The worst thing you could do is get on a show with a touring national with the expectation that you’ll bring people out and not draw. So assuming you played some local shows at a club, that buyer (or the promoter who rented the room and booked your band) already knows who you are. You don’t know the roadie for Metallica, but you know a local buyer or promoter, and that’s plenty for right now.

Say you’re that indie band who wants to open for the Crystal Fighters date in your hometown…Look at who is promoting the show that night. The show will say “So & So Club Presents” or “Promoter Name Presents”. Get on to their website and check out their other shows. If they have a steady stream of incoming shows pertinent to your genre (bands that your fans will want to go see), you’ve identified the contact you need to make. The best introduction you can make to a company like this, is to book your band for a local show. Then they can get a sense of where your draw is, and how you play live. Assuming you have a good show history in your town, the buyer/promoter may already know who you are. Playing a local show on an off night will show the promoter that you can bring people out in a situation that is not ideal. Most bands draw better on weekends with big headliners carrying the show, but by bringing out a decent crowd on an off night, you’ll show that you’re ready for a bigger show. Buyers may ask you to follow up with a weekend date later in the year. Once you play a great show on a weekend, you may have gained some trust from the buyer/promoter, and laid the foundation to reach about opening for a national. There are so many promoters who never work with nationals, and it might be good to play a few shows with them to make some money. However,  the time you spend promoting shows is much better spent when you’re working with a promoter/buyer who is working with national tours, and has the ability to develop your band through larger rooms and larger acts in the area. Do some research and find out who these people are, and start playing shows with them at their smaller rooms where your crowd will have an impact. Sometimes, it’s what promoter you work with that makes all the difference.

So you’ve found the promoter who works with nationals in your genre, played a few shows and worked your way up. Now you have to pitch the promoter/buyer on selecting your band for an opening slot on a routed tour date. There are a few things you need to focus on in this email.

SHOW HISTORY – Where have you played in the area? Focus on bigger shows and bigger venues with a good reputation in your city.

DRAW – How many people do you bring on an average night, and how many could you 100% commit to bringing to the potential show with a national. Don’t lie, be confident. The promoter will expect this number from you. If you give a range like 50-100, they’ll always expect 100. Be honest.

BE SHORT – Don’t write a page long email. Keep this to 5-6 sentences. Don’t get emotional and tell the buyer about how you saw this band play live when you were 11 and this is your favorite album etc. Be professional.

SCHEDULE – Let the buyer know you have 4-6 weeks open on either end of the date. That means you have at least a month open in your area before, and an open month after the date. They’ll have more confidence that you’re promoting their show with a national as a huge show, and putting a lot of focus into it. If you have shows 2 weeks before or after, the buyer may be hesitant and assume you are going to promote both shows at the same time and split up your draw between scheduled shows. 99% of the time, the buyer is right.

RELATION – Relate your band’s style to the national you want to open for, and let the promoter know that you share a local fanbase with that band. The better fit you are on a show, the better chance you have of getting on that bill.

If you focus on these 5 things in your email pitch, the promoter/buyer will know you’re serious, and you’ll give yourself the best chance to get selected as an opener. Assuming you’ve locked up this date, the work has just begun. The best thing you can do is understand your role in the show. Whether you realize it or not, you are now business partners with the promoter or club who booked you, and there are expectations from both parties. Here are the reasonable expectations you should have from your promoter who books you with a national:

MARKETING – The promoter should have a flyer and marketing materials. You should see some of these flyers around town, or you should see the street team at local shows doing letouts, which is passing out flyers when patrons leave a venue. If I’m doing a death metal national tour in Boston, I might go pass out flyers at all the death metal local shows a month or two before. Depending on the size of the show, they should also have the shows listed on local blogs and publications. Creating an event on facebook is great, but the bands usually have more impact doing this themselves. People only RSVP to events from people they already know or trust, and your fans may not know the promoter or club buyer who booked you. Therefore, your event will have a better impact when inviting your fans.

SOLID BILL – All of the bands on the bill should fit, and should bring people out. If one band on the show doesn’t draw or doesn’t fit, the buyer didn’t do their homework.

DEAL – The money deal should be plain and simple, if you do this, you get X amount of $. There shouldn’t be any uncertainty. Whether the promoter loses money on the show or not, if there was an agreed upon deal and you did your part, you should get paid. The deal should be spelled out so you know the day before the show whether you’re getting paid or not. Stay away from shifty promoters who don’t pay locals or make bad money deals with bands.

