Paid Booking Submissions?

[schriste]

We have a new business model we have developed in regard to booking entertainment and I would be interested in your comments and reaction to this model.

Essentially what the model is is that clubs that become members push their entertainment booking through our service and for each reviewed booking they receive a $2.00 commission. We set this up so that clubs would only receive booking submissions from serious entertainers as there is a charge to the entertainers to submit a booking as they have a presskit that is automatically created and shipped to you from them and it also helps to offset the clubs entertainment costs.

Question 1, does this model sound reasonably interesting from a club owner's perspective?

Question 2, what reservations would you have in considering this model (for example restricting your entertainment options, etc...)

[The Event Guy]

Why would entertainers pay your company, if they can go right to the club owner with their opwn press kit?

Not sure I understand:(

[schriste]

When the entertainers post a booking request they have a presskit setup in their account. When the request is posted
their presskit is automatically produced for them in a CDRom
format and mailed to the club/venue, no hassle or worry for the entertainer. The presskit is designed, produced and shipped by a professional artist development company and as the costs for the entertainers for the booking request are similar to producing their own CD's then mailing or deliverying them this saves them time and trouble and also allows them to present the club/venue with a format that is easy to review.

This model assumes a club wishes to enforce pushing their bookings through the network to gain the payout and also allows the club to recieve a consistent format for press kits that saves time in the review process.

The idea is to help everyone with management of live entertainment and provide a wider network of leads and opportunities than they may have had through other avenues.

[The Event Guy]

Well, it sounds to me that you're a booking agency - essentially. And you just have an efficient way to get your artists seen/heard by venues.

The services that you are offering are a "one stop shop" kind of deal and as a reward to those venues booking talent through your company, they get what?

[The Event Guy]

Sorry, I read these posts again and I still don't get it. Why would a venue get a commission for booking a talent?

[schriste]

The venue would actually receive a commission for posting a decision about the booking request regardless of whether or not the booking was accepted. It is just to ensure that the entertainer gets at least a shot at serious consideration and to compensate the venue for taking the time in reviewing their submission.

The venue also has a number of other benefits and tools with an account for their own promotions as well to help them with promotion and so does the artists so it is much more than just a booking agency and we are focusing equally on both the artists and the venues.

Thanks for taking the time to ask these questions. This is great feedback you are providing for me and I greatly appreciate your time and comments on this post.

[The Event Guy]

No problem. This is a great message board as long as people are able to take things with a grain of salt, ya know? There is so much experience among the members that any kind of feed back is valuable.

Overall, I think that you might have a small niche in the entertainment biz by making these offers in your neck of the woods... However, if I were you I would put together this package and have a STRONG marketing/sales network to launch it.

You must go out and get SOLID local talent in order to build a stable that people pay money to see live. At that point, your company'd marketing/sales team would sell theses talents in order to get them consistent work.

As a bonus for these venues that review them, they would recieve a commission - as you originally stated. BUT, this commission should be set up as a credit account. Therefore, your not just handing out money left and right...it gives them incentive to be a continuing member so that they can cash-in with a FREE show from such-and-such talent because they have accumulated all this credit.

It works for you on both ends because you initially set up a contract with your talent that might restrict them from playing out at other venues that might not have an account set up with you.

See where I'm going???

As long as you take care of your talent and your venues - everyone stays happy and you gain a reputation within the industry of providing solid talent. Hence, people would look to your services first.

It's a good theory, but you've GOT TO HAVE a solid marketing/sales plan in order to do it right. If you half-ass it, it'll show.

Good luck, let me know how it turns out. And if you need a special event production management & decor company, let me know. :cool:

[schriste]

Thanks for the suggestion. This gets me thinking about some things that expand on the credit account idea that I can see could add even more benefits to the venues and entertainers. I will definitely bring this idea to the table as we work through the model.

I have been building a network of professionals in the industry that I am working with on this and things are slowly coming together. I will definitely keep you in mind for anything that
comes my way for your services.