How much to pay someone who finds you clients/bands?

[Pfraser]

__________________

[ron florentine]

Are you a manager or a studio owner............as a studio owner/engineer/mixer I have never payed anyone to come in and record or produce......I always get payed up front.............no matter how talented.........and only a cut rate if points are involve........I have heard of people getting a commission or small percentage who finds a band to record for a studio but i have never done that........so either you are in more of a manager or administrative position at one of rhe majors or larger indie labels the has a large cash flow to promote and distibute,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,or on the other end of it where you are just learning your craft and need a few guini pigs to practice on while you learn .............I think more info is needed on your current status to get pertinent info to you...............from my own experience i always get payed and if the artist ends up making money thats better than most in this day of the music biz.




Ron Florentine
Soundswest Studio

[wm_b]

It all depends on what kind of money these jobs are bringing in. Agents generally make 15%. I can't tell you what to pay. You could pay him when you get a deposit for the sessions. If you don't normally collect a deposit then you could start with the bands he brings in. Make the deposit at least double what you plan on paying the finder.

[wanderlust8]

From what I've seen and understand, a 10% "finder's fee" is common. The "finder" is paid after you get paid. simple as that

This is an interesting question... i wonder what other standards may apply out there...

[PlatinumSamples]

Originally Posted by wm_b

Agents generally make 15%.

Which includes billing, collections, contracts, etc....

Rail

[octatonic]

I pay 10% of the net profit.
I know some ppl pay 10% of the gross profit but to me this isn't a difficult thing to do- refer bands and artists.
They aren't doing actual work- just making a few phone calls.

I've had ppl haggle with e about it but unless I really want to work with the band I tend not to budge,

[wm_b]

Originally Posted by Pfraser

what are these %s of? percent of the recording costs? album sales?

And this is pretty low budget - unsigned artists, no big record labels, etc, etc.

In the case of an agent it would be gross pay for the job. When you say low budget do you mean less than $1k. Are you flat rating or doing hourly? Only you can be the judge about what to pay.

If it's a bad deal for you then it will feel like it. If it's bad deal for the finder then he will let you know and you can discuss terms. I wouldn't roll over for whatever he wants if it's not a good deal for you. You have the investment in gear and time.

[narcoman]

it's very common and it's 10% off the top. My manager does it and without him i wouldn't have the house or the car! He gets paid when the invoice gets paid - and that's also part of his job!

Worth every penny.


oh - and if it wasn't a difficult thing to do you could do it yourself. Its a very specific thing for a people person to do. Not anyone can do it and it's why "connector" types will always be worth more than the actual do-ers, no matter how much we hate that.

[John Suitcase]

I think a referral 'finder's' fee is a little different than a manager. But, it's good to have some incentive for people to actively refer you. On the other hand, it needs to be a quiet agreement. If I discover that the cool guy telling me about a studio is getting paid to tell me, I'm not going to take him seriously.

So far, I haven't offered cash to referrers, but I do sometimes cut them a deal on recording time, since they've been other bands.

It's a pretty simple equation. Figure out how much you made last year, and how many artists you worked with. Take the average and you have something akin to your average client's value (throw out the top and bottom couple of outliers, if they're too outside the norm.) If every new client is worth $1000 to you over the course of a year, giving someone $100 is a pretty good deal for you.

I think paying a referral fee is reasonable and fair at 10%, or a flat fee based on 5%, say. A new client may only use 3 hours of time, remember. The key is to keep the number of paid referrers low, and swear them to secrecy.

[eclectic]

On this topic, anybody know of management/talent agencies that scout out talent for producers/mixers? Particularly in the southeast? thumbsup

[phillysoulman]

Five percent of the NET artist points.. only after a deal is procured.

[ron florentine]

Originally Posted by Pfraser

I have a friend who is great at finding unsigned talent and they want to be paid and I don't mind paying them.

How much should I pay?
How should I pay (flat rate per client i'm guessing or is their a royalty system for them or both?)
When Should I pay? (when the band/client actually signs on recording time?)

When I first responded to this thread I think I misunderstood you statement.....is your friend finding the band getting paid or is the band that has been found getting paid...........if your friend who is finding the bands for you to record is getting paid generally 10% of what and when you get paid is very fair..........you can always add additional 5-10% on your frontend for clients that are brought in by this ccontact person so your out of pocket rate is not cut much or at all.


Ron Florentine
Soundwest Studio

[Pfraser]

Now what if a friend gets me a band to both produce and record?

Since a producer makes a royalty off album sales, does the agent/referrer make a small royalty?

[sleeps]

Originally Posted by Pfraser

Since a producer makes a royalty off album sales, does the agent/referrer make a small royalty?

It depends on what the contract with your agent looks like. I have a manager in which I pay 15% of the amount that is budgeted for my fee. For instance, say for a smaller project the budget is $15,000 ... but $5,000 of that may be in studio rentals, $250 for heads/sticks/strings/set-ups, $300 for two day drum tech, etc. My fee may be $8,000 ... he gets 15% of that. He will also receive 15% of what I earn on points! He handles all the booking, paper work, payment collections, contracts, etc.

If it was just someone referring/booking the band, then I would give him a small flat payment when I get payed. This would not be a percentage since referring/booking a band doing 12 songs takes no more work on their end compared to 3 songs. However, it is A LOT more work on my end!