Here are the things the promoter expects from you:

MARKETING – Even with all the print advertisements and letouts, you still know your fanbase better. Your fans may not read that magazine, visit that blog, or attend the local show where the street team of the venue is doing letouts. You know EXACTLY who is coming to your shows, and it’s your job to push your show with a national to your fans and get them out, and to maximize your draw for larger opportunity like this.

PROFESSIONALISM – Many times national tours are not announced until a certain date, but the promoter will build the bill with locals before it’s ready to announce. Don’t blow it and announce the show too soon. If there is a set load in time, make sure to be there early or at least right on time. Don’t be late. Logistics are VERY tight for a show with a national, and the more professional you are during load in and sound check, the better it will make you look for future opportunities. Don’t have one member of the band show up late and come in with an excuse. Everyone needs to be there on time. Shows with a national are more important than work or school or anything else. Plan ahead. Be prepared that you may not get a sound check, and may have to check on the fly. If you do get a sound check, be courteous and don’t practice on stage. Get your levels right as quickly as possible and get off stage so the other bands can check. If you practice and fiddle around on stage, it makes you look terrible to the venue and to the other bands. If you agreed to do presale tickets, have the unsold tickets and the money from the tickets you sold with you during load in.

CANCELLATION – Above all, do not cancel your show under any circumstances. You beat out a bunch of other bands to get a supporting slot on a national tour, so don’t cancel. Figure out a way to make the show happen. If a band cancels a show with me once the date is booked, they rarely get an opportunity to play a show with me again.

Think of the show as a partnership with the promoter. They’re giving you an amazing opportunity to play with a national band that your fans love and expand your base, and they’re counting on you to single out your fans and get them out to the show. The more people you can bring out, the more opportunities you’ll get to play with nationals. By building a strong relationship with a promoter or a club, you’ll continue to get supporting opportunities, and build your fanbase quicker and more effectively. To summarize:

-Find the promoter in your area who books nationals in your genre

-Play some shows with this promoter on off nights to gain their trust. Bring people and make it a party.

-Look for recently announced tour dates with bands you’d like to support.

-Once you have a solid draw, reach out to this promoter using the points I described above.

-Do your part once the show is booked to help promote to your fans, and be professional throughout the process through the end of the show. Leave no reason for you to not be booked again.

Thanks for reading, and good luck.

Touring is the crown jewel of the music industry and of the band experience. The minute you picked up your instrument, you probably thought about how cool touring would be shortly after. Half the fun of being in a band is the idea of going on tour. We’ve all heard the stories. Sex. Drugs. Rock and roll etc. And to be perfectly honest, all music business stuff aside, touring is amazing. It’s fun, and you’ll bond with your band, and you’ll share stories for a life time. Now that we got that out of the way, this is a music business blog. I’m a promoter, and you’re in a band who actually wants to have a career. If your end goal is to have your band photo on the back of a box of thin mints because you “really just want to enjoy the experience of being in a band”, cool. Don’t read my blog. It’s not for you…

A couple years ago I was at the LAUNCH Music Conference listening in on the panels, and the manager of (insert huge band name) who works for (insert huge company) said something that stuck with me. “Don’t go on tour until you have a solid enough fan base to sell out a local club in your hometown.” I’ll expand upon this further and say, don’t tour until you have a consistent fan base in your area. I’ve seen groups pull 100+ to a CD release and their draw goes back to 20 paid until another CD release. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go play a show outside your market once in awhile, but playing out on a weekend and coming back home that night to sleep in your bed is not “touring”. The term touring implies expenses, and being on the road for at least half a dozen shows or so. Here are some benchmarks I feel any artist should have before planning to tour.

FULL LENGTH ALBUM– An EP is great, but fans are more willing to spend money on an album, especially if it looks amazing, and is priced right. I’m not writing about digital vs. physical in this blog, but you need to gauge which has more of an impact on your fan base in your hometown and have copies when you go on the road. A full length shows that you’ve solved the puzzle of your writing process, and come up with more than 5 songs. When a fan falls in love, they can chew through your EP in one night, maybe even on the car ride home from the show. Get a full length, which engages fans on a higher level from an EP, and keeps fans in outside markets interested.

