Should I Have An Agent or a Manager?

Throughout my years as a professional musician I have worked with several different booking agencies and have performed on three continents. I moved to another state and signed a non exclusive agreement with an agent who kept me booked regularly. If travel was involved, then a travel allowance and perdiem was arranged and prepaid. I would normally be paid by my agent with 48 hours of the gig. The agency fees were 20%. On one ocassion I was booked for $2000.00. At the end of the gig the manager came to me and said "I am just going to give you a check tonight payable to you and your agent since tomorrow is Sunday and I won't be able to mail it until Monday." I took the check in an unsealed envelope thinking it was going to be $2000.00 and $1600.00 would be mine. I opened the envelope and to my amazement the check was for $4500.00 with a copy of my agent's contract. The agent was making over 100% on my bookings. Needless to say, I no longer use that agency and alerted other musicians using the same agency. So make sure you check the agent's reputation before signing. I now have a reputable manager who verifies monies for all bookings with my agent. Booking Agents can be great to have but some are theives. www.Lee Michaels1.com