You must develop and use any contacts.

These should include other promoters in nearby areas. Generator run a bespoke national promoter development scheme called ‘Transit’ (www.transit.uk.net) that encourages interaction and collaboration between independent promoters in geographical proximity to each other. Get in touch with us to find out more.

Promoters can help each other in negotiating joint deals for artists, sharing knowledge on who is attracting audiences and sharing inside information on which acts are booked to play in nearby regions etc

• Keep up with the development and trends in the National and local music scenes.

This can be done simply by spending time in the field and following the media both local and national, checking with your local record store as to who is selling decent quantities of music in your area and increasingly via local websites, blogs, message boards and social networking sites to determine which acts are being talked about at a grass roots level so that you can get in on the ground floor with them.

• When booking gigs / DJs you need to consider negotiating financial aspects as well as ‘hidden’ costs such as catering riders and national advert contributions with artists or their management / agents.

When you receive your contract it will invariably arrive in 2 parts.

The first part will be the contract itself which outlines the date of the event, the venue, the artist appearing and the fee involved.

This will be supplemented by additions such as where the artist will be billed on flyers and posters (whether or not they are ‘headlining’) any deposits you may have to pay and clauses that will cover in the event of cancellation.

Such cancellation clauses are ALWAYS in favour of the artist so be careful that you understand what they say and that you are happy with it.

Some contracts have been known to say that ‘if through no fault of their own, the artist cannot travel to the event the 50% deposit will be retained’. This can mean that if a DJ misses their flight they will keep half the fee.

Therefore it should be remembered that all contracts are negotiable, if you are not happy with certain clauses you MUST say so, they will usually be amended.

The contract may also set out contribution to National Adverts. This is a pre-agreed arrangement whereby all promoters involved in a tour contribute a set amount (usually £50) to an advert or series of adverts in a specific national publication such as NME, Mixmag, Guardian Guide, The Fly magazine etc…

Contracts

Always remember that there are also several ways of receiving free legal advice.

One is that if you are an artist then you can join the Musicians Union and receive free legal advice.

If you are starting a business you will normally be able to seek legal advice through a business advisor and legal surgeries at organisations such as Generator.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO READ YOUR CONTRACTS CAREFULLY.

THEY ARE USUALLY SELF-EXPLANATORY BUT YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS.

DO NOT SIGN THEM IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE TERMS AND ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT THEY ARE NEGOTIABLE.

It is important to remember that when booking bands usually the fee that you pay includes all transport costs and booking fees but will exclude catering costs. However when booking DJs, agents often want a percentage-booking fee (which usually ranges between 10 and 20%) as well as transport and accommodation costs on top of any fee negotiated, so costs can more easily spiral.

Also bear in mind that when working with overseas DJs and entertainers you will need to ensure that Foreign Entertainers Tax is paid as part of the fee. Some agents may insert the words ‘free and net of all taxes’, which usually means that you as the promoter are liable to pay the tax. This is usually 22% of the fee after the first £1,000.00.

If the tax is paid as part of the fee make sure you receive an exemption certificate from the Foreign Entertainers Unit of the Inland Revenue. It is normally the agent you have booked the artist with to make sure you are supplied with this.

Remember that most agents will want a deposit and / or booking fee. This can sometimes be 100% up front if you are a promoter that they have never worked with before but is usually 50% so make sure that you have the cash flow in place to pay this prior to receiving cash from ticket outlets, on the door etc.

You must always remember that when booking a DJ or band the fees are negotiable. One of the main skills you need to develop as a promoter is being able to work out / judge how many tickets you will sell and at what price for a given act.

Once you have worked this out take out your fixed costs and a decent level of profit, which will then leave you the amount you feel safe paying the artist.

Be careful not to be pushed over the safe limit of what you wish to pay for an artist and always remember that it is an agent’s job to secure the highest fee possible for their artist.

• If the artist you are dealing with is planning a tour always find out where they are playing around the date. Will there be any point promoting a band in Newcastle if they are playing in Sunderland the following week, for example (the 2 cities are only 10 miles apart)? 

Band catering riders

When dealing with established acts, the most important thing to remember with regard to catering riders is that everything is negotiable. If it is a touring band, they will often only expect and receive an approximation of what they have asked for. We’ve known riders to include live animals, illegal substances, certain types of oysters, pink elephants and Vivienne Westwood clothing but a promoter can’t or should not provide any of these!

However, any changes that you need to make to a rider should be agreed in advance with both the agent and the tour manager of the act so that everyone knows in advance what they will be receiving. Your job is to facilitate the show but don’t be afraid to negotiate what you consider to be fair and within budget. You will have already set a budget for catering so whatever you need to buy shouldn’t exceed this and will ideally be less than you’ve estimated.

Meal – In-house or buy out. If you’re providing a buy-out it should be between £10 £15 a head, certainly no more than this. If the venue also has decent provisions for catering in-house then strike a deal with them in advance

However when starting out it may just be that the DJ might ask for a few drinks or an unsigned band may just want a crate of beer.

Make sure you read a rider carefully and be happy with it before you sign, after all YOU will be paying for anything additional that goes over budget.