PROFESSIONAL VIDEO – You really shouldn’t tour without a visual representation of what people are going to see. When you play a show on the road, ideally you’re opening for a band with a fan base. That fan base will check you out before the show, and will search for you on YouTube. YouTube is the single most visited site on the web to listen to music, and you need a professional representation of either the music, the live show experience, or both. Get a professionally shot video with a storyboard, or a really awesome video of a live show where you packed the house. This lets everyone know that you’re for real, and you’re not some band they shouldn’t care about.

MERCH – Ask any band who has been on tour. In the beginning, you’ll make more on merch than you will on show pay. The money you’re paid from the show itself comes from paid draw. You may not have a plethora of fans in a new market, so there may not be a ton of money from the door. If you negotiated a gas/travel concession, good for you. However, you may have a ton of fans by the end of the night, and they’ll want to take something home to remember you by. Have multiple shirt designs, and don’t skimp on quality. If I wash your band shirt twice and can’t ever wear it again, that’s no good. Fans take notice. The full length will be part of your merch display, but you need things to bring new fans over. Have a nice setup with a desk light, a banner, or have someone lay out the merch in a way that doesn’t look like a clusterfuck. I’m telling you, this may sound ridiculous, but presentation of merch is important, and having different kinds of merch to appeal to different fans in outside markets is important as well. Have a cheaper item available for a few bucks if your cheapest item is $10. Simply put: If you aren’t selling merch on tour, you probably aren’t making money on tour. At best, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.

SOLD OUT SHOW – Now we get into the meat and potatoes. You need to sell out a local room. If your highest drawing show was around 30-40 people, you still have some work to do in your hometown to engage fans in your circle. If you can’t get 30-40 friends, classmates, co-workers etc. out where you call home, getting a respectable number of people out to your routed date may be impossible, or a wish moreso than a reality. There is no shame in playing a local club that is smaller (70-150 cap) and selling it out before you move up to the bigger clubs in the area. The best shows have the most energy, which usually comes from a crazy crowd of enthused fans that packed the house. You want to develop a reputation of bringing people out consistently, and selling out smaller rooms in your area. That reputation carries buzz, and buzz is what you need when going on tour to really make an impact. If you’re just some unknown band, people may not come see you play. I can’t say this enough.

If nobody is coming to the shows you’re booking, there is almost no benefit to bothering to leave your hometown to play. Make sure you have a draw at home before going on the road.

RELATIONSHIPS/LEVERAGE/SWAPPING – When you’re a consistently drawing band with buzz in your area, you’ll have leverage, which is a necessity when setting up an out of town show. With no leverage, you’ll end up at a crappy bar on some state road no one has ever heard of, with a buyer who wants to put you on at 6pm on a Tuesday night for no money. Before setting up a tour, you should have done some show swaps to test out where people like you, and the tour dates are return engagements ideally. If you can bring 80 people to a show in your hometown, some other band who can do the same in their hometown will swap with you. Then, you’re both playing to at least 80 prospective fans, and it’s an even trade. The best bands in the markets you’re hitting most likely don’t work for Unicef, so you need to do your part and bring people out for a show swap. If you’re doing your work and playing solid shows back home, routing dates for a tour will be easier. The buzz will guide you to the best bands and clubs in the area, and you’ll build relationships with them to ensure fans are coming to see you. Again, if nobody is going to the shows you’re playing, stay home. Don’t waste your time on tour. Wait until there is a benefit to playing the show. Make sure you do your due diligence when planning to hit a new market, and find out where the best clubs are, and who the most trustworthy buyers/promoters are. If you need help routing a date, hit them up directly. They’ll see that you’re serious when they research you, and will help you get in touch with other bands with a similar style/draw.

When the time is right, touring can really take your band to the next level. When the time is wrong, you’ll play to empty rooms and spend your money/band fund on a band trip. If you’re missing some of the components I listed above, or still need to work on your hometown draw, take the money you’d spend going on tour and fix those things. Get a website, work on your merch, get a full length, get a video etc. Bands don’t like when I say this, but your band is a business. It needs money and customers (fans) just like any other business. Starbucks didn’t branch out to open hundreds of stores before becoming one of the most respected coffee shops in Seattle. Once you have a firm grasp of your fans in the home market, do some swaps, build some solid relationships with people outside your hometown, and then go into that market with momentum, or at least give yourself the best chance to succeed. Becoming a successful band is not fate. It’s not wishing or hoping or making choices because you feel a certain way in your heart. It’s very similar to the way businesses become successful. When taking a risk in business, you want to remove as much uncertainty as possible. By focusing on the above points, you’ll get the best out of your tour, build a fan base, and ideally be a huge band with a massive booking agency behind you, routing you with nationals and making your band worth thousands of dollars per show. Then you can quit your day job and perform full time for a living, and that’s always the goal.

