Posted by on December 22, 2012 10:06 PM

Now That’s Some Bullshit: How NOT to book @DefJamRecords, Trinidad James @TrinidadJamesGG

I will admit defeat when it comes to me and today I am defeated.

I have been in communication with the Trinidad James camp for at least 4 months. He’s been on my radar for quite some time. In fact, I was asked to find contact information on their camp months ago for a few music industry executives to contact them because they were interested in signing them.

That path led me to a manager.

This was “pre” video drop.

After the video dropped, things got going extremely fast for that camp. They went from just doing local shows and visits to being courted by aLOTof major labels.

In the midst of their growth, my communication from a manager was shifted to Dae Dae, who at that time had a 678 number.

*sidenote: Since I have an extensive reach within the Hip Hop community, a few weeks ago, I took over an already established booking agency to further assist in adding credible services to the Hip Hop Encounter Media Group branch. I am no rookie to the industry or booking, having worked the other side of booking for 10 years and then working independently as a road manager for V.I.C., Young Mogul/Collipark Musik.

As the videos grew in momentum the calls and text started coming in more.

For every offer I received I IMMEDIATELY contacted the booking agency and got delayed responses back, in most cases 72 hours (3 days) just to get a “no he is not available”.

Eventually, instead of “No, he is not available” it went to “he is not taking dates until we finish negotiating with this touring company”

Frustrated…

Touring company? Really

At best, the asking price at this time was $4-$5k, establishing tour dates now was a little “early”.

Weeks past and the calls did NOT stop.

One day I saw thatTrinidad’s official Twitter page had been updated and a Peter and Josh was added for booking. I’ve sent offers to The Agency Group before, I don’t like dealing with them based on they take weekends off. WTF? Who does that in music? I get text and calls any day any time and I reply to it as long as I am awake. I am not going to allow myself to be unavailable at any time. Service industries have office hours? That is now what I do or what im about but if that is there thing and this is who they hired good luck with that.

I immediately hit up Dae Dae to ask if any dates were being considered now and he told me that I have to submit all dates to www.TIGBooking.com

He also stated that the process is what it is. They were not working exclusives with ANY agents and they were still waiting and picking selective dates. Valid. I can respect that.

I didn’t complain, I did what I was told.

Most of my dates were late December and beyond and I even reserved New Years Eve for myself and my city ofMaconGeorgia. It was a valid offer.

One day I texted an offer to Dae Dae and he hit me back that “the offer that I submitted for Dec 18 was not good enough, please resubmit”

WTF?

First off, I didn’t have an offer for 12/18/2012, that had to be some other stressed out booking agent. Second, IT WAS DECEMBER 13, 2012! Who releases a valid response on a date that is less than a week away? That give the promoter ZERO time to properly promote and even less time to find an alternative.

I informed him that wasn’t me and I asked about my dates and got NO reply back.

The offers kept coming.

I still submitted through the official site.

I still got ZERO communication back.

Now, the world knows about Trinidad James and he had officially announced his signing to DefJam.

Great for him, I salute hard work.

I hit up Dae Dae and congratulated him on the signing and asked him if dates were being considered. He said to text him the date.

I did.

There were 6 dates to submit, I only made it through 4 dates before he again began IGNORING me and offers.

In closing, he stated that he was available for Mon and Tues dates in January but unavailable due to a tour starting in February.

I informed my clients.

Granted, my clients have stated that they have deposits ready and they are waiting on ME. My hands are tied.

I gave them the basic asking price for deals and they still stated, WE WANT HIM!

My hands are still tied.

I eventually emailed Peter since one of the dates involved a venue and Dae Dae only handles club dates.

Peter did NOT reply to the offer at all. I then forwarded the same email to Josh and he replied the following day but I have not heard anything since then.

 

*soapbox: this is not how business is done. This is a complete and utter disrespect to the booking agents out there that are busting their ass to book dates, venues, and clubs for the artist. If they don’t have the manpower, I offered my assistance to at least answer calls, text or be there. I DO NOT WANT EXCLUSIVITY, like other agents, all we want is a YES OR NO!

I don’t know if this is ignorance of a complete, “we don’t give a fuck” attitude towards us agents and the business. In an industry where EVERYONE eats off of the artist, it is in his best interest to build a capable team that does everything as effective and efficient as possible. From the outside, this looks like a jumble mess and a bunch of “niggas doing nigga business” and a booking agency only available Monday through Friday 9-5. LOL, yall got it fucked up.

This isn’t just my feelings on it, I have spoken with at least 5 other booking agents and they all say the same thing “they need to get their shit together over there”.

In all, I have either tried to submit, been ignored or walked away from at least 30 dates for this ONE act. THAT is a tour in itself.

In this business, a lot of this business is basic communication; acknowledgement, acceptance and implementation.

When you operate like this, nothing good can be the outcome. This type of energy and behavior does bite you in the ass as karma shows up to say hello.

I wish them all the best.

Officially if you want to book Trinidad James you can NOT go through Velvet Hammer booking at all. I don’t trust the business practices over there to put my name or brand beside that name.

Now when someone Google Booking Trinidad James or does a basic search, THIS article will come up because I outrank ALL of their websites, including Def Jam;s website.

OFFICIALLY

Submit your offer here: www.TIGBOOKING.com for clubs ONLY (minimum 10k plus expenses)

Submit all venue offers (concerts) to these guys, peter@theagencygroup.com or joshdick@theagencygroup.com (no idea, never got a quote)

I will not release any numbers, that is confidential but with a few searches on the net, they will turn up.

Based on prior communication, don’t hold your breath waiting for any responses though.

Good luck.

Peace and blessings

 
 

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