Nice try, crappy promoter man.

Yeah I hear that and I'm willing to do that, I just need to know who and where, you know what I mean? I live in Lametown, NJ and I would like gigs in NYC or Philly but those are packed places and I am having trouble figuring out how to start.

This is how I get any non-Toy Company show in MTL, except I am not even tight with venue bookers- I just approach them.

If you wanna play in MTL you make friends with the TC crew though, 'cause they're the best right now for a chip music show.

But, hey, Decktonic, I have a buddy who makes a living completely off of dj'ing.  Know how he started?  Doing one free gig after another until shit fell together.  At first, you really shouldn't need an agency to book shows.  I wouldn't ever contact an agency unless I was gonna tour another country, or something in that respect... but maybe that's just me.  Of course, I'm not a DJ, so that comes into play also...

In other news, if anyone here knows an agent or agency in Philly / NYC / central NJ that I should contact, let me know. Still not able to find stuff via the Internet

A company with multiple agents that represents talent...

OK so now I just have to know, what is an agency? I've never heard of these.

If you're actually an alright DJ, you could probably bluff your way into an agency.

God Bless LOLmerica

i forget about the rest of the world not being as scam-tastic as the US ;P

What if my numbers are currently 0? or wait, I did have 1 gig at a college bar... so now I'll have 3 gigs and I'll make $60 + 4 free drinks at each one?

No, in all seriousness, this is what I need.

You said the magic word - DJ.

I know DJs that have tripled their gigs and doubled their fees overnight by getting on board with an agency.

I want to do really commercial friendly house / electro in both DJing and playing live, so hopefully I can justify the typical route... I am still curious to hear from people in the USA, because so far it sounds like everything is better across the ponds.

While I can see why you feel that way, this (in Australia at least) isn't as true.

Here there are plenty of venues/night/bookers/etc that happily let one agency book nights at a time.
So, if you are on Agency X, you will probably play a few nights a week with other artists on that agency, just so your agent gets a decent income from you. Obviously, the specifics of this are location/genre/draw of your act, determined.

My girl works for an agency here in Sydney. They literally get given a date and a budget from a venue and book accordingly from the artists on their roster.

Put it this way... If I was someone like Unicorn Kid or David E Sugar, I would have an agency and a manager. That is how you get massive festival spots and international acclaim in "secular society". However, a lot of us don't fit into that hole and have far less need for an agent or manager.

If anyone cares at all about how I operate, or how to get shows in Australia this is how... I am tight with a few venue bookers (mainly warehouses) a few events directors and a few genre-savvy promoters in the cities I tend to play in. That way, I can literally say "hey, I am keen to play somewhere around this date, what can we do?" and something tends to happen.

I am interested to see if there is much of a difference in the way you book shows in the US, EU and JP? Anyone want to tour me? haha.

North America is a pretty assy place to be a musician, for the most part.

Yeah I'm looking for 1 person to start out, I'm willing to pay, I just need someone with connections that can get me a few gigs, enough that I can have a feel for it.