Maybe it hasn’t happened yet, but it’s going to…

Halfway through the commencement speech, you’re going to realize that after the dinner with your parents is over, college will be as well. You may have not been planning for this moment, in which case you may have a small freak-out called the “post college crisis”. I’m telling you, it happened to me. Actually, it happened to me 2 times, because I went to college twice (oops). So relax, you’re going to be fine if you do the right things and put some thought into making the right choices. I graduated Berklee last May with a B.M. in Music Business, and I was exactly where many of my friends are, which is in senioritis mode. (post conducting Stravinsky, you realize you haven’t been to History of Western Music in a month… and if you went, you slept.)

Here are some things for the soon-to-be Berklee grad to remember:

1. You just graduated from f***ing Berklee. You must either be a complete boss at music, an amazingly hard-worker, a hustler, or a combination of all three. Don’t let the fear of the future blur out what you just accomplished. Most people who attend Berklee do not graduate, and do not come even close. They flunk out, decide it’s too much work, or move home because they miss their girlfriend/boyfriend. If you stuck around, you have the guts and the talent to succeed in the real world. You have to use the accomplishment of completing Berklee as the foundation of your confidence to pursue your goals post-college.

2. Loans are coming. Berklee is an incredibly expensive school, and I think it’s worth every penny if you absorbed what you needed to from the faculty, students, and alumni. Again, Berklee is incredibly expensive. Read this and plan for these repayments.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2012/05/21/7-ways-to-prepare-for-student-loan-repayment

3. This leads me to my next point. Your folks may be expecting you to get a job and become independent in a short period of time. While Berklee may have advanced your young musical career, it doesn’t mean you’ll be John Mayer, Passion Pit, BT, (or Revocation if you’re into metal) right off the bat. You may have to get a day job to support yourself, live with roommates, and work on your music when you can. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE A FAILURE. It means you are a hard-worker, and will grind it out to do what you love. The majority of famous musicians had day jobs at one point, and not everyone is Bieber, relax. Working a job you probably don’t want is part of your 20’s, and if you keep your eye on the prize, your music career will advance and you’ll notice the progress. Some Berklee students may land a great salary paying job after graduation, especially Music Therapy majors and Music Education majors. If you can get one of those jobs, fantastic. But realize that the Bachelor of Music may not land you a great job, and you may want to pursue a graduate degree pertinent to your field of interest if you’re looking for a great salary. Most musicians are not in it for the money, and do what they need to do to live the lifestyle they choose and have the freedom to work on their music.

4. If you’re moving away from Boston, think twice. The biggest thing you have going for you right now is momentum, and momentum is tough to get back once you lose it. You’ve spent the last 2-5 years working hard and developing your resources and network in Boston. Whether you have a ton of friends or not, you know people who are working hard in every facet of the music industry, or have access to them through Berklee. You may have played around the area and already developed a fanbase. Unless you’re locally famous in some other area, have a ton of gigs with guarantees lined up, or have a big job waiting for you, the grass is not always greener. Moving back in with your folks may help you financially, but you may sacrifice progress and a large network of people who want to help you succeed, and who can use your expertise (you graduated from Berklee and you probably know something about music or a related field). Getting a day job in Boston may help you stay in the area, continue to develop your band or your music, and will keep your network strong. It’s cold in Boston, but you can move near the beach once you’re a huge success. The strength of your network is directly related to how fast your career will develop, and your Berklee network in the Boston area is probably the strongest part of your arsenal whether you realize it or not. I think I said network 500 times already. Here is 501, NETWORK.

5. Realize that you are most likely some form of an entrepreneur, and embrace it. If you’re an independent musician, a sub-contractor working at a studio, an independent composer, or involved in any music field where you act as your own boss, congratulations, you’re a business owner. Be prepared by learning the basics of business entity options, how to balance your checkbook, how to plan for paying taxes, and how to stay organized. The more you strengthen your business sense, the more prepared you’ll be to seek out opportunities to advance your career. If you have a music business degree, you might already have a leg up. If you don’t, fear not and read some basics on starting your own business. If at all possible, check out The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and The Cluetrain Manifesto. If you’re up to it, check out On Competition by Michael E. Porter. Being a successful business owner requires time management skills beyond belief, and you have probably already mastered this by juggling your coursework at Berklee. Now it’s time to apply those skills to your work life.

