(Photo: Cryptic Productions, Pensacola Beach, FL)
Why
won’t my favorite band or act come to my town? How come major artists always
skip us on their tour route? I live in a fairly big city…between even bigger
cities at that, but why won’t major artists on tour stop in my quaint little
port city? Do you find yourself asking these questions, or praying that if you
live on the Gulf Coast someone amazing will headline in New Orleans or Mobile
at best? But I live on the beach, who wouldn’t want to book more concerts here,
how hard can it be? Easy questions to ask, but not easy tasks to complete if
you’re trying to pave the way for new music to make it to the beach. Shaun
Holifield with Cryptic Productions sheds light on the
obstacles and hurdles companies must undertake to get the acts we love
close to home. Cryptic Productions is a company that is dedicated to
bringing audiences unique live music events that feature the best up-and-coming
underground artists. Cryptic Productions also specializes in talent booking,
street & online promotions, guerilla marketing, social networking, sound
& lighting production, fundraising & strategic partnerships, and
special event concepts & logistics. You can follow them on Twitter @CrypticProd.
Throughout the interview Shaun explains some of the main
obstacles he faces when trying to book artists on the Gulf Coast. “The first
obstacle is to confirm that the artist isn’t already playing in Tallahassee or Mobile
and sometimes New Orleans; this ensures that fans travel to Pensacola and not
from Pensacola” (Holifield, 2013). The second obstacle is to help artists and
managers understand that places like Pensacola are more town-like, rather than
city-like. This refers to Pensacola’s spread out population of 52,197. “We
don’t have a major college to supply our market with fresh ticket buyers each
year. This means that we can only book artists for about 60%-70% of what their
booking would be two and half hours east (Tallahassee) or two and a half hours
west (New Orleans) from Pensacola” (Holifield, 2013).
As a music festival and live concert enthusiast, the ins and
outs of booking and ticketing are a large factor in the bulk of the work I want
to pursue in the future. These particular negotiation skills and tactics are
relevant to people in the entertainment business despite what category of the
industry they specialize in. Critical lessons that future producers can learn
from this interview include, “catching bands in-between major markets” as Shaun
refers to. “You can catch a band on their way from New Orleans to Orlando, or
on their way from Atlanta to New Orleans, and vice-versa. You can pitch our
beautiful tourist destination, or ‘small vacation-pit stop’ on an act’s tour
where they can enjoy the Gulf Coast’s beaches and play to an intimate crowd.
Unfortunately this usually does not work for Thursday/Friday/Saturday night
gigs where major markets pay much more then Pensacola can afford” (Holifield,
2013).
Shaun conducts daily business in which deal-makings and
negotiations are playing a critical role. Without the use of these tactics and
skills, succeeding in the entertainment business industry would be difficult.
Shaun handles contracts for talent booking (bands/DJs), production contracts
(for sound/lighting/staff), venue rental, and promotion contracts (for the
services he provides for other promoters, festivals, etc.).
