After booking over 60,000 unsigned acts on over 10,500 shows – our data has shown us that fans who plan to pay at the door instead of buying a presale ticket in advance are about 70% likely to never actually attend the show. This is because fans who are not financially committed to go to your show (i.e. have not bought an advance ticket) are much more likely to flake out last minute. When this happens it hurts us, the venue, the artists, and the entire show as a whole. Because of this, our advance ticket price is always lower than the door price. We also offer discount promo codes so fans can save an additional $2 or $3 off of the lower advance price as well. This encourages fans to purchase tickets ahead of time so you know they’re actually going to attend. Normally advance ticket prices for Afton shows will be $9 – $10 including the discount promo codes we offer to your fans. If fans choose to miss out on the discount promo codes tickets are around $10 – $12. Pricing changes based on the venue, day of week, and other factors. Sometimes for extenuating circumstances we can lower prices for certain artists. For larger national tours the ticket price will be higher and on par with the industry. Medium level tours are generally $16 – $22 and bigger tours $22 – $30 or more. The nationally touring act’s management sets the pricing in those cases.

Advance tickets are always cheaper than the door admission price. We also offer additional discounts to your fans with promo codes to encourage early advance sales. You have the option to use one or both of the methods below when booked for a show. AFTON ONLINE TICKETING – www.AftonShows.com

• Fans can buy online through your unique Ticket Profile page.
• Online purchase is just as easy, quick, and secure as any other major ticket outlet your fans already purchase through (such as Ticket Master, eTix, Ticket Fly, etc).
• 1-Click Login with Facebook integration for fast checkout.
• Smart phone enabled.
• Fans can leave a Tip for you during checkout. The average fan tips $1.20 per ticket.
• You can sell Merch & Digital Downloads to your fans during online purchase with no shipping charges!

If you have a decent sized fan base and a strong web/Facebook presence, we highly encourage that you post links to your show. Social media and website promotion is a great option for fans that you don’t see on a regular basis, or for fans that don’t live near you but would like to support you and attend the show. PHYSICAL “PRE-SALE” TICKETS In addition to Online Ticketing, you also will have the option to use the more traditional method of pre-selling physical tickets directly to your fans, in person for cash. This option is a good supplement for fans that can’t buy online for whatever reason. You can order professionally printed thermal tickets from us that will be shipped to you, or you can print tickets from home. DATA ANALYSIS HAS SHOWN THE POWER OF ADVANCE TICKETS We have collected extensive data while booking over 60,000 local acts on over 10,500 concerts since 2004. Without fail, we have seen that utilizing advance tickets as a part of your promotion strategy will always yield a larger draw. We believe there’s no point in spending your time and money on promoting your shows if no one is going to show up. Fans who promise they’ll pay at the door instead of buying an advance ticket are 70% likely to never actually attend your show. So relying on door sales will always end up hurting our artists and the show as a whole.

We make booking fast, easy, & simple. Here’s how to get started: First, submit your Booking Profile to us (estimated completion time: 5-10 minutes). Then our staff reviews your music and starts emailing you show dates. Each month we will notify you of show openings, and you accept the shows you want. To get started, submit your Booking Profile – CLICK HERE WE REWARD HARD WORKING ARTISTS We don’t play favorites, we don’t play politics. We reward the highest drawing acts because they’ve worked hard to promote their show. More pay, longer set, prime time slot. Additionally, we offer rebooking opportunities to more and more shows. Let’s work together!

Artist payment structures will differ depending on the level of artist. As with any Promoter or Talent Buyer, artists that are bigger, signed, and nationally touring will be paid more than an unsigned local or regional artist. Exact pay details are below. HOW MUCH DOES AFTON PAY FOR BIGGER, SIGNED, NATIONALLY TOURING ACTS? Afton will consider offering a pay guarantee and rider fulfillment for notable, larger artists if they are signed to at least a medium sized Record Label and represented by a reputable Booking Agency. In this case, we may offer a guarantee + backend. HOW MUCH CAN AFTON PAY FOR UNSIGNED LOCAL & REGIONAL ACTS? Afton was founded by local musicians, for local musicians. So we do our best to payout as much as we can to our local acts. Artists are paid what is owed per the E-Contract no matter what, even if the show is a complete loss for Afton. Each show can vary, but typically we’re able to payout $3 to $6 per fan drawn for acts drawing 40-100+ fans. Acts who draw in the 20-40 range are usually getting $2 to $3 per fan drawn. Acts that breach the contract terms and draw really low are paid very little. We are all about fairness. So the acts that draw the most fans are going to get paid the most. Your Total Payment = Minimum Guaranteed Pay Scale + Bonus Pays + Any Fan Tips YOU ARE PAID BASED ON YOUR TOTAL DRAW You are paid based on your total draw for each show. We track online and physical cash advance sales and we tally each person that pays at the door, so we always know each act’s total draw. FANS HAVE THE OPTION TO TIP YOU AT CHECK OUT When a fan buys an online ticket, they are prompted to leave a tip, and most fans do. The average fan tips $1.20 per ticket, this is another advantage to online sales. Afton is proud to pay you all of your fan tips (minus regular transaction processing fees). Our Pay Structure is designed to reward artists who abide by the E-Contract. If you breach the E-Contract and draw less fans than you agreed to, your pay will be substantially lower, as follows: 15 Fans = $15 Guarantee + $1 Per Fan After 15+ Sold. PAY IS VOIDED IF Less Than 15 Tickets Sold. * If you are booked short notice, your Booking Rep may lower your Tix requirement. In this case, your pay is voided only if you don’t sell the # of Tickets specified in the E-Contract.

