TEACHERS/ COLLEGES
Does your college offer a concert promotion course? David Herrera, Concert- Promotion Instructor at Belmont University, Nashville uses this manual as the course study reference. Teachers, Book Stores- ask for volume discounts.

A professional promoter releases a concise advice and operations HOW TO manual full of Step-By-Step instructions, procedures, inside tips, advice, forms, lists, web links, phone numbers, concert and music festival business plans, executive summaries, investor proposals, contracts, scripts, press releases, diagrams, itemized cost sheets, industry facts. . .
How to plan media schedules and advertising budgets. How to negotiate, buy and contract talent, radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, billboards, and internet marketing to promote your concert or music festival professionally. See Concert and Festival Marketing plans!
Steering you away from the typical mistakes and misjudgments made by new promoters.

Understand the game and feel the marketplace. There are enough territories and niches to go around. Be stealthy until you start to advertise, then others will know everything you intend to do in one ad or web site. The best things you can do with the big promoter is observe their marketing and go to their concerts to see how they do it. Observe their ways, learn from them and enjoy the show.

Whatever you do, whatever you think, it is far wiser to start small. Learn along the way.

The best way to enter into a market and stay there, is to flank others, where they are not. Promote your show on nights far away from their nights, unless it's an event that is a different musical format; the big promoter is putting on a rock event and you are promoting country. Always try for a Friday or Saturday night show, it’s date night and pay day.

Is there a niche market being ignored in your area?

“Early to bed, early to rise, promote like hell and advertise”  . . .  Ted Turner

What is a Promoter?
An entrepreneur who can operate professionally and honestly in a high risk, high intensity, sometimes unfriendly environment. Someone capable of researching, planning and implementing not only quality marketing plans, but can simultaneously research, negotiate and execute all other event promotion and production components in order to earn a profit presenting live talent. A Promoter must have a burning desire to plan and execute events where the numbers, timing, venue and concept makesense. The entrepreneurial Promoter figures this out in advance. The Promoter's survival and success, is determined by the number of tickets sold. That success is ultimately selling out an event with no injuries or lawsuits. The Promoter is someone who is drawn to bringing people together.

1. Conceptualizes winning concert events for a particular market
2. Researches market conditions, competition, venue options and artists for the right combination
3. Writes the marketing/ business plan
4. Budgets the event accurately in advance to ensure a reasonable breakeven point
5. Contracts and buys artists
6. Rents venues (event location)
7. Buys, contracts then Sells tickets
8. Buys souvenirs, Tees made then sold at the event
9. Negotiates with and clearly instructs contractors
10. Buys Insurance Coverage, secures permit
11. Promotes the event, incl. management of PR and communications
12. Produces the show by hiring a stage manager and production contractors who "advance" and
    produce the show. (ie. Stage, sound, lights, stagehands, dressing room, rider, transp, hotel, etc.)
13. Ensures the rider contracts are complied with by the Production people
14. Counts and accounts for all tickets and monies
15. Completes the settlement with all parties and monitors load-out

This is the original concert/ festivals promotions book, originally written in 1999 as a 160 page guide.
The first edition was mostly a compilation of over 30 years of promoter’s notes with a few forms.
Now at 345 pages w/ forms CD, the book is in it’s 10th Edition.

We thank the thousands of new and established promoters who have endorsed the book as the best source for planning and presenting live entertainment. This one manual has saved countless people a lot of aggravation and/ or financial loss. You need the best, most informative view on promoting and producing live events, not an abbreviation. There are many cruel tacticians in this business. You better know what to do, in advance.

DON’T MISTAKE OTHER knock-off sites with similar URLS for this book! Copycats are out there trying to sell weak facsimiles of this very book.

"I purchased your book, just wanted to let you know that yours was by far the best, and covered way more than the other two." -Florida Promoter

In the last 7 years of expanding and improving this book and adding the CD, we have not had one request for a refund, not one charge-back in over 2,000 sales. We never share email addresses either.

This book is 100% Guaranteed as the best concert promotions manual available! Much of this information just can’t be found anywhere else. This site is not associated with any other concert promotions site. The market value of this book is $300-400 if you compare the poor content others are charging for, around the same price. Hal is an active promoter and works in the business daily.

Hal R. Abramson has promoted many indoor and outdoor events, and has served as a marketing executive in many corporate marketing departments, for more than 30 years. Promoter of the largest bluegrass music festival in history, many rock concerts and music festivals, former Regional Marketing Director for Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus and Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice Combined Shows, Las Vegas Casino Promotions Director and scoring big success' in travel and Internet businesses. Hal consults event promoters daily needing direction and advice.

Hal's notes, files and experience are all now compiled into one concise instructional manual to help you, so you don't make the same mistakes. With your notes, the manual becomes your Promotions - Operations - Administration Workbook - your guide to professional event implemenation.

HOW NOT TO PROMOTE will benefit YOU from intense and diversified experience from a real concert and festival promoter. He has won and lost big and is one of the only promoters you will find, willing to divulge the messy details of the business. Be prepared and prosper!

"Winning Methods The Pros Use to Promote Web Sites"

(Just $23.50 incl. S&H)

The simplified secrets corporate marketers are using to get expensive sites seen and ranking higher. Most WEB authors don’t even know this information. Using just a few of these techniques will drastically improve your site’s search engine ranking and make your site a hit magnet. Though brief, this web promotion information is all you need to know to get results. Manual is 16 pages.

BOOK FORMAT
Manuals are printed on 8 1/2" x 11" doubled sided pgs. The larger manual is comb bound (similar to spiral), to open flat as a work book. The Simplified manual is thermal tape bound. You may copy particular pages for your use or for your group, but resale or publishing any material in these manuals is stricly prohibited. The larger manual additionally contains contracts and proposals pertaining to festivals. The Forms CD is the same for both books. The legal agreements and proposals are not on CD because they cannot be templated, they are shown in print only as a guide.