Tour promoters (also known as concert promoters or talent buyers) are the individuals or companies responsible for organizing a live

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

or special event performance. The tour promoter makes an offer of engagement to a particular artist, usually through the artist’s

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

music manager A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee the day-to-day ...

. The promoter and agent then negotiate the live performance

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

. The majority of live performance contracts are drawn up using the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) standard contract format known as the ''AFM Performance Agreement''.

Services

Included among the tour promoter’s various job responsibilities are: (1) obtaining

venue Venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a concer ...

, concert hall,

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

bookings; (2) pricing the event or tour; and (3) providing air, sea or land

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

(optional). However the promoter must have upfront cash and or

sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

financing to pay for advertising the tours of the artists. Such advertising costs, usually referred to as a Media or Promotional Kit, commonly include

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

and radio advertisements, posters,

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

and magazine adverts,

online marketing Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. ...

and so on.

Promoter compensation

There are no figures available concerning how much an average concert promoter makes annually. Like most music industry professions, compensation depends on the level of success possessed by the artist the promoter works with, location, and what a given market will bear. The promoter assumes all the financial risk in putting on a show, so compensation also depends on how successful the promoter is at negotiating with vendors and creating sold-out shows. Additionally, in-depth knowledge of their operating market and audience characteristics are critical success factors for any tour promoter.

Industry overview

The rise of large corporation mega-promoters over the past ten years has made it much more difficult for aspiring tour promoters to break into the industry. Live Nation (previously known as

Clear Channel Entertainment Live Nation was a former American events promoter and venue operator based in Beverly Hills, California. Founded in 1996 by Robert F. X. Sillerman as SFX Entertainment, the company's business was built around consolidating concert promoters int ...

) is the number one concert promoter in the world according to figures released by ''Pollstar Magazine'' in 2006. The Beverly Hills, California-based corporation accounted for about $1.3 billion in concert

box-office A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fr ...

sales during 2005, according to

Billboard magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the musi ...

's tracking.

Anschutz Entertainment Group The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), also known as AEG Worldwide, is an American global sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports even ...

(

AEG Live Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...

) was ranked second with $417 million, followed by

House of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers''. The first location opened at Ha ...

(HOB Entertainment) at number three with $245 million. On July 5, 2006, Live Nation purchased HOB Entertainment for $350 million, further expanding their market share in the live-music business.Big Promoter of Concerts to Acquire House of Blues
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. July 6, 2006 While average ticket prices jumped to roughly $57 in 2005, the number of tickets sold for the 100 biggest tours dipped 3.5%, to 36.3 million. Some fans have complained to government officials, particularly after they found tickets to the same concerts or sporting events available - sometimes at many times the face value - on secondary sellers like Stubhub.com and TicketsNow minutes after the public sale began. After hearing from some would-be ticket buyers, the

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

attorney general announced the state was suing three ticket resellers on charges they violated state consumer protection laws. That same day, the

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

attorney general said he was seeking documents from five resellers. And the attorney general’s office in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

is also looking into the ticket sale business after receiving several hundred complaints over the recent sale of tickets for a Hannah Montana concert in Pittsburgh.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster

On December 21, 2007, Live Nation announced it would acquire the software and services to ramp up its ticket-selling operation, potentially positioning the company to compete directly with its longtime contractor,

Ticketmaster Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation under the name Live Nation Enter ...

.Top Concert Promoter Sets Up a Challenge to Ticketmaster
''

''. December 21, 2007 Live Nation, the largest concert promoter, and Ticketmaster Entertainment, the No. 1 ticket seller, announced merger on February 10, 2009. Then on January 25, 2010 the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

approved the merger with terms that include that Ticketmaster sell Paciolan, its ticketing and software services unit, to Comcast's sports and entertainment firm or "another buyer suitable to the department." Ticketmaster must also license its software to

(AEG), the company’s largest customer. With a copy of the Ticketmaster software, AEG will be able to market an attractive ticketing system to venues, according to the DOJ; under the settlement terms, both companies will be able to compete head-to-head with Ticketmaster.

College concert market

Colleges can provide "dedicated fans, an excellent testing ground, eager workers, ndloyal fans." The college market provides a network of new potential fans that artists, labels, agents, and managers could focus on for promotion. The major record labels have departments dedicated to college promotion and hire students as representatives for all the artists on these labels.

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

has a college marketing department, which promotes records released by Sony and by their independent label affiliates. Other music marketing companies such as Cornerstone Promotion focus on college marketing. Cornerstone Promotion hires representatives from colleges all around the country to implement small scale marketing campaigns on their campuses. Artists began breaking into the college market in the 1990s.

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the musi ...

published articles dating back to the early-mid nineties urging artists and agents to take advantage of the college market. Artists such as

Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and bac ...

and R.E.M. played college shows to increase their presence in the college market in the nineties. Billboard Magazine has emphasized the extent to which college concerts can help an artist in multiple articles.

Education

There are numerous degree programs and academic courses focusing on concert promotion and venue management. Some of these are full degree programs, while others are certificates offered for post-graduate studies. For example,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

offers a Certificate in Meeting, Conference, and Event Management, and a Certificate in Sports Marketing.New York University

Notes

References

MusicBizAdvicePollstar.comLiveNation.comBillboard MagazineLive Nation takes over Clear Channel's concerts
-- ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' {{Music industry Concert tours Occupations in music