Many artists often ask me what the difference is between exclusivity and non-exclusivity. That often leads to the question of what is right for an act. Many acts don’t understand the differences, as well as the pros and cons of each deal type. In reality, it really depends on each acts specific situation to navigate to what would be the best scenario for that act. So I decided to center my post today on this topic:
Exclusive – Artists signed exclusively run everything through the agency. This allows for the agent and agency to have seamless negotiations, calendars and access to information because there are no side deals working in play or things that can affect the deals the agent is working on such as availability, miscommunications and so forth.
Non-Exclusive – Artists signed non-exclusively are artists that get their own shows as well as working with agents. For agents, this is the most confusing way to work as there could be other agents working on shows, miscommunication on availability and creates a chaotic workplace for both the artist and the agency alike.
What Is Right For Me? – The next question this really poses is what is right for you. I think if you are an artist that can exclusively get enough shows than working with one agent is the best route. But if there is not enough demand and you are scraping by as an artist, putting shows together from 3 agents as well as doing your own bookings, then non-exclusive is the obvious route. How can you transition from one to the other? In reality, it all comes down to demand. The right agent will come knocking at your door if they see some level of demand and can sustain a healthy income from focusing on your booking efforts.
Sleeping Giant Music is a fully exclusive agency focusing on touring DJs. We do often get requests for acts that are not DJs. In short, do your homework before sending in submissions to an agent.
Freddie Harb
President
Meet the rest of the SGM team here!