THE BRAINS BEHIND THE LIVE SHOWS
Detty December is upon us. Tis the season for events/shows. Different players contribute to the success of these shows, such as the artists, promoters, booking agents, sound engineers, security etc. Although the artists are the main act of these shows, the promoters are the foundation and backbone. The promoters oversee the organisation, planning, marketing, and production of live shows, concerts, tours and festivals.
They oversee booking the talents, securing the venues, setting the ticket prices, and marketing the show. A promoter is different from other players in the show’s organisation, as they are primarily responsible for the planning and marketing of the show. They are the ones who come up with the show, the plan, and the implementation, from inception to execution. The promoter is responsible for every detail in the organisation of a show, from deciding and getting the artiste to perform, to securing a venue, sale of tickets, handling hospitality and logistics, including ensuring the stage and equipment are correctly set up, to meet the requirements of the artistes, and ensure the success of the show.
Promoters are responsible for drawing up a budget, financing it, and ensuring that the show does not exceed the proposed budget to ensure they get profit. Promoters generally bear most or all the financial risks for the shows, and as such, need to ensure they get the budget right and keep within it. The show’s success depends on its ability to keep within the budget. In setting the budgets, promoters have to consider the fees for the venue, cost of hiring staff to work pre, during and post the show, fees for agents, advertising, ticketing, and the artists. They also consider the expected income, which helps them plan how much expenses to incur, and if the live show will be profitable. Promoters are also responsible for negotiations of contracts between the other stakeholders.
Negotiations are essential as it usually involves money and sharing of profits. The larger the fees and expenses incurred in organising the show, the less the profit for the promoter. As much as a promoter wants a buzz–worthy event, the promoter also must ensure that profit is made. Hence, a promoter needs to be skilled in getting the right balance between ensuring the show is glamorous and star–studded versus being on top of the costs being incurred. This explains why some shows only have a few A–list artists and many other upcoming acts who will charge less. To cut costs, some promoters sacrifice some other aspects of the live show, such as production costs, security, and sometimes safety. Proper planning and budgeting will help prevent the need to cut costs and corners, as the consequence of doing so could be disastrous.
The promoter negotiates with the artists who will be performing in the event. Such negotiations will generally include the artiste’s performance fee, hospitality, and transportation (the Artiste’s Rider). The promoter also negotiates with other people, who are equally as important. For example, the promoter has to secure a venue, negotiate a fee to be paid, allocate seats, etc.
Then the promoter has to secure a production crew responsible for creating a production schedule for the concert, including things like
lighting, camera, videography, photography etc. There is also the issue of security, not just for the artists but also for the crowd coming. Promoters also have to deal with tickets for the shows and sell them. In setting the price for the tickets, the promoters have to factor in the costs incurred and the best price to sell the tickets. They have to
consider the line-up of artists, the cost of the venue, the economic situation of the territory etc, to ensure that they are not under-pricing or overpricing their tickets. Under-pricing may mean the promoter will be running at a loss, while over-pricing may mean people will not want to pay that amount for the show,
leading to a low turnout and a loss to the promoter.
The promoters have to consider advertisement strategy and costs as well. The goal is to make as many people aware of the show and attractive to induce them to attend. Promoters can achieve this by building hype around the show to create a fear of missing out. Sometimes, the artists are the advertisement. For example, having an artiste like Wizkid performing at your show is advertisement enough, as he has a plethora of fans.
The mere fact that he will be there will make fans purchase the ticket without considering other offerings that the show offers. Lastly, the promoters look for sponsors to help finance the show. Offering multinational companies a chance to advertise their products during the show can serve as revenue generation for such promoters. The shows provide these companies with an opportunity to publicise their products to a large crowd, and as such, they are willing to pay vast amounts of money to get a slot.
The promoters can recoup some of their expenses from the monies paid by these companies. However, they sometimes have to share it with the artiste(s), depending on negotiations and leverage. There are many other things promoters do to ensure the show’s success. They take on a lot of responsibilities and risks, as they are responsible for the planning (every minutiae detail involved) to the promotion and execution of the show. They then have to be hands-on, especially regarding finances, to ensure they are not running at a loss. The success of a show heavily hinges on the promoter’s music and market savvy, negotiation skills and ability to plan.
They are indeed the brains behind the shows.
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THE BRAINS BEHIND THE LIVE SHOWS
