Which parts of a booking contract are negotiable?

The short answer is that everything is negotiable. All booking contracts are unique, and it’s up to you and the artist to come to an agreement. You shouldn’t feel guilty about trying to get the best deal possible because it benefits neither you nor your artists if you don’t make money on performances. It’s not personal—you’re making business decisions. And if the decision you need to make is to hold off on signing this artist until you have a bigger budget, well, sometimes that’s just what you have to do as an intelligent business person.

Ideally, you always do your homework to make sure you can afford a performer before you get to contract negotiations, but even then, some haggling will be involved.

The first time you sign a bigger artist, you’re probably thinking more about the bigger fee to the performer, and it can be easy not to realize that other costs go up, as well. Now that you have a contract in hand, you’ve probably realized that bigger artists often expect a lot more budget allocated to production costs. And that’s a business decision on their part, too. They want to put on a good show and give the audience what they expect—to keep up their reputation. So, you likely won’t be able to make huge cuts from production costs, but you may be able to get the cost down to a more comfortable range by negotiating the details of several different aspects of production.

Here’s my advice. See if you have the opportunity to shop around when it comes to equipment. You may be able to find a good deal. But know that many artists specify a company in the contract and won’t budge on equipment budget.

You’re better off tackling the artist’s rider and travel expenses in order to reduce costs. No performer wants to cut back on the performance, but you may get them to cut back on personal luxuries, unless you’re working with a real diva. Look for places to haggle on:

• Airfare
• Ground transportation
• Hotel accommodations
• Food budget