Musicians are from Mars; Agents are from YourAnus

Perhaps one of the most hotly contested issues regarding working as a full-time musician or more importantly transitioning into full-time work as a musician is whether or not you should use the services of an agency.

The pros and cons of using an agency are numerous. I will attempt to outline what many of my colleagues and I believe to be the greatest advantages and disadvantages of using an agency.

The Pros:

1. Reputation. If you are a relative newcomer on the pro music scene or you are trying to make inroads you will need to have some type of reputation as a performer. Being on the books of a highly-respected agency can give you some much needed credibility that you would otherwise possibly have a high degree of difficulty developing on your own.

2. Exposure. A good agency will often have a long list of clients with whom they are in constant contact. This is good for you as it means there is a higher probability that clients will see your promotional material.

3. Legal protection. Although most agencies try to minimise their legal exposure they can be an important source of assistance and they can act as mediators should something untoward happen during the course of your contract.

4. Support. An agency has a vested interest in supporting you. However, they also have a vested interest in supporting the client too. They can sit on the fence and assess their options as to whom it is in their best interests to support. In saying that, an agency is often capable (but not always willing) of exerting a considerable amount of influence on difficult-to-deal-with musicians or clients should any issues arise.

5. Paperwork. Agencies are often well-versed in contracts, organizing international visas, and a multitude of other important jobs that are necessary to gaining employment. Tackling all of this can be a Herculean task even if you have done it many times. A good agency can lift a large amount of work of this nature from your shoulders.

The Cons:

1. Cost. Nothing causes a musician more anguish, despair, and torment than an agents' fee. Period.

2. Loss of Pride. Many musicians believe that using an agent is an abomination in the eyes of whichever deity you believe in.

3. The Unknown Factor. Some agencies are very non-transparent about what they can offer you as a musician.

Lets move on to discussing the pros and cons in greater detail in juxtaposition with freelancing. The following are real life examples gathered from many years spent freelancing and working with agencies.

The Pros:

1. Reputation. If you are trying to move into unchartered territory and you have no contacts in that territory you will probably need the services of an agency that has market share in that geographical location. Why? Because unless you are already super famous or you have friends in the area that can vouch for your prowess to prospective clients you will lack credibility and reputation in that area. Therefore, you need to borrow someones...namely, an agencies reputation.

I recently had a guy contact me on Facebook. He told me that he had been cold calling* some hotels and musicians in the Middle East looking for work and hadn't received a single response. He wondered what was going wrong. I told him that without an established reputation it would be very difficult for him to find work in that manner. He's a great musician. He will get work...but probably not that way.

* Cold calling- contacting people or companies that you don't know personally. It can work and has worked for me in the past but you need to be prepared and have a great press kit to stack the odds in your favor. And hope that your email gets past their spam box!

2. Exposure. If you are the greatest cowbell player on Mars and no one hears or views your Kung Fu Panda 'awesomeness' you will retain your title of "The Greatest and Most Jobless Cowbellist on Mars" for a long, long time.
An agency can expose you to many clients in a short time. Not all clients will be interested in your service for various reasons, but rest assured, if your promotional material is good enough, and your agent has guided you in how and what to present in your press kit, you should be counting the $$ soon enough.

True story. Once upon a time I needed to organize work as my contract was coming to an end. I contacted agencies and friends all over Asia and the Middle East. About three weeks later I had offers rolling in from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, to Macau, to Mainland China. Those friends and agencies gave me exposure in those locations which I could not have done by myself.

3. Legal Protection. Most decent agencies are legal entities that are operating using corporate rules (usually an LLC) and regulations that are governed by the country out of which they are operating. As such they have Limited Legal Liability. Most musicians on the other hand operate as sole proprietors with unlimited legal liability. I will explain this in greater detail in a future blog. I had hoped to find a link to a decent explanation and post it here but I couldn't find a comprehensive enough one. So stay tuned!
A musician should seek professional advice from an outside legal advisor if unsure of anything in the contract. I have heard some nasty stories of some terrible agencies in China, but apart from that I have not really had any major legal issues during my years on the road.

4. Support. Everyone needs support. In my experience it is always nice to have a big gun that you can pull out of YourAnus in times of need. When you are in the GM's office trying to explain why the revenue in the club has taken a beating since your band arrived you will want to know that someone can share and bear a bit of the brunt. An agent can be your 'go to guy' in situations where you feel that maybe you or your group are being unfairly blamed or accused of something.* They may or may not be able to assist you or be sympathetic to your plight but there is certainly no harm in enlisting their aid if it is there.

* Contrary to what you may think owners and managers of the clubs and bars that you play in jump for joy not from seeing thousands of groupies swarming your room after the gig, or the lads in the crowd bowing and yeeeharing to you as your sing the final stanza of the deadliest version of Sweet Home Alabama that they've ever heard. It is an increase in revenue that will engender the warmest of handshakes, congratulatory slaps on the back, and free rounds of drinks for the band if you're lucky. However, should those revenues drop the blame will probably be put on the band too. It's just the way it is. Learn to take the good with the bad.

5. Paperwork. Work like this always involves a paper trail. For those of you that don't know, a huge amount of work is involved in drawing up documentation, faxing, scanning, photocopying, messaging, calling to complete a contract. A good agent will do most of this and allow you to focus on what you do best.

