I had a situation arise the other day… something that has happened many times before and will happen more times again and again… Conflicts and miscommunications… It’s an unfortunate by product of this and really most businesses out there. In this case a local support act got booted off a bill to make room for “national support.” It is a difficult thing to communicate to bands when these kinds of things happen. Miscommunication is at fault. Who to blame? Who to blame? The reason why I choose to write about it is to try to give insight into one of the most fascinating parts of human nature, that which is perspective.

In the music business leverage is everything. The biggest artists leverage the big time managers and lawyers who leverage the labels and agencies who leverage the clubs and promoters who leverage the artists that are yet to establish them selves. On the outside of the circle, but still influencing the whole picture is the radio stations, video television channels and most importantly the public who end up the real decision makers in what is successful because if they don’t pay for it, it will go away. I bring up the food chain here to demonstrate the pecking order. There are times when the order of things changes, for example a label can have a lot of influence on an artist through the amount of promotion they are willing to do if an artist presents their product in a way that the label thinks it can sell. If the artist chooses to present it in a different way (or shall we say “their” way) the label may not choose to commit heavily to the project because they think it is a bad risk.

What I am really trying to demonstrate though is the struggle that we all feel every day. Local artists try to contact promoters and clubs all day every day and those promoters and clubs only have so many slots. Therefore the clubs and promoters are evil because they aren’t able to give every band everything that they want. Meanwhile the clubs and promoters are always trying to contact the agencies who can sell them the successful touring acts. The amusing thing about it is that the agencies are hit just as hard by calls from the promoters and clubs as they are by the local acts! The agencies meanwhile are really a go between the artists, managers, and record companies to make sure that acts play venues and events that are

1.) priced correctly

2.) correct venues in terms of size, quality, and production

3.) proper markets are chosen and

4.) most importantly the act is trusted to a booking agent or promoter that will give the act everything they need to have a successful show. Their job is to create great tours for the artist. If they book an artist a tour the artist doesn’t like that artist might switch agencies…

My point is this… when people get angry it hurts everyone’s business. 9 times out of 10 there is a logical explanation and motivation to why people do what they do. Usually an issue comes from the artist, then it is passed to the manager, who passes it to the agent (or label if they are talking to a radio station), who passes it to the club, who passes it to the public and the local band. When a conflict or miscommunication happens the blame is passed up and down the succession even though if you think about it no one’s perspective is really wrong. The key to being successful is the ability to work out everyone’s differences so that everyone can win. In deals that everyone ends up getting at least some of the things that they really want ultimately all end up the most satisfied. I suppose another way of explaining is hey bands, stop blaming promoters and clubs for all your problems, hey promoters stop blaming agents and on up the chain… Deals come together when they work for everyone. When they don’t… they don’t and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing all the time… Most importantly is that it rarely is in the best interest of anyone to screw everyone else... If you treat people well it will come back to you positively.

Link http://www.chrisriccipresents.com/tips/tip.asp?TipID=56