Doors Open UNLOCKED: Becoming a Booking Agent

This session happened a little while ago and we never got around to posting it. Better late than never.

Doors Open invited Ned and Alma to host a live online session as part of their UNLOCKED series. Doors Open is a not-for-profit platform set up to demystify the music industry and help more people understand what different roles actually look like. The session was open to anyone, free to attend, and drew a large crowd.

Over 90 minutes, Ned and Alma worked through questions submitted in advance by attendees. Topics covered included what an agent actually does day-to-day, how bookings work from start to finish, how to get started with no experience, what realistic income looks like in the early years, and how to think about long-term success in the role.

A few things worth noting from the conversation. On getting started, Ned talked about promoting events as one of the most direct ways to understand how the live ecosystem works. Alma talked about approaching artists directly after performances and the importance of persistence. On income, they were honest that commission-based work at the beginning is slow, and that most people do it alongside something else for a while. On long-term success, Ned talked about how his own sense of what success means has shifted, and Alma talked about managing your roster against your actual capacity.

They also touched on sub-agency models, niche scenes, working from smaller cities, and the challenges faced by artists and agents outside Europe trying to break in.

The full session is below.