FOR LARGER NATIONALLY TOURING, SIGNED ARTISTS We utilize the phone when working with reputable Booking Agencies or bigger signed touring acts. For this level of artist we have a nationals branch that handles larger tours. That staff is separate from our local booking branch. If you’re an unsigned local or regional, act see below. PHONE POLICY FOR UNSIGNED LOCAL ARTISTS We continually strive to keep overhead as low as we can in order to keep artist payouts as high as we can. Because of this, we do not have the manpower or resources to field phone calls from unsigned artists that have not submitted a Booking Profile. We do not currently have the resources or funds to hire a call center to field the thousands of incoming calls we get each week from unsigned local artists seeking more information about booking. This is why the Booking Profile is the first step to booking (it goes over all of the basic information about our shows), so please click the SIGN UP button to get started with booking and to get your questions answered. Once you submit the Booking Profile, your Booking Rep will review what you submitted and then contact you via email. After that point, you will have 1-on-1 email access directly with your Booking Rep for everything booking related and for any questions that you have. There are certain times when our staff may use the phone, but generally the main method of communication will be email. If you’ve already been in contact with your Booking Rep, feel free to email them any questions you have. WHY IS THIS AFTON’S POLICY? We try to exclusively use written agreements and book via email to make certain that everything is clear, trackable, and that all terms are agreed to in writing. This ensures that everything said between you and your Booking Rep during the booking process is saved on our servers and acts as a “paper trail” for future reference. It also allows you to have a written copy of all that is agreed upon in your email account. This is also for logistical reasons. We book over 1,000 acts every single month nationwide – and Booking staff discusses open show dates with thousands of other acts that are looking for shows each week. You can imagine how much time it would take to have a 15-minute call with each artist, each month. To handle the volume of calls we receive, we would literally have to hire 4-5 more full-time staff members. It is not efficient, or fair to our artists for us to “waste” money on a full-time call center, especially when money spent would cut into artist pay. We feel we have a responsibility to remain as efficient as possible so that we can payout as much as we can to the artists we book. HOW DOES THIS PROTECT YOU, THE ARTIST? Any venue or promoter can promise you whatever they want over the phone. You have no proof of what they promised or agreed to (unless you record all of your incoming phone calls). When booking with us, you always have a trackable paper trail and proof of everything we agree to, and everything we say that we will do, stored in your email account. This protects you and allows you to prove to us what was said no matter what, without relying on phone conversations where there is no evidence of what was or wasn’t said.

FOR SIGNED, NATIONALLY TOURING ARTISTS Just like any other Promoter, Afton does not require signed, nationally touring artists to sell tickets. As long as an act is signed to at least a mid-sized Record Label and a reputable Booking Agency, we can offer standard pay guarantees plus backend, fulfill their rider, and waive any ticket requirement. Most of our artists are unsigned. If you’re an unsigned local or regional act, see below. TICKET POLICY FOR UNSIGNED LOCAL OR REGIONAL ACTS Our venues are more skeptical of unsigned local and regional acts, and worry about attendance. Because of this, we have a pre-sale ticket requirement of only 15-20 tickets in order for unsigned acts to play our shows. We keep this ticket requirement low and attainable, even for artists who don’t have a huge following yet. We provide both physical tickets that artists can sell to fans directly for cash as well as an online ticketing system where each act gets their own unique online ticket profile. These 2 methods can be utilized to maximize attendance and make it easier to get tickets out to the fans. REMEMBER – UNSIGNED ACTS DO NOT PAY TO PLAY Artists will never be forced to pre-purchase a block of tickets at face value or pay for unsold tickets. We are adamantly against pay to play. But Afton does require that all booked artists sell 15-20 tickets minimum in order to play our shows. WE CAN HELP UNSIGNED ACTS WHO DON’T THINK THEY CAN DRAW 15-20+ FANS It is our firm belief that virtually any unsigned local artist has the ability and the means to sell 15-20 tickets for a show they play in their home area. We provide 1-on-1 guidance and resources to help local artists grow their fan base. We teach unsigned artists how to promote effectively (i.e. promote in a way that gets results) so they can easily get more than enough fans out to the shows they play. We’re here to help! Click here to check out our blog for great tips.