The Cons:

Here is an old legend passed down from Daddy n Mommy musicians to their budding little musician babies on Mars:

Little Martian:   "Daddy, what's an agent?"
Daddy Martian: "They are evil, foul-smelling creatures, venturing forth from YourAnus or
                            SomeoneElsesAnus.
                            The are parasitic leeches that suck the very life essence
                            from Musical Martians. They will watch you toil onstage only to swoop down and
                            reap that which you have sown with your blood, sweat and little Martian tears.          
                            Leaving a fetid stench of corruption in the air, a skeletal husk for a bank balance, and        
                            much gnashing and grinding of your tiny Martian teeth."
Little Martian:     "Daddy I don't want to never ever see an agent"
Mommy Martian: "No dear, you don't and I pray, yes I pray that you never will."

On a more serious note, musicians' number one complaint about agents is the agents fee or commission.

1. Cost. Wherever you travel in the musical solar system you will hear the screams and lamentations of musicians who believe with more conviction than Medieval peasants believed in the 'Flat Mars theory' that their agent is earning more than they are or ripping them off, and yet the I (the musician) am the one pounding the beat every night.

Here is my solar systemly advice:

"If you don't like what they are charging don't work with them". It's pretty simple really. As long as they are upfront about their commission and don't change it through the course of the contract and honor their contractual obligations all should be good right?

Wrong!

This is what usually happens during the course of your relationship with your agent.

• The agent gets you a contract. You agree to it and sign, so does the agency and the client.
• You start to work
• A bit later you start to resent your agent because you never see or hear from them anymore
• You forget that most of their work has been done
• You forget that if it wasn't for them you may well be earning ZERO Martian $
• You forget that it was you that agreed to all the terms (otherwise you wouldn't be there unless you were an alien abductee right?)
• You don't forget to tell the story of the evil and foul-smelling agent creatures of YourAnus to anyone that will lend a sympathetic ear to your plight

I have done all of the above on a couple of occasions. I have since grown up and manned up. It is true that agents take a commission. The size of their commission is up to you. Never forget that all things are negotiable. As I said 'If you don't like it negotiate a better deal or move on'. No one is holding a gun to your head.

Another scenario that pops up from time to time is this:

You find out that your agents' commission is almost as much as your salary!

True story. A DJ friend of mine once told me that his agent was taking a 40% commission. Astonished, I almost stopped drinking my beer...almost. But he didn't care!  The reality was that he was still happy with his pay. He said that if it wasn't for his agent he would be back in his home country and instead of asking people if they wanted him to play a particular song he'd be asking people if they wanted to "upsize or have fries with that..."

Problems can arise if the agent is playing both sides of the field i.e. Charging the hotel a high fee for you and giving you much less. Many hotels do not like that situation at all because it usually means a lot of complaints from the musicians themselves and the feeling that they could have acquired your services for much less. That situation is just bad all round and sadly it does happen.

Most of us want to earn a little more and an agent is no different. If you agree to the terms of a contract don't run home and cry to your mom if you don't like it. Try to be sensible and mature about it. Wait until the contract finishes and then renegotiate the terms. If you are a good musician an agent will want to keep you on their books and you may be able to get a better deal. Better still is the scenario where an agent can charge a higher price to the clients without adjusting their commission. In that way you and your agent will be better off and if you are that good, the client will reap the reward of having paid a bit more to secure your services.

If you team up with an excellent agency the relationship can be a symbiotic one. A long-term business relationship can be nurtured with the vision that you and your agency want the best for each other and for the client.

2. Loss of pride. There is a certain air of superiority held by some musicians that find their own gigs and organize all of their own work. I have found my own work and it certainly bolsters your self-belief and self-confidence, and I was proud to have done so. It can also be a very time-consuming, heartbreaking, and arduous path to walk. As I said above the choice is yours. Check your pride at the door. There are plenty of others ways to be proud.

3. The Unknown Factor. This causes a lot of angst and has been the ruination of more relationships than adultery.

I have heard some horror stories regarding the outright corruption, sculduggery, and deceptive actions of some agencies and I know it to be true. Stories of musicians being paid less that what was agreed in the contract, or worse- not at all. No support from the agency when clients don't honor their contractual obligations- unfortunately the list goes on and on and on and on...

A contract is just a piece of paper. It can be a powerful document if used correctly and perhaps more importantly- if it can be enforced.

Most musicians do not have degrees in International Contract law and even if they did it would be a nightmare to have to take any matter to court due to the nature of working as an international musician. Often we move to several different countries in a year. I have played in four different countries in 2012 alone and I know musicians that play in many more countries than that in the same time frames. To be well-versed in the laws and languages of so many countries is not impossible but it does lie in the realms of 'probably impossible'. 

Therefore we throw caution to the wind and recklessly sign up with agencies in foreign countries and for the most part its usually awesome but not always.

My advice is to try to do your research about an agency. I have stated in a previous article that you need to become your own 'Sherlock Holmes'. Investigate, ask other musicians that have worked for them, discuss the contract in detail, negotiate. be patient. Adopt a flexible attitude and shop around just like you would for an instrument or a car.

Summary:

In closing, remember that freelancing is possible but not necessarily more cost-effective for you. Freelancing can give you a great feeling of accomplishment and liberty, so too can working with an agency. The feeling I get from winning a contract is the same whether I won it freelancing or through an agency.

Some people will tell you that you don't need an agent and they would be right. What they often forget to tell you though is that although you can remove the agent from the equation you cannot remove the function that they perform. So if you decide to freelance, you or someone will have to do all the work that the agency usually does. That is worth remembering. Assess and recognize your abilities and know your limits. If you think that you can do all that an agency can do then freelance and may the force be with you. 

Anyway that's all from me today folks.

My next article will be about contracts and negotiating. Stay in tune!