'So You Want a Booking Agent?' - Insights from Danielle Oosterop

Improvised Music Company’s Cooler Clinic sessions offer practical professional development for Ireland’s jazz and improvising musicians — with each edition bringing direct insight from leading international professionals.

In this session, Amsterdam-based booking agent and artist manager Danielle Oosterop shared a deep look into the realities of touring, representation, and career-building in Europe’s creative jazz scene. With over 20 years of experience and a roster including Fire! Orchestra, David Murray Quartet, Schlippenbach Trio, Globe Unity Orchestra, Nate Wooley, and Paal Nilssen-Love, Danielle has built a reputation for her hands-on, holistic approach to artist support — from logistics to long-term strategy.

The Role of a Booking Agent or Manager

In jazz and improvised music, the roles of booking agent and manager often overlap. Budgets are smaller than in rock or pop, so agents may handle everything from tour booking and production logistics to fundraising and basic marketing. However, most agents still rely on artists or labels to handle detailed PR, visuals, and social media.

What Agents Look For

Danielle’s selection criteria are clear:

• International activity: artists already touring or performing abroad.
• Credibility: performances at known venues or festivals (such as Café OTO, Porgy & Bess, or Jazzfestival Saalfelden).
• Professional presentation: up-to-date website, strong visuals, clear streaming links, and active social media presence.
• Self-promotion ability: press quotes, creative promotional ideas, and initiative.

In short: agents tend to work with artists who have already built visibility and momentum — not those seeking their first international opportunities.

Booking and Touring Realities

Most booking agents take around 15% commission, sometimes after expenses are deducted. Some may take up to 20%. Because of small margins and limited touring budgets, many musicians also maintain teaching, sideman, or session work alongside their personal projects.

Scheduling full-band tours can be a challenge, especially as each musician may have multiple commitments. Reliability and clear communication with programmers are key: “Having a trusted, responsive production contact can make the difference between being invited back or not,” Danielle emphasised.

Industry Trends and Challenges

Across Europe, venues losing public funding are increasingly prioritizing ticket sales. This makes it harder for experimental or avant-garde projects to find room in large venues, even though the audience interest remains.

At the same time, younger audiences in places like the Netherlands are increasingly drawn to experimental programming, and smaller concert series often provide great entry points for emerging artists.

Agents are also beginning to collaborate more structurally, sharing insights through initiatives like the European Jazz Network (EJN) — which continues to grow as a vital space for both agents and artists to connect.

Building Your Own Touring System

Independent artists can build strong foundations for future representation by creating clear, systematic approaches to outreach and touring.

Tips from Danielle:

• Maintain your own contact database — don’t rely solely on an agent.Organize contacts by country, festival month, and genre fit (e.g. “Austrian festivals” or “August events”).
• Note booking cycles: many festivals confirm artists shortly after their current edition, while southern countries like Spain or Italy often book later.
• Personalise outreach: short, 3–4 sentence emails, direct and respectful, with clear listening links and no attachments.
• Include bolded key information and hyperlinks rather than downloads.
  

Follow up — lack of reply doesn’t mean your message wasn’t read. Festival encounters often reconnect those dots.

Where to Connect and Network

Danielle highlighted festivals and showcases where many professionals meet and where artists can start to build visibility:

• Moers Festival (Germany)
• Berlin Jazzfest (Germany)
• Wels & Saalfelden (Austria)
• Jazz em Agosto (Lisbon)
• Jazz sous les Pommiers (France)
• Kongsberg Jazz Festival (Norway)
• North Sea Jazz (Rotterdam — very large, less personal)
  

Other valuable meeting points include jazzahead! (Bremen) and the European Jazz Conference, both of which attract agents, presenters, and media from across the continent.

Research Tools & Databases

To explore opportunities, Danielle recommends these online resources:

• Europe Jazz Network (EJN): www.europejazz.net
  - Members page (venues, festivals, agencies)
  - Newsletter sign-up for updates
• EJN Agencies list: europejazz.net/agencies
• Jazz in Belgium: jazzinbelgium.be/en
• Netherlands: vnjj.nl
• Austria: Musik Austria database
  - Under ‘erfasst als’ select Festival/Vernastaltungsreihe and click Suchen
• France: ajc-jazz.eu
• Canada: jazzfestivalscanada.ca
• German-speaking countries: jazzinstitut.de
  

Subscribe to newsletters from festivals, venues, and bands similar to your own — it’s one of the best ways to learn about scenes, booking cycles, and opportunities.

Reflections for Irish Artists

Danielle noted limited awareness of Irish jazz artists within her network — not from lack of quality, but from visibility.English artists, she observed, often have stronger marketing infrastructure, and are thus more present in continental programmers’ awareness.

For Irish musicians, this underlines the importance of international visibility: playing abroad, being listed in European media, and maintaining a digital presence that makes discovery easy.

Continuing Professional Support

IMC continues to offer one-to-one artist consultations on funding, touring, releases, and international strategy. Irish artists are encouraged to make use of these conversations to identify practical next steps in connecting with the European touring circuit.

Next Steps:

• Explore and map your potential festival circuit.
• Begin tracking booking timelines and contact cycles.
• Build visibility through consistent presentation, newsletters, and video content.
• Connect with IMC for tailored support in international touring and funding.
  

Cooler Clinics are part of Improvised Music Company’s professional development programme for Ireland’s jazz and improvising musicians. Find upcoming sessions at www.improvisedmusic.ie/whats-happening/events