Q: What music do you deal with?
A: ‘Good music’ is the short answer, but in reality there are many different types of music that we deal with. The majority of the roster consists of original singer songwriters from America and Canada. We have been associated with the ‘Americana’ label for many years now, but we also work with some British and Irish acts ranging from Martin Stephenson to The Frank and Walters. We are happy to consider all genres of music and welcome acts that aren’t necessarily ‘Americana’.
Q: Do you work outside of music?
A: Currently no, but you never know what will happen in the future. We may well decide to branch into comedy, circus, magic, theatre and art, but at the moment our main focus is music – specifically live original music.
Q: Would you prefer us sending you a link to our MySpace site or should we send you a CD?
A: Please in any instance send us a link to your MySpace site. We do, however, prefer listening to music on CD format or on my iPod. We’d prefer not to receive MP3s via e-mail as it can clog up our e-mail system, especially if we are away on business. If you genuinely think we will like your CD, please send us a CD.
Q: Will you listen to a CD if we send it?
A: Yes. We can’t guarantee it will be immediately, so we advise you to follow up 2-3 weeks after sending it to make sure we have got it OK. The Royal Mail isn’t totally reliable (as we all know) and follow up is very important, anyhow. That to us is often a prompt to listen to your CD, if we haven’t done so already. Feel free to send printed reviews and biographical material with the CD. If we end up representing you, we will be using this material anyhow.
Q: Do I need to be signed to a record company?
A: Not necessarily, but it helps especially if the record company is UK based or has UK distribution through a recognised distributor.
Q: Which territories do you book?
A: Primarily the UK and Ireland, but for certain acts we work overseas in Europe and further afield.
Q: Do you just book gigs and tours?
A: No. We book festivals, private parties and House Concerts as well. We booked 35 festival appearances for clients this summer alone, including Glastonbury, The Midlands Festival, GuilFest, The Green Man, The Larmer Tree Festival, The Big Session and Summer Sundae to name just a few.
Q: Do you book support gigs?
A: No. We avoid taking on clients who only require support gigs, as it takes up too much time and we don't make any money doing so.
Q: What are your charges?
A: Once we agree to become your agent, there is an upfront starter fee of £200 per tour, or per release (a release might involve more than one tour). This is non-refundable charge which part covers our expenses of booking a tour. On top of this we charge agency commission and this rate is negotiable, and the £200 starter fee is offset against agency commission. For example, if agency commission at the end of the tour is £350 then we will be owed £150. If it is £150 then we shall retain the full £200, and so on. Certain individuals have abused our good nature and put our business at serious risk in recent months forcing us to introduce this charge. Please feel free to contact us directly about this.
Q: Do you issue contracts with artists as well as with venues?
A: We do issue contracts to venues, festivals and people who are hosting private parties and House Concerts. We do issue contracts to artists, but every artist is different and we treat everybody differently. That’s a matter to be discussed and negotiated between the parties involved.
Q: Do you arrange Work Permits?
A: For non-EU passport holders, yes. If you hold a valid EU passport, you will not need a Work Permit to work in the UK. There is, however, another cost associated with this, which is unavoidable. The cost of a Work Permit is currently £190 and we charge £50 administration charge on top. We request this money upfront, as with any relevant paperwork associated with the application. Currently applying for a Work Permit for a 12-piece band costs the same as a solo performer. When the Work Permit has been issued, we will e-mail you a scan as well as sending you the original which you will need to present to UK Immigration on arrival. The more time we have to make the application the better.
Q: Once a tour is booked do you arrange transport within the UK, book backline and hotels?
A: No we don’t, but we can refer you to people whose business it is to arrange this. We also have a list of tour managers, who can help you with tour itineraries, driving, and general on tour issues. You will have to negotiate directly with them on their own charges as we don’t take responsibility for them. We prefer to focus on making sure shows are promoted and that all the promotional material is out there.
Q: Once a tour is booked do you send out promotional material directly from your office?
A: We can, but we will have to charge the cost of postage back to the tour upon completion. We advise your UK based record company or distribution company to send promotional material (CDs, posters) out as it saves time and money. UK based record companies or distribution companies may also have a better deal for designing and printing posters. In this business every penny counts and touring is an expensive past time. We do urge you to mention BPA Live on artwork with a mention of our website for further information as again, it helps us by helping you by dealing with general enquiries, especially once the tour starts.
Q: How do you accept payment?
A: This needs to be discussed as each tour is different and there are now many different payment methods. We don’t, however, currently use PayPal.
Q: Can you recommend publicists and radio pluggers?
A: Yes, we can. We have a long standing working relationship with many radio pluggers and publicists and depending on the type of music you perform we can direct you to specific companies and agencies. We can only book tours that are backed up with publicists and radio pluggers and so we have developed our contacts in this area.
Q: Do you arrange advertising?
A: We can, but as with booking a tour and permit applications, fees will have to be paid up front. You will design your own ads, and then we can advise you which advertising agency might suit you.
BPA Live
PO Box 670
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP9 9AU
