Talent Tip - The See-Saw Rule

Deciding what talent to book for your event involves a number of considerations. You must determine whether the act's performance is to be the primary focus of your event, or if they're simply providing entertainment for a larger production. The popularity of any chosen act must be considered as well, both in terms of their ability to attract an audience and how much they will require in performance fees. Above all, you must consider your intended audience and what will appeal to their tastes. For event producers who rarely work in the music realm, balancing all these considerations can become overwhelming, and our natural inclination to secure the “biggest” act we can afford is all too tempting. After all, instinct and outside observation seems to show that the bigger the act, the larger or happier the audience, therefore the bigger the profit.

What if I were to tell you that you could make a larger profit producing an event with an 1980's metal band (say, Poison), than you could with U2 or the Dave Matthews Band? This is due primarily to what I refer to as the “See-Saw Rule”.

The “See-Saw Rule” states that to achieve the greatest potential profit for your event, you need to strike a careful balance between an artist's ability to draw a crowd, and their required performance fee. If you book someone who's gotten too large and/ or buzz-worthy, then the amount of money you'll need to lay out for their services will reduce your event's profitability. Conversely, if you choose your talent based primarily on price, the chances of securing an act that will draw an audience large enough to turn a profit are reduced as well. Ideally, you should “balance the see-saw” and seek out talent that is popular ENOUGH to draw a good crowd, but still have reasonable performance guarantees. These are usually acts just on the cusp of making it big, acts who have been around the block but are past their peak popularity, and oldies acts who haven't had a hit in years, but still perform fairly regularly and have a dedicated fan base.

This concept explains why you see dozens of classic rock acts on the road every summer. If you're like most people, you undoubtedly chuckle to yourself when you see their show advertisements, and wonder how it is that they're still out after all these years (The Rolling Stones being the obvious exception). From the promoter's perspective, however, it's a sound business decision to book these acts - even though they're (well) passed their prime, the performance fee's they command are usually quite reasonable, and there's still enough audience demand for their act that most events remain profitable. Unlike many high-ticket shows with more “popular” acts, where the promoter often struggles to sell out a show simply to make the artists guarantee.

There are exceptions to the "See Saw Rule". If your research indicates that the food and beverage numbers on an artist's past shows have been spectacular, you can likely afford to pay more for them, as you'd recoup the additional costs through your F&B take. Likewise, If the artist is part of a larger festival with additional revenue opportunities, you have flexibility in either direction, but more opportunity to take creative booking risks.

Finally, if the artist is merely providing entertainment for the event (and their inclusion has little impact on either ticket sales or marketing), reasonable performance fees should be a high priority. Your cash reserves are better spent on items/activities that will have lasting resonance with your audience, not “background noise”.