Editorial - Interviews

One of the largest concert booking agencies based in Atlanta, GA, the hub of urban entertainment, The Music Group, LLC is founded upon years of experience in booking, promotions, and marketing. The Music Group, LLC continuously works to outshine the competition. The agency is responsible for mounting several tours within the past few years in Europe, Canada and Africa. The services provided by the agency surpass the larger, less personable competitors in terms of customer relations.

"We consider ourselves more of a boutique agency, in a sense that we are not the William Morrises, but what we do have is an investment in the relationships we have established in Atlanta," says co-owner Amy Jurkofsky. "Down South artists are taking the music scene to another level. Any artist or manager that we have worked with can see the distinction between us and a larger scale agency. If the artist is hot, everything is all good, but if they're not they are forgotten. We still book artist from back in the day. From old school to new school, whether they have a hot record or not," explains co-owner Eric Byrd. The large, but manageable, roster allows the company to concentrate on urban acts and market research, as well as the development of relationships with the promoters, artists and managers. The Music Group's agents incorporate various sources (radio, trade magazines, SoundScans, etc.) to track top artists and their appropriate markets. Our relationships with artists/ managers allows us to offer artists in high demand or custom tailored packages to suit your promotion needs; be it a small club date, college homecoming or a large scale festival or concert. Looking towards the future, The Music Group plans to continue nurturing the growth of its market share, while simultaneously building more exclusive relationships. As always, the agency will continue to provide impeccable customer service and top-quality shows for the urban concert audience. The Music Group LLC is striving to reach the highest level of professionalism and service in the concert industry.

What made you work for a booking agency?
When I graduated from college, my friend set up an interview for me with a booking agency and I got hired...I didn't know what a booking agency was at the time, but soon after I started working I really became interested in the job and learning the ropes.

How would you describe your job and it's pros and cons?
My job is about the sale...we sell artists to promoters all day. We are considered the liaison between the artist and the promoter and we negotiate deals between these two entities.

Pros to my job are that I get to work in the entertainment industry...get to establish strong relationships with managers and artists in which case they will funnel all the business your way and you become their exclusive booking agent. I also have the ability to make an artist "hot" by getting them on as many shows as possible and helping them get established as a nationally known artist.

On the other hand, the cons are that sometimes you have to deal with the stress of a deal gone bad i.e. artist not making their flight, promoter not paying the artist their backend, club getting shut down, etc. Another con is that you get a lot of promoters that don't do good business because they will call you to set up a contract but never send you deposit to confirm the artist so you basically got the artist manager to confirm a date and then the promoter is nowhere to be found when it comes time to lock in the show...this could lead to a shaky relationship between you and management.

How does your agency decide on whom to represent, what is the criteria?
The artist must be have a song getting radio rotation (BDS registered spins) or have a video getting airplay. Our promoters are only interested in booking artists who are going to make them a profit and those artists are the ones that are seen on TV or heard on the radio.

What would you tell someone that wants to get into the booking arena because they believe it quite simple to represent talent and book shows?
It is not that easy like any job you have to establish your relationships with both managers and promoters. You want to put your artist on the highest quality shows so sometimes you have to research the club/venue and find out if it is up to par or make sure that the hotels are to the artist's liking. Also with promoters they are basically putting their trust in you to get the date confirmed; these are people that you have never met in person and are asking to send large amounts of money to your company bank account so you definitely have to maintain a healthy working relationship.

You represent a lot of artists is it hard to sometimes deal with their demands, riders, etc. or even with them being no show and how do you deal with that?
Yes sometimes it is difficult, but that's why you need a strong team around you that will make your job a little easier so you should definitely build relationships with interns, receptionists, travel agents that deal strictly with that artist, radio program directors, label product managers, etc. If the artist is a no show we definitely try to figure out the reason why first...if it is an act of GOD then we will try to reschedule the date but if it is the artist fault we will refund the deposit to the promoter and most likely not deal with artist on anymore more shows. Sometimes it is better to lose an unreliable client than a reliable promoter who you can count on to do at least 2 shows a month.

What is something that is a must have in your business?
The trade magazines:
Billboard to see where the artist is on the charts
Radio and Records displays who is getting the most radio airplay and in what markets
Pollstar provides promoter, club and talent buyer info in different cities

If I was an independent artist just starting out and I would approach you on booking me, what advice would you give me?
You would first have to get you record registered with BDS and show me what markets you are getting spins in. If you don't have a record on the radio I would tell you to try to get it hot in your market or maybe to try to link up with an already established artist and ask them if you could open up some shows for them.

How do you view the entertainment industry and did it change over the years?
There are ups and downs to the entertainment industry, but usually once you have been bitten by the music industry bug you never want to leave. It definitely has changed over the years...at first record companies were all about developing an artist, someone with raw talent and making them into a superstar but now it seems the labels want the artist to come ready made so all they have to do is distribute your CD unlike before when you had to really grind to get on by selling CDs out the trunk of your car or by driving city to city and getting on shows. Also as far as the booking game, artists nowadays are getting paid phenomenal amounts of money to do shows where 10 years ago the hottest artists at their peak weren't seeing half as much money.

What is a big misconception with your job?
That we can hook you up with tickets to every show in the country.

Name something that you would love for artists/people to change, know or understand (taken that you would get the power to make it happen) that would make your job easier, better or more productive for them and you.
Always have a calendar/itinerary for your artist because this helps us to know what cities the artist has already played, where we may be able to schedule you a show that fits into the routing, try to obtain afterparties in markets that you are doing radio shows/interviews or promo dates.

Is there are difference in booking R&B, Hip Hop, Pop, etc. are the rules, ethics, attitudes different by the genre?
Yes sometimes it is less hassle when dealing with an R&B artist because there are some venues that do not allow hip hop artists to perform because they feel this increases the chances of violent behavior or they will charge the promoter an inflated amount of insurance to secure the venue. Pop artists are probably the best money makers in the game because you are almost always guaranteed a sellout show.

Say anything that is on your mind that was stimulated by this interview?
The most important thing to remember in the music game is to maintain your reputation and integrity as a quality booking agent.

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