Booking & Tour Management for the Performing Arts

Rating:
Summary: Don't mistake this for a commercial music biz book.
Review: If you're handling tours for theater groups, dance troupes, folk singers doing the NACA circuit or classical musicians you'll find everything you need in this book.

If you're in a band playing clubs this isn't the book for you. Don't expect to find any advice on dealing with club owners or doing in-stores here. I've seen local rock bands buy this book thinking that it was going to give them tips for doing a club tour because they misunderstood the term 'Performing Arts'.

I would, however, recommend the book to anyone that's interested in becoming a tour manager for bands or is just getting started as one. There's some very useful information that you can adapt to the commercial music biz.

Rating:
Summary: How to arrange everything from transport to payday schedules
Review: Rena Shagan's Booking & Tour Management For The Performing Arts tells how to turn a booking into a tour, how to set up the budgets and target prospects, and how to arrange everything from transport to payday schedules. Chapters on what presenters need from artists make the essential link between artist and businessman.

Rating:
Summary: How to arrange everything from transport to payday schedules
Review: Rena Shagan's Booking & Tour Management For The Performing Arts tells how to turn a booking into a tour, how to set up the budgets and target prospects, and how to arrange everything from transport to payday schedules. Chapters on what presenters need from artists make the essential link between artist and businessman.

Rating:
Summary: A terrific resource for the touring classical musician
Review: This is the only book I've found that addresses the questions of management, booking, publicity, contract negotiation, budgeting, and market trends for those of us working in classical music. It's extremely helpful, clearly written, and comprehensive. What a relief to get answers to these questions without having to wade through lots of irrelevent stuff about club dates and laser light shows! For once, the tone is right, the resources cited are appropriate, and the timetables are tailored to the classical music marketplace. The author, a former dancer, spends quite a lot of her time addressing the concerns of touring dance companies, but there's plenty of information for chamber musicians, theater companies, touring recitalists, and instrumental and vocal soloists seeking engagements with orchestras or opera companies. Now, if there were only a book like this that focused entirely on the details of creating promotional materials...

Rating:
Summary: A terrific resource for the touring classical musician
Review: This is the only book I've found that addresses the questions of management, booking, publicity, contract negotiation, budgeting, and market trends for those of us working in classical music. It's extremely helpful, clearly written, and comprehensive. What a relief to get answers to these questions without having to wade through lots of irrelevent stuff about club dates and laser light shows! For once, the tone is right, the resources cited are appropriate, and the timetables are tailored to the classical music marketplace. The author, a former dancer, spends quite a lot of her time addressing the concerns of touring dance companies, but there's plenty of information for chamber musicians, theater companies, touring recitalists, and instrumental and vocal soloists seeking engagements with orchestras or opera companies. Now, if there were only a book like this that focused entirely on the details of creating promotional materials...