We see and hear horror stories from fraternities and colleges all over the country that have been scammed/ripped off by fraudulent booking agents. It is much safer to go through a reputable, legitimate booking agency instead of trying to direct book an artist directly. In many cases, the information on their social media isn’t up to date and you can easily be wiring money to someone who doesn’t actually even work with the act anymore. Before booking an artist, check their website for references. Do they announce a show, have flyers behind it, and then have follow up pictures and videos from the show with references from clients? If the answer is no, you likely are being scammed. It is absolutely worth paying the extra 10% booking fee to ensure an artists shows up, performs a full set (at least 60 minutes) and that all the terms of the contract are followed.
Be sure to read this story. This exact “talent agency” Global Talent ripped off a guy in Knoxville last Fall. He wired them several thousand dollars.
A couple of quick examples.
* We saw one inexperienced promoter pay Gucci Mane $100,000 plus travel expenses for him to do a ‘walk through” and they sold tickets to 3,000 people promoting it as a “full concert”. As a result, you had 3,000 irate, pissed off concert goers who paid $40 per ticket to see a 15 minute performance.
*Inexperienced promoter in Memphis wired a fake agency in Ohio $30,000 to book a Mac Miller date. Turns out, Mac wasn’t booked at all to perform. The promoter was never able to get their money back.
At Hutch Entertainment, we book acts such as Migos, Two Chainz, Juicy J, BoneThugsandHarmony, Ying Yang Twins, A$Ap Ferg, Lil Wayne, Chief Keef, A Tribe Called Quest, Boozie BadAzz, Post Malone, Rick Ross, and many more that give full performances of at least 60 minutes. We don’t do “walk throughs”. We have a twenty five year track record of buying artists for fairs, festivals, corporate events, night clubs, and colleges (for fairs and festivals). We LOVE what we do and want to give our customers experiences they won’t forget.
We send a representative out to every booking to ensure everything runs smoothly from the time we confirm your artist through their performance to make sure your event goes off perfectly! Please be responsible and careful on who you work with! We would love the opportunity to earn your business so shoot us a message!
https://www.spin.com/featured/how-to-get-ripped-off-while-trying-to-book-your-favorite-rapper/