6. Your portfolio has never been more important than right now. If you’re a solo artist or in a band, it’s time to sharpen up your online presences and “act as if” you’re a professional musician pursuing a long term career with financial success. Look at logos, merch, press kits, one-sheets, and ways to improve your social media. Look at what the top local and regional acts in your area are doing to engage their fans and organize and develop their social media presences. If you’re a composer or a film scorer, look at what other successful film scorers and composers have done in your market, and focus on presentation of the content you have. If you need some help in these areas….

7. Use the Career Development Center. You paid an insane amount of money to attend Berklee, and you owe it to yourself to use all of the resources available. The CDC can help you get in touch with Berklee alums in your area for career advice specific to your field and your market. Many students move to LA, Nashville, or NYC after graduation. There are alums in pretty much any place you move that can give you some real-world advice. The counselors at the CDC have written best-selling books and worked in most facets of the music industry. You have nothing to lose by setting up a short meeting, and asking a few questions you may have about your career post-graduation.

8. Get to know the attorneys teaching at Berklee in the music business department. Ask any successful musician what the biggest expense of their career was, and I’ll bet you find that 90% of the time it’s legal costs. If you’re a musician with copyright and PRO questions, a booking agent, promoter, manager, or involved in any way with making music, you should consider planning ahead. The attorneys in the MB department will answer any questions you have, and in many cases work for free or a deeply discounted rate while you’re at Berklee. Once you graduate, you most likely will pay a lot more. I’m an independent concert promoter, and I wish I had used the expertise of the attorney professors at Berklee more. Contracts and copyrights can be a huge pain, trust me.

9. Realize that you just absorbed 2-5 years of elite music academics, and it’s going to take some time to process and apply it usefully. I went to almost every clinic while at Berklee, and every successful Berklee alum says the same thing. It takes time to really understand and apply what you learned. Continue to practice and use the work ethic and techniques you learned in school, but understand that not every successful musician has mastered every course at Berklee. You’ll begin to personalize what will help you to succeed in your field, and what may not be pertinent in your work life. You’ll see. A few years from now, you may still practice your ear training, but you probably won’t be arguing with your peers about pitches in songs (being in the Berklee bubble). Focus on your music/career.  Everything will make sense once you process the knowledge you just crammed into your head over the last few years.

10. Above all, be patient. Good things take time. If you keep your nose to the grindstone, use the tools Berklee taught you, and do your best to succeed… chances are, you will. Enjoy making your music and the journey of working towards success in your field. Don’t change the things you were doing that helped you to succeed in college. Rather, use that same attitude consistently in everything you do, and you’ll see how your Berklee education is crucial in your everyday life. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best. “Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” You’ll find that as time goes on, Berklee was a vital part of developing both. Be patient, use your momentum, use your talent and your work ethic, and the rest is history.

Congratulations, and best of luck.

What focus track of the Berklee Music Business Program did you take?

LT: I studied in the Management track of the Music Business program while at Berklee.

What business are you currently in right now?

LT: I’m an independent concert promoter in Boston under my own company, LT LIVE. Additionally, I work as a talent buyer for MassConcerts, New England’s second largest promoter. We operate The 2200 cap Palladium in Worcester, as well as The 1200 cap Webster Theater in Hartford. Basically, an independent promoter procures talent and rents a venue to host and produce a live concert. A talent buyer is paid by a venue to procure talent on their behalf, and they are paid a salary or percentage of the profit to do so.

How do you go about marketing your business?

LT: My audience is made up of performing artists and concertgoers. They’re only interested in the shows I’m promoting, so my marketing is almost 100% based on the shows I book. The average person is much more interested in seeing a huge tour or great local show than seeing the LT LIVE name, however, attaching the LT LIVE name appropriately is important as well. When marketing my shows, I use flyers both online and in person. I generally hang my flyers (where the law permits), in college areas around the Boston area both on and off campus. Additionally, I do ”letouts” which is passing out flyers at shows and placing them strategically around the venue. For instance, if I’m booking a big indie rock local band, I might go to all the indie rock shows in the area for that month and pass out flyers to patrons as they leave the venue. However, for a large regional or national tour, the promotional push is much more complex. I’ve had positive experiences with facebook ads and I use them with most of my larger shows. Recently I promoted a show with one of the most successful death metal bands, Suffocation. For the Suffo show, I was able to create an ad on facebook that singled out fans of 20 death metal bands that shared a fanbase with Suffocation, and narrow the audience for the ad down to about 8 surrounding states, and males 18-45 years old. I also reach out to college radio stations to have them plug the show on air, and place print advertisements in various publications that people look to for show listings, such as The Phoenix and The Dig.

