o Territory
When you are a new act, it may be difficult to give an agent less than worldwide rights. However, as you move up the ladder you can sometimes exclude territories outside the United States. This is often beneficial, because you can use agents in Europe or elsewhere who are skilled in those markets. In fact, many U.S. agents often employ a local subagent for foreign territories and you can thus eliminate the middleman. On the other hand, the U.S. agent doesn't just sit idly by while a subagent does the work. The agent oversees the foreign agent and makes sure the shows are properly promoted, that you get paid on time, etc. (Please note that-at any time and level-you might want to reserve the right to book local shows yourselves.)
o Fee
Agent's services are primarily to book concerts and they are only paid for the area where they render services. So never give your agent a piece of your income from records, songwriting, or publishing. Usually agents don't even ask for this, but be careful of union forms. Agents are regulated by unions; such as the American Federation of Musicians and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The maximum these unions allow them to charge is 10%. The AFM and AFTRA printed forms have a place for you to initial if the agency commissions your earnings from records. Watch out for it and never do this.
o Termination
Each of these agreements has a clause saying you can terminate if the agent doesn't get you work for ninety days.
o Roster
You want to make sure that the bands on the agent's roster play the same type of music you do. You ensure that the agent will book you into clubs that are appropriate for your music and you'll be saved from embarrassing experiences. Also, make sure that the agent does not have too many bands on his roster. If there are more than six to eight bands on your agent's roster, your band will probably not get enough attention.
o Personality
An agent should be genuinely enthusiastic about you and your music; a persistent person who fights for his clients. Remember, you don't necessarily have to like your agent's personality!
Check out the Pollstar Agencies Directory or the Recording Industry Source Book to research more agents.
o A good habit for young acts is to have a member of the band's team count the ticket stubs collected at the door. This is a fairly common task that assures you of getting a correct count of the number of patrons who came to the show. More established artists who are dealing with booking agents can demand as much as 50% of their performance fee up front, before they perform. Even more established acts can demand their whole fee before they perform.
Do's and Don't's for Dealing with Booking Issues:
Do's:
o Research the venues you think are appropriate for your music. Read the local music papers and magazines and check out the venues in person.
o Network or talk to other artists that have a similar style and ask them where they have played.
o Put together eye-catching and creatively designed press kits. Always make sure that your contact number is on your CD or cassette J-card and labels.
o Doing the mailings and making the follow-up phone calls can be tedious. If you've got more than one person in your group willing to help with booking, split up the grunt work for follow-up calls.
o Write up a general cover letter to include with your press kit that answers some additional questions a booking agent will want to know; your style of music, what your draw is and whether you are looking for an opening spot or a headlining spot. What kind of guarantee or terms are you willing to accept, and most importantly what are you going to do to help promote your show. Will you send out mailers to your mailing list, put up posters, handbills, and buy any media print ads?
o Send press kits out well in advance. Most venues want two to three weeks time to review your music before they will even talk about booking you.
o Always plan your bookings well in advance. Booking agents usually have their calendars full by the fifteenth for the next upcoming month. Also, touring acts will put "holds" on club calendars for two to three months in advance.
o When doing follow-up calls always have your calendar in front of you. Most of the time you'll be leaving messages on answering machines. Make notes of your phone calls and messages. When leaving messages be friendly and brief. These guys get hundreds of calls per week. State specifically what you're looking for.
o Know that the bookers will be calling you only if you bring in crowds and the venue makes lots of money selling booze and other refreshments.
o Don't give up. If your music is as good as you claim it is, and your audience continues to grow, that is the best news you can give any booker.
o Calling back to a venue about once every two weeks is plenty and shows your interest and professionalism.
o After you get the details, write a letter to the venue (or fill out a contract) summarizing the details.
o Start planning your own promotions early. Get posters up in the venue and elsewhere a couple of weeks before the show.
o Get handbills distributed around the town. Hit your mailing list the week before. Call and remind your fans, and be sure to use the internet to promote your shows and send email reminders to your email list.
o Network. Find other bands who are compatible with your music and trade shows with them.
o Be patient about getting the hot gigs. It takes time to get those headline gigs on Saturday night. You will usually start out with a weeknight gig and work your way up to the headliner position if you draw large crowds.
o Send thank you cards to the bookers after your first show, and after all significant shows thereafter.
Don't's:
o Don't overbook yourself in the same area and spread your audience too thin. Move around. Three or four shows a month is plenty in one city when you're getting started.
o Spread out slowly to other areas around your hometown. Then define your region, and work that circuit.
o Don't burn any bridges. You may encounter some conniving people in this business, but watch out what you say about anyone. It could come back to haunt you.
o Remember the venue's priorities - to get a lot of people into their venue so they will make lots of money selling alcohol and food.
The business of live music is a world unto itself. The tips I've given here are a basic introduction. Marketing, for an independent artist or label, means taking advantage of any and all opportunities to reach a potential fan. I see live performance as a very special chance for recording artists to interact directly with their customers. I encourage you to learn more about what's involved in live performance. 
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