photo_cameraMatt Bartlett - founder and MD of UK Agency Midnight Mango
Artist Reps
Industry Comment: Remember Who Backed Your First
In this industry comment for VIP-News, Matt Bartlett, founder of UK booking agency Midnight Mango, discusses loyalty in live music promotion and why the promoters who backed artists early in their careers deserve the opportunity to benefit from their success.
Who should promote an artist`s shows as they grow, and what happens to the promoter who backed them first?
The Madnight Mingoes are an imaginary band from Bristol, they now sell 400 tickets around the country, a couple of years ago, when they were first picked up by their agent, promoters invested in them and lost money, but they stuck with it and now stand to make some money back
In Bristol, there`s the local promoter who picked them up after that first DIY gig at a fiver. In other cities, there is a national promoter who took a punt and lost money on the night. Then there were cool venues that did the show direct. Today, there`s a queue of new people who`d love to promote the band now they`re selling well.
How an agent answers that question tells you most of what you need to know about them.
There`s room for both
Some people see local and national promoters as rivals. I don`t, and our tours don`t work that way. They do different jobs at different stages of an artist`s career, and good tours usually need both.
Local promoters are the backbone of small and mid-sized touring. They have lower overheads, a real mailing list and a word-of-mouth reputation no advertising budget can buy. For an emerging act, a local promoter who knows their town will often sell more tickets than a bigger operator who`s just got the date in the diary. For artists who play the same arts centres and small rooms every year, they`re often the most important relationships they have.
National promoters bring capital, reach and the ability to take risks across a whole tour. They`ll often back an emerging artist early, in the hope of being there when it pays off, and when they do, the artist and the agent owe them. Once an act is consistently selling a decent number of tickets, a national promoter can fund the marketing and take on the cost and complexity of bigger rooms.
In the middle, where most of our artists sit, drawing 250 to 500 around the country, the best tours are a mix: national promoters in some cities, local promoters in others, and venues promoting their own shows where they can offer a good deal. That isn`t fence-sitting. It spreads the risk and gets the most out of every city.
The loyalty question
Here`s my position, and it hasn`t changed in years: stay with the promoter who backed your artist until they can`t add value any more. They`ve earned it.
In practice:
The promoter who took the early risk gets first call. That means a genuine first offer, not the chance to match someone else`s.
"Can`t add value any more" has to mean something real. The room`s too small, they can`t finance the guarantee, or they can`t reach the audience the artist now has. It doesn`t mean someone else offered £100 more.
When it`s time to move on, we tell them early and in person. Nobody should find out from the announcement.
Moving on doesn`t have to mean moving out. A co-promotion, the home-town warm-up or first look at our next emerging act in their city are all ways to keep a relationship that`s earned its keep.
For the Mingoes, that means the Bristol promoter is first in line for the 400-cap show. If the next step is a 1,000-cap room they can`t take on, they hear it from us first. And you, the promoter who lost £122 in your city, get the chance to make your money back.
So when the next tour comes round and there`s a queue at the door, remember who was there when the room held 100 people and the settlement went the wrong way. Artists, managers and agents should all remember it.