A Booking Agency Platform Built for Live Music
The modern booking agent is expected to know their way around technology. Some of the top skills required for booking agents include proficiency in email communication and design, virtual client engagement, maintaining the company website, managing media, including social media, outreach, and coordinating travel arrangements. Managing these various tasks for a broad roster can be difficult without an efficient and versatile booking agency platform.
When you’re doing everything manually, it’s easy for little details to slip through the cracks. A booking agency platform automates some of the processes and ensures that everything you need stays in one place. Switching to powerful software makes your job easier for less effort.
The biggest problem that many booking agents face is that there are slim pickings when it comes to systems specifically designed for the live music industry.
Read on to understand why you need a booking agency platform and what you should be looking for in the platform.
Why Do You Need a Booking Agency Platform?
Well, you could keep doing your job the way you’ve always done it. But how often does it feel like you’re wasting your time by doing all the processes manually? Have you ever been frustrated searching through emails to find a specific thread? Have you been out with a potential client and noted something down only to lose it later?
A booking agency platform solves problems. These elite systems harness the best aspects of technology to make the booking process as seamless as possible. The best booking platforms are cloud-based, so you can access essential company information wherever you are in an increasingly virtual world.
Utilizing software helps you create and distribute documents using branded templates. You’ll have more time in your day while achieving more during work hours. And you can say goodbye to manual data entry in an Excel sheet.
So you don’t technically need a booking agency platform to run your business, but just think about how much you can accomplish if you have one.
Choosing the Best Booking Agency Platform
First and foremost, any booking agency platform you use should be tailored to accommodate live music events. Numerous event planning software options are available in the market, but many are too generalized or crafted for other industries. As a booking agent, you want your software to work for you, not make things more difficult.
The right booking agency platform for you will help you spend less time on the inefficiencies of the processes and more time on things that actually need your attention.
Let’s take a look at some of the key features you should have in a booking agency platform.
Manage Offers
An elite booking agency platform will make it easy for you and your team to manage offers from venues and promoters. There can be a lot of redundancies when it comes to gathering offers, and the right platform will streamline the process, so your entire team is on the same page.
A top-of-the-line platform will enable you to create and send out complete, professional, branded offers in less than a minute. And you should be able to control which expenses are visible in your offer while monitoring your internal budget. This helps you stay on track by estimating revenue, profit, and break-even in real-time.
Shop for a platform that keeps everything in one place and has the potential to sync offers received via email automatically into your system. Say goodbye to errors in deals or calculations.
Related: 9 Benefits of Artist Booking Agency Software
Create Contracts
Not only should a booking agency platform be good for creating contracts, but it should enable you to draft and deliver contracts on the go. Your system should have the option for various templates so you can craft an airtight contract in minutes, whether you’re on a desktop or mobile device.
Once your contracts are signed, your booking platform can keep them filed so you can easily access them at a moment’s notice. Digitizing everything saves you from having to dig through that rusty old filing cabinet in the corner.
Curate Artist Information
Since you only get paid when the artists you represent get paid, you want to have a pretty packed roster. But the more artists you represent, the harder it can be to keep track of everyone. Your booking agency platform should be a tool that helps you curate artist information, so you never forget a single detail regarding an artist’s career.
With offers, contracts, and offer details all in one place, you’ll have a complete profile of every artist on your roster and be ready to help them succeed in any way you can.
Manage Artist Bookings
From hold to contract to settlement, an elite booking agency software will automate the booking process through cloud-based, cutting-edge technology. With a streamlined option for managing artist bookings, you can pull up information when you need it, whenever you need it.
The best systems will let you work right from your roster, so you can complete more in less time. With a couple of clicks, you can add events, contract with the artist, look at deal types, check guarantees and deposit amounts, look at commissions, and stay on top of due dates.
Additionally, the right system will eliminate menial tasks that traditionally require manual entry, automating processes like ticket counts and expense reports.
Keep Track of Every Little Detail
Integration is one of the most critical factors in a booking agency platform. Being able to quickly and safely store and access information while keeping all of your data in one place makes your job easier and efficient. The right system will help you in all these tasks, so you never have to worry about redundancies, errors, or lost files.
As a booking agent, you have to keep track of numerous fine details for each artist. Having everything in disjointed systems forces you to play connect-the-dots. But with a booking agency platform built specifically for live music, you’ll have all your data in one place, including:
· Your Artist Roster: manage and track the artists you represent, disburse payments, manage announcements, keep your contact list up-to-date
· Agency Accounting: track commission payments, billing, deposits, settlements, invoices, and receipts
· Event Information: track ticketing, schedule and disburse artist documents to promoters and venues, create branded templates for riders, tax forms, and invoices
· Advanced Analytics: review overall tour and venue analytics, gather information about artists, manage venue capacities, and store historical data that’s relevant to future bookings
Related: Music Booking Agent Software: Managing Your Roster’s Calendar
For Live Music Professionals By Live Music Professionals
The best way to guarantee that the booking agency platform you use comes with intuitive features that help you streamline processes is to see who built it. If the system wasn’t built with any input from people who have worked in the live music industry, then it’s not the right system for you.
The music industry is unique and highly specific, and no one knows this better than booking agents. Booking agents’ main job is to create stellar events that connect today’s talent with their fans, and that’s the job they want to do. Manual processes and paperwork are a massive waste of time that you will never get it back. That’s why you need a booking agency platform that was designed by people who legitimately understand our industry.
Prism’s Booking Agency Platform
Prism offers an end-to-end booking platform that helps booking agents focus on facilitating incredible opportunities for their artists. The system has all of these features and more, and you won’t believe how you ever survived without Prism before now. Get started with Prism today.