CONCERT MANAGEMENT MANUAL
What were my responsibilities for the decade that I was in the concert business?
A highly recommended read for concert promoters and event planners
While owner of the concert management and touring companies, Northwest Releasing Corporation (Seattle) and Garrett Attractions (Minneapolis) my responsibilities were as follows:
Research touring name artists and attractions that would be most likely to generate robust ticket sales. Determine which shows will be moneymakers.
Negotiate favorable contracts with the agents and managers of touring attractions that we choose to present in concert.
Balance the availability of open dates in our primary theatres – the Seattle Opera House, Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, B. C. and New Auditorium in Portland, or coliseums and arenas as necessary - that match up with the future availability of attractions with whom we were negotiating. Take a long look at competitive events in all markets under consideration.
Negotiate agreements with concert venues so that, wherever possible, we would secure a flat rental, as opposed to a percentage deal when leasing the venues.
Find one or more high-profile sponsors and use their store chain to sell tickets, display signage and shelf-talkers. Access their marketing budgets and give them credit in/on all the show advertising and collateral.
Do comprehensive budgets to include talent, theatre staff, ushers, stagehands, ticket sales, transportation, sound, lighting, advertising and marketing for each city and the tours over-all. Calculate and project outcomes as a result of best guess projected gross ticket sales.
Use best efforts to calculate the break-even points and probability of profits in all markets before signing artist’s contracts and agreements with the venues. This was always a tough row to hoe, a balancing act against the clock.
Hire musicians, stage crews and lighting personnel as needed. Schedule rehearsals. Contracts and written agreements were required for most of this.
Arrange for special lighting, extra-super-troopers and custom stage configurations as specified in the artist’s rider.
Rent pianos, organs, and, as above, special lighting and/or sound equipment as needed. We routinely engaged trusted sub-contractors that specialized in providing the sound and lighting.
Rent limousines, busses, or other conveyances as needed. And, of course, meet the artists or attractions when they first arrive in town.
If it was “your show” you would, in most cases, stay on the road with the attractions until the end of the tour,; and, it would be your job to attend to all of the details on this list.
Schedule a sound and light check with the artists and their road managers to verify and balance all the equipment.
Early on order all advertising collateral such as heralds (flyers), shelf talkers, window cards, three sheets and banners. Oversee the timely distribution of same.
Oversee the production of, and co-ordinate in all markets, radio/TV commercials and print ads. When necessary customize advertising copy to accommodate custom sponsorship agreements in all cities on the tour.
Schedule security personnel. In most cases we used off-duty policemen and college football players.
Hire people to carry out the distribution of all advertising collateral. We had long-time reliable people in all our markets who specialized in this work.
Provide refreshments as specified in the artists’ rider. When called for clean and/or decorate green rooms and dressing rooms.
Prepare and distribute weekly a series of press releases from four to eight weeks prior to each event.
Distribute comp tickets to company insiders, VIP's, sponsors, media people and others on our VIP list . Carefully document this activity.
For the beginning or end of a Broadway show season consider orchestrating an opening night gala. I did this on the top floor of the Camlin hotel for Garrett Attraction's Big Band Series in the Paramount Theatre.
For extended runs of Broadway shows and other select attractions - and depending on projected ticket sales - paper the house on opening night to maximize word of mouth. Give special attention to seating for print reviewers and dignitaries such as Senators, the Governor, Mayor and so on.
If workable, arrange for radio, TV and/or print interviews with artists when they first get to town; and, when possible, do “phoners" before they get to town.
When there was enough lead-time, we would look for large corporate sponsors for NRC concerts and our series of shows in general. A television or radio station was often the first choice, but other corporate sponsors such as banks or grocery store chains – businesses that have a lot of street-side outlets and traffic – could be valuable partners as well. I negotiated sponsorship agreements with First Bank, Safeway stores, and others in my day.
It was always best efforts to trade unsold tickets for advertising credits; especially opening night tickets for extended runs in the theatres. The media companies could then use the tickets for contests, giveaways, advertiser incentives, and to show appreciation for their employees and customers.
Get it all in writing. Cover your back side in every way possible.
This laundry list of activity brings to mind many small details that aren't mentioned, here. As you can see there were diverse spectrums of research and decision-making connected to management of extended tours for big name artists and concert attractions. It’s a detail intensive scary high profit business with little margin for error. Get it wrong too many times and you'd be penniless, just another has been who briefly experienced the thrills of Show Business.