How Booking-Agent.io Reinvents Gig Booking for Artists and Managers: Say Goodbye to Booking Struggles - Part 1
Trying to book a show at any music venue was always an incredibly difficult task. Recently I discovered a Talent Buyer Search Engine, Booking-Agent.io, which changes everything.
Read part 2 here.

I have had a successful career as a musician. I worked with some of the world's top artists including Rihanna, Lionel Richie, Chris Brown, Nelly Furtado, and the iconic Vernon Reid from Living Colour. When I wasn't playing with superstars I was booking my own gigs with local bands to keep momentum going. This included small bars, pubs, corporate venues, and theatres.
Trying to book a show at any music venue was always an incredibly difficult task. Recently I discovered a Talent Buyer Search Engine, Booking-Agent.io, which changes everything.
The number one problem I encountered as an artist when booking my own tours was trying to get in touch with the Talent Buyer. Sometimes I had gigs booked only to have them canceled at the last minute. On several occasions, this was because the talent buyer who booked the show left their position at the venue. There are lots of databases and directories like Pollstar, IndieOnTheMove, or IndieBible but these are barely updated and often filled with outdated information and contacts. There was simply no way for me to have access to this type of information in real time and in an up-to-date way - until now. I was beyond ecstatic when I stumbled upon a groundbreaking new platform called Booking-Agent.io.
It's one of the best artist booking platforms I have seen for musicians, bands, music managers, and promoters in regard to live music bookings.
Who do I talk to to get my band to perform at a live music venue?
Back in the day, like many independent artists you had to call the venue and ask to speak to the manager. A lot of the time they wouldn't take your call if they didn't know who you were. If you didn't like talking on the phone you could go to the venue's website and send a cold email to a generic contact form or inbox of the venue which wasn't very reliable.
Booking-agent.io has created an incredible solution to this problem by providing an insanely powerful venue and talent buyer software!
This AI-powered tool allows you to log in, target venues based on similar artist touring history, and find the venue you want to perform at. Then it takes it a step further by providing deep data enrichment for those venues complete with a “'Find Contact” button to hunt down each venue's talent buyer! It is that easy.
You will see the talent buyer's contact information displayed for each venue along with a variety of other data such as capacity, social media links to the target venue, and a variety of other contact points like marketing directors or production managers.
Having all of this data in one place, and backed by AI verification, is a revolutionary way to target and contact venues. Gathering all this information for even 1 venue in the past would often take me hours.
I should add that Booking-agent.io isn't a limited database or directory like some of the current offerings on the web. It is a real-time search engine that cross-references, checks, and verifies important details in real time! Like a “Google” or “Bing” for Venue Data and Talent Buyers.
The problem with a database is many details of who is working in a specific position, or their email
address, may only get entered maybe once or twice a year. With one change in staffing these directories become outdated.
AI software and Data tools like BookingAgent.io makes sure you are getting up-to-the-minute 'live' information. This is crucial in case a booking manager quits or a venue changes ownership. If this happens the new bookers email address will become available under the 'find contact info' button.
Below is an actual example of how the “Find Contact Info” button works on Booking-Agent.io to find the venue’s talent buyer specifically:
Can't I just Google the music venue I want to perform at and go to their contact page?
What you have to understand is the talent buyer isn't the person answering generic emails to the venue's contact page or info box. Oftentimes these inboxes are more for support and not monitored as regularly. When people send an email to a club or venue it's usually patrons who left their jacket there the night before or people who inquire about other small matters.
A talent buyer's job is booking shows and locking in talent. I can tell you from years of experience how much time I wasted contacting the wrong person at the club who couldn't help me or delayed the booking process. The other problem is if your email address is personal and not a business email; it may go straight to the spam folder.
Booking-agent.io's 'Find contact info for this venue' function saves incredible amounts of time! You can spend hours trying to locate the details of a talent buyer for a venue through Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. (Booking-agent.io also has social media links for the talent buyer!)
This button also runs a cross-check that will provide an email-validity score so you can be confident you are reaching out to an active email inbox that won't bounce back! In the screenshot above, you can see an email score of 92 which indicates this is an active inbo,x, and be confident your email will be received.
If you were trying to put together a 10-date tour for your band, this time spent searching for the right contacts compounds. Not to mention the frustration of not getting to the right person. This new BookingAgent IO system will allow you to spend more time creating music, rehearsing, and promoting with the band as opposed to trying to track down the best venues and most current talent buyer or booker for your next show/tour.
Can't I just hire an actual booking agent to book gigs for me?
That's not really how booking agents work and there are 2 massive additional downsides to this.
From my 20 years of working in the music industry, I noticed the pros and cons of having an actual booking agent represent you. First of all, they won't even look at you unless you have a lot of notoriety or a massive following on social media. Booking agents do not take risks on artists or bands who have a limited touring history and can’t prove appeal with social media hype.
Secondly, their commission can be from 15% up to 30%! For a developing artist or even someone with significant traction - this can be a huge cut of revenue. Let's look at these figures so you can truly understand how much money you will be giving up.
Let's say you have a 4 piece band and a booking agent gets you a gig in a small club that pays your band $800. The booking agent will make a commission of $240! Let's say they book you for 10 shows over 2 months. Your band will lose over 2.5k! Booking-agent.io has a small monthly subscription fee that you will easily recoup after your first booked gig! It's not hard to see that this DIY system is the future. It empowers you as a manager, artist, or band to keep more of the hard-earned money in your pocket!
The other downside of having a booking agency represent you is you are at their mercy of what gigs you get and how many. In the past, I noticed that booking agents spend more time trying to have artists with more fame booked simply because they make a higher commission. You may make it to their roster, but you will certainly not be their priority. They are going to save their best contacts, who you could have reached out to yourself, for their biggest clients.
Another reason this is a huge roadblock for artists starting out is because if they have signed exclusively with the booking agent they can't do live shows unless it's secured through the booking agent! These exclusivity agreements are another great reason to apply a do-it-yourself approach to booking gigs using tools like Booking-Agent.io
Booking-agent.io empowers independent artists. If you are serious about having a career as an artist, and can easily book your own shows, there is very little holding you back. Back in the day, there were lots of gatekeepers in the music industry who determined who could play what venue. Booking-agent.io has leveled the playing field for musicians all over the world.
I wish this technology was around years ago when I was booking lots of shows in live music venues. I have seen similar sites but none that have AI making sure all details are up to date of people you need to contact.
In my next article, I will talk about how Booking-agent.io can help you select the right venue for your band to perform. Also, other functions and features of this game-changing software have to do with location and where you book your shows.
If you haven’t yet, please check out Booking-Agent.io right away as it is a revolutionary approach when it comes to finding venues and talent buyers to book shows for artists.
Read part 2 here.

About Magesh Magesh
Magesh is a musician and producer who has worked with Rihanna, Lionel Richie, Ricky Martin, Chris Brown, The Pussy Cat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, and Vernon Reid of Living Colour.
He released an instructional drumming DVD called "Unique Beats" where he mixed the drum kit with electronics and Indian hand percussion. He recently moved from Australia to the UK to explore new musical opportunities.
Website: mageshdrumteacher.co.uk
Contact Magesh Magesh at magesh.magesh7@gmail.com
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