Booking agents get a bad rap.
And - frequently - they deserve it.
The barrier of entry to becoming a booking agent is literally zero: anyone with an email address and chutzpah can sell someone else’s services.
Consequently, the live music industry is overrun with agent poseurs and charlatans.
It’s infuriating, and it makes it hard to trust anyone who wears the title of Agent.
But every working musician needs non-musician allies.
In order to run a sustainable business doing live gigs, you need the support of the hirers:
- venues who witness how your performance increases their revenue,
- corporate clients who trust your presence will elevate their events,
- private clients who fell in love with your sound and simply must have it at their party,
- and the booking agents who promote your band to those same venues and clients.
Amidst the bottom feeders who capitalize on a musician’s performance by tacking a hefty percentage onto the band’s fee then actually doing very little, there are some bright lights of agents doing good business.
One of those, is David Craig.
He’s the owner of Mais Musica, a talent booking, event management, and AV hire company in the UAE, and he’s one of the most straightforward people I do business with.
A former DJ himself, David understands our needs as performers, he values our work, and he conducts business in a way that makes you happy that you’re both getting paid.
(He’s also a terminally good guy with a treasure trove of great stories, a fab Scottish accent, and is just generally fun to be around.)
In this episode of The Lady J Podcast, David shares invaluable insights into the backend of the live music business: what he’s looking for in a band to be able to confidently promote them to clients, what goes into building events from the ground up, and where he witnesses live music transforming events.
He also talks about the challenges of taking the high road: those occasions where his commitment to doing the right thing meant he lost working relationships, friends, or money.
Despite those setbacks, he’s still standing - integrity intact - with a long list of clients and musicians happy to continue to work with him.
If you are looking for inspiration and a roadmap to running an ethical business as a booking agent, this is the episode for you. |
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0:29 Introducing David Craig
2:39 Growing up in Scotland: football & DJ’ing
7:40 Urban Scot project
12:40 Early days in Dubai: DJ’ing at Atlantis’s Nassimi Beach
14:40 Building a huge, eclectic record collection
17:29 Why DJ’ing full-time no longer felt right
20:05 The hotel residency gig model: get your 10,000 hours
25:50 An agent’s job: support, cash flow, integrity, transparency
32:44 What happens when booking entertainment is procurement-led
35:35 What does a band need to do to get hired?
37:58 Live music makes an impact at corporate gigs
40:22 Happy birthday… but is it, really?
42:58 The only regret of living life in the moment
44:48 Lightning round
55:17 Credits