How to Become a Promoter in the Music Industry

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Athena Reich, and I'm an actress singer-songwriter, and performing arts coach here in New York City. You can become a music promoter by many different avenues. Do you want to become a music promoter associated with a specific event? Do you want to, perhaps, promote a monthly music series? In that case, you should definitely network with local venues -- a bar, a club, a cafe -- some music venue in your town. Get to know different owners, and get to know musical artists. Or maybe you want to be a music promoter in the sense of promoting a specific musician. In that...in that sense, if that's what you want to do, then you should definitely do all the research you can to research all different kinds of artists, independent artists, and see which ones you really connect with and really believe in. Now, no matter which avenue you choose, being a concert promoter or a specific artist promoter, if you're going to promote music in the industry, your job is to network. You need to network with venues, you need to network with artists, you need to network with the press. That means magazines, newspapers, TV, radio. You need to go out to music events and talk to everybody that you meet. Ask them how they got started. If you're...and you may be asking yourself, "Well, how do I make money in all of this?" Very good question, very tricky question. If you want to become a concert promoter, you're going to make money by a cover -- charging 5 dollars to get in, or a percentage of the bar. If you're working with an artist, they may pay you a small fee or you may make a percentage based on certain sales. You can basically...there are no rules. You can do whatever you want, but basically, network, network, network."