Players: Agent role

- We've talked about how the manager and agent work closely together to book a tour, but there's an important distinction to make between the manager and the agent's role. A manager's job is to oversee the whole of an artist's career, but that does not include seeking employment for the artist. It's the agent's job to actually find paying gigs when it comes to the live touring business. A manager can approve dates, but they can't book 'em. The agent is the one that issues the contract for every gig. The agent typically collects a deposit from each promoter before a date is confirmed. An agent or agency deposits that money into an escrow account where it stays until all those dates have played. The agent is the main point of contact between that manager and the promoters on just about every issue relating to a specific show. Negotiating the artist guarantee is only part of that agent's job. When an artist is supporting a headliner, that agent will negotiate things like the size of…