The sale of artists is a thoughtful work.

Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account“Music Finance”< /a>(ID: musicbusiness), author of Little Deer College.

Talent buyer/Booker refers to an artist who is scheduled to work for a venue where he works, or who is employed by a music festival or a variety of performance organizers to book a musician or band performance. In the music industry, artist buyers stay in close contact with musicians, bands and their agents, and book venues and performance dates for them.

Work responsibilities

In general, the job of an artist buyer is to fully understand the music audience in their city and to reserve a market-capable performance team for the venue. This is a thoughtful work. There are many factors to consider, including estimating the number of visitors, the sales of the venue, the pricing of the show, how the show is being publicized, whether there is a performance of the same type before and after the show date, and whether other musicians or bands need to be invited. Be the opening guest, and so on.

Sit at the desk and spend a lot of time doing quotations, signing contracts, and talking to the booking agent. This is the typical working condition of the artist buyer. Most of the time they are on the phone and reply to the mail, with the performance hall staff, music tour technical team, tour manager, tour recording team, brokers, etc. to determine the details of the show, negotiated performance agreement is the main work content of the artist buyer.

Professional Development

Interns are the first step in the entry of many artist buyers. Full-time entertainers can be promoted in the industry by working in more prestigious venues or gaining a blame at a venue. Higher salary positions.

Educational Background

If a student interested in this career wants to take a degree or course related to it, consider a music business or marketing profession.

The necessary knowledge base and basic skills help artist buyers take the initiative when negotiating with a tour team or artist, but college education is not required, and experience in the live music industry is more important than academic qualifications.

Many artists are starting from a basic position in a performance venue or tour industry, gradually establishing their own industry relationship network, familiar with the specific business of different segments, and creating their own business map.

Personal qualities

This is a fast-paced, stress-prone industry. You need to be “cheeky” and always calm down.

The success of an artist buyer relies heavily on establishing and maintaining his own relationships.Being sociable is their essential quality. Secondly, the live performance does not control, and artist buyers often have to prepare Plan B or even Plan C to respond to unexpected situations, so organizations, responsibility is also important.

Finally, passion for live music is an essential prerequisite for this career, as artist buyers spend most of their time interacting with musicians, listening to music, and watching live performances at various venues.

Work mode

“Working in the office from Monday to Friday, the weekend will hang around in various performances, and the performance time is usually more than the time spent in the apartment.” This is the daily work of the artist buyer.

Workdays are their normal office hours, but they will need to be seen at various shows at night and on weekends. It may be because of a performance project that I am responsible for, or because I want to watch the band performance.

In short, keeping up to date with the latest music trends and new musicians is their foothold in the industry, so watching the show is just as important as the content of their work, just like answering calls and returning mail at the office.

How to get started

  • Follow and participate in live music performances and try to connect with the performers.

  • Interact with small bands/musicians on Douban, Weibo and other self-media platforms.

  • Try to book local band performances for cafes, restaurants and more.

  • After accumulating some experience, try to get an internship opportunity for yourself at a small venue.

Some of the information comes from thegrablegroup/careersinmusic;