For LT LIVE, I also have a website listing all of my shows and telling people a bit about my business, and I really value having a nice business card, as I feel first impressions with venues, artists, and agents can be priceless.

When booking shows, what are the 3 most important factors you keep in mind?

LT: The first concern is always, is there enough room in the deal to make some money off the show. The popularity and buzz of the headliner is crucial, but sometimes an overzealous agent won’t leave room for promoter profit. If I have to sell the room out to make a little bit of profit, it may not be the best opportunity. However, if the band is a slam-dunk sellout for the proposed venue, I may think twice about it.

Second is of course, the popularity and buzz of the band in the Boston area as well as in similar markets. I do a lot of research on the draw of a headliner by contacting other promoters, using Pollstar, and following blogs and reviews. Checking previous plays in the Boston area is always a great starting point.

Third, I like to make sure I can add local support on a bill. Local bands bring people out who may not have already been interested in the show, and they also make sure the fans of the headliner come out. If the average concertgoer can check out their best friend’s band in addition to their favorite band, they are much more likely to attend the concert. Some agents allow local support on tours and some do not.

With local bills, my first concern is the length of time the band has been playing and how their draw is currently. A band that has been around for 5 years has an idea of how things work, and knows how to get people out versus a band that has been around less than a year. Generally speaking, these younger bands spend about 90% of their time practicing before a show, and may have to play to some empty rooms before they learn the hard way that putting in as much time promoting the show and getting people out is just as crucial as practicing.

My second concern is the length of time between gigs. Sometimes even an experienced band can overplay, and if I see a show a week or two before the proposed date in or around the Boston area, I’ll pass on them for now or push for a later date. As a general rule, I like to see bands leave at least 3-5 weeks between gigs, hopefully closer to 4-5. Overplaying can hurt even the most experienced and popular band, and I try to avoid bands that overplay.

Thirdly, I look at the local band and their ability to contribute to an excellent bill. I may have a great local metal headliner, but the alternative rock band won’t fit on that bill. While paid draw is important, putting on mixed genre shows is never really a good thing unless it’s a soft ticket festival in my opinion. There are exceptions, but there should be an ebb and flow to the bill, and a band that has a little less of a draw but will fit really well with the package can be huge. That band can grow from that bill and turn into the next headliner down the line.

What should I be doing with my time at Berklee if I want success in the music business world?

LT: The Berklee music business program teaches students about the music business academically, and this is so important. It will set you apart from people who have no music business education, because you’ll know how to study trends, how to think about the music business and it’s developments, and how to market yourself if you’re looking to work as a performer or in a band versus as an intermediary. However, the two biggest assets in the music business are the relationships you have, and the experience you have. Acing all your courses at Berklee is an incredible feat, but agencies, promoters, and management companies are concerned with what you have done. Boston is the ideal environment for getting your feet wet in the music industry because there are a ton of young, impressionable bands mixed in with some of the next big things in music. If you want to become a manager, take on a band and see if your approach works with them. If you want to become an agent, go see live shows and introduce yourself to promoters in various cities. See if you can book a tour and how well you can do for the artists while they’re playing. Maybe you won’t get them guarantees right away, but you can negotiate other concessions and route the tour properly while building relationships with buyers and promoters. If you want to become a promoter, go scout bands as often as possible. If I had it my way, Berklee Music Business students would be required to attend at least one live show per week. Truthfully speaking, you NEED to go to shows if you want to do anything music business related as an entrepreneur. Knowledge capital is your most valuable asset. But as a promoter, your biggest skill set should be building compelling bills comprised of solid bands that play great shows and pack the house. The best way to do this is to go find these artists and talk to them.