Afton has never been and will never be pay to play. Our company is adamantly against pay to play. All revenues come from the fans paying to see the show. Unsigned local artists will never have to buy a block of tickets up front at face value or be forced to pay for unsold tickets. If you want to label us, you can think of us as a  “Promote to Play” company. We facilitate your connection to venues, we coordinate shows, and we offer resources to help you promote your art. But we cannot book an unsigned artist that is unwilling to effectively promote and draw fans to their show. It’s also important to note that any music venue or promoter you work with is going to expect and require that you draw fans to any show they book you for. We are no different. Nobody wants to book an act that refuses to promote their shows.

Submitting your online Booking Profile at MyAfton.com is the first step to booking with Afton. This is a one-time submission process and it takes 5-10 minutes to complete. It is not a contract, you can opt out at anytime, and we are not exclusive. It is completely free to submit, and you can still book shows on your own. The Booking Profile is designed to do two things:

1. It provides us your basic information and everything we need in order to book you. This includes  your music URL, instrumentation, genres, preferences, number of members, etc.
2. It clearly defines all of our booking policies, terms, and how our shows work so you can quickly decide if our shows are going to fit your needs – before we move forward with a specific date.

Once you submit the Booking Profile, your Booking Rep will review it, contact you via email, and start offering you show dates. From that point forward, you’ll have 1-on-1 email access directly with your Booking Rep for everything booking related and for any other questions you may have. We come in contact with artists in numerous ways (band, venue, or staff referrals, scouting, Google searches, etc) so the Booking Profile ensures that we fully review each and every artist before officially offering or confirming them on a specific show. To submit your Booking Profile – CLICK HERE

All booking services that Afton provides are free for unsigned artists. All revenues come solely from the fans who are paying to see the show. Submitting your Booking Profile is free, you can opt out at anytime, and you are under no obligation. You can always book shows on your own, and you only accept the shows you want. We provide risk-free booking. We take on all financial risk for the acts we book. As with any Promoter, our cut is not guaranteed, and each show we produce is a financial risk for us and the club. Artists are paid per our E-contract, even in cases where the show is a complete loss for Afton.

Afton strives to raise awareness for all of our shows, and aims to maximize exposure for our unsigned artists in the process. On the local level, there is no promotion tactic that is more successful than the simple face-to-face interaction between an artist and their fans. No company, agency, or club can ever substitute this vital interaction between artist and fan. Because of this, we will always do our best to get the word out about our shows, and to create awareness about our artists while they proactively network and build their fan base through their personal connections. PARTNERSHIP WITH BANDS IN TOWN APP : 18 Million Users Afton booking sends live feeds of our concert listings through a partnership we have with BandsInTown.com – (Bandsintown Concerts pulls data from a user’s iTunes library, Facebook Likes, Spotify, Rdio, Google Play and Twitter accounts to pre-populate a customized list of tracked artists). With over 18 million users, Bands in Town is one of the best ways for music fans to find concerts in their area. We send a direct profile feed for each artist we book that is posted on Bands in Town. Each act has their own profile so they can start building trackers and so their Afton show, and their act specifically, is posted on this site. MORE FLIERS GO OUT FOR AFTON SHOWS THAN ANY OTHER LOCAL SHOW We have more total Fliers given out and distributed than most (if not all) other shows featuring local artists. We do this by equipping each act we book with their free Flier Pack, which they can distribute however they feel is effective. In addition, we put fliers directly into the hands of artists’ Fans when they buy an online Ticket. We also send strategies to those fans on how they can and should help their favorite local artist promote the show on a more grassroots level. ONLINE AD CAMPAIGNS: 50-70 MILLION Impressions/Views Annually Between all of the online Facebook Ads and other website ads that we run for our artists throughout the booking process there are anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000+ ad impressions/views for each show. This means that each month we average 4 – 5 MILLION ad impressions; and around 50-70 MILLION ad impressions annually. This is on top of the online ad campaigns we already run for our general “Afton Show Listings” page. As our artists start to get advance sales rolling our graphics staff launches special “Show Promo Ads” that we run specifically for that artist, targeting music fans in their city