In this post we take a closer look at the Music Business Conference. They form an integral part of a typical booking agent’s calendar. They provide an opportunity for agents to meet with talent buyers face to face, show-case artists, learn from industry leaders and generally have a good time in a city somewhere else from the normal place of work. Fun it may be, but it is still very much work!

English Folk Expo got in touch in touch and asked me to give a lecture entitled Growing A Live Career. Here is the video of the lecture. You can also watch it from inside the Folk Talk Academy portal. Where you can also download my slides.

How I see the sequence of events that have led to yet another summer of live events being decimated. The difference this summer though, is that the reasons are largely down to incompetence and were therefore avoidable.

An emerging band need to be great at self-promotion. It’s not enough to write great songs and deliver them with power and panache, they also have to be great at drawing attention to themselves – they need to make themselves fascinating, intriguing and mysterious. They need to promote their shows because frankly no one else is going to do it for them. Yet…

Sometimes when a band get a new agent they automatically think everything will be advanced for them. It won’t be, the band need to take responsibility for this or pay someone else to.

Sometimes it can be hard to swallow how little money is due to the artist when the ticket price is low, even tho the artist has sold a decent number of tickets. In this blog post I explore how that can very easily happen.

In this blog post I address the impact of The Equality Act (2010) on our touring business and how we as agents need to protect our artists and their audiences from discrimination.

In this blog post I update on progress with our Agent Freelancer Project at
Midnight Mango

We announce a new project called the MIDNIGHT MANGO LOCKDOWN FUND. With this fund, we will create freelance work opportunities for booking agents within our company. One of the ways we are raising capital for the project is through a crowdfunded project.

As a booking agency in the music industry, It’s pretty tough to take on new staff at the moment. But it isn’t impossible. Different models of employment can provide help and support whilst at the same time invest in a company’s future growth.