When I was at Berklee, I worked for a completely student run company called Hyphen Productions. We managed artists, booked tours, and put on some great shows. Granted, we were broke college students and couldn’t rent rooms right off the bat. But you would be surprised at how venue buyers across New England are receptive to college students that are living the experience, and have firsthand knowledge of an up and coming band. Talent buyers aren’t at the underground basement show that had 150 people on a Saturday night, and students have the ability to find bands before buyers can, if for no other reason, because they’re intelligent and passionate fans. I sent complete bills to The Western Front, The Middle East, and Great Scott as a student, and they picked up a few of them. This allowed me to build relationships with the staff at various venues and gain the trust of promoters in the city. While I rarely ever made money (the bands and the venue made the money), it helped me build relationships with bands, which were soon emailing Hyphen Productions daily to book their tours or their next show. They trusted us to put them with solid bands that would bring people out, and that trust is exactly the type of thing you’ll need to be successful as a music business entrepreneur.

Simply stated, work hard in your classes. But your academic education won’t be complete without real world experience. An internship is great, but going out and doing it yourself is even better.

What are some of your hobbies?

LT: Besides going to see as many of my favorite bands as I can, I try to play my bass as often as possible. I’m not in any bands anymore, but I still stick with it and practice everything I learned from my private instructors at Berklee. I also love watching sports, and I’m a huge Manchester United fan.

What has been your most proud moment during your career?

LT: Wednesday December 7th 2011. I scouted a band called Endangered Speeches, an 11 piece hip hop/reggae outfit comprised of Berklee musicians. Their lead singer is Mariletta Konstatara, a popular artist in Greece with one of the best selling singles in Greek pop history. I had previously sent a few bills to a large hip hop promoter in Boston, and when I saw Talib Kweli’s group was coming to play The Middle East Downstairs, I knew I had to reach out to him to get Endangered on the bill. Up to that point, I had done 40-60 paid on 4 band bills at The Western Front, so this took a gigantic amount of trust from the promoter to allow me to add them as a co-headliner. To curb his skepticism, we agreed to sell 100 presale tickets by the day of show. Up to that point, Endangered Speeches had a draw of 50-80 paid, which is solid but not even close to what it takes to headline next to Talib Kweli on a Middle East Downstairs bill. Endangered rose to the challenge and developed “hustle teams” where they went around the T stops in Boston performing and/or reaching out to anyone and everyone. This face-to-face promotion more than doubled their paid draw in a matter of months and the show sold out. You’ll see very few sold out Wednesday night shows at 575 cap rooms, but this was the most packed I’ve ever seen The Middle East. We worked together to develop and execute a plan and every member worked equally as hard as the next. By taking the proper steps to make sure their friends/family/co-workers came out, and working extremely hard to make new fans, Endangered Speeches was able to push 180 presale tickets (80 over the required minimum), and they had one of the best shows I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. I’ll never forget that feeling of watching a band grow right before your eyes. When Endangered’s set was over, most of the room emptied out and it was obvious who everyone was there to see. Talib Kweli is one of the all time great lyricists and I’m a huge fan, but trust me when I say that Endangered had the crowd in the palm of their hand that night. It was beautiful and is what led to my choosing to be a promoter. That feeling was unparalleled and was easily the greatest moment during my career where all the hard work came together to help produce something amazing.

Has your business changed much since you started? How so?

LT: When I first started booking bands, EPK’s were the craze. Sonicbids and Reverbnation were necessary. Towards the peak of their popularity, so many other EPK sites came out. It seemed there was a new way to get your band online every week. In the last year, the market has become over flooded with press kit services, and I think everyone got tired of them. Truthfully speaking, EPK’s are not the worst, but onesheets and websites are a much better way to make your band stand out.
I also think that since I started booking, the video has become a necessity whereas previously it was a great addition but not required. Everyone needs to see your band now, and without a video you may lose out to another band that has one with or without a ton of views. As the music business changes, the ways to present the artist are changing. The move from press kits to websites I believe is here to stay, and in the next year, there may be even more requirements to get the best gigs in addition to videos. To refer back to your question, my business is booking talent at venues, and the methodology of booking has changed significantly even in the last few years.

What has been your most difficult decision thus far in your career?

LT: My toughest decision was deciding to leave my job in public accounting in Florida and rolling the dice on auditioning for Berklee to pursue a career in the music industry. I was born and raised in Florida, went to college in Florida, and started my career as an accountant not too far from where I grew up, and it was a huge decision to move into the cold weather into a city where I didn’t really know anyone. Needless to say, it was the best decision of my life and I can’t even imagine where my life would be if I chose not to audition and let my fear of failure get the best of me.

http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/07/the-role-of-the-local-promoter-vs-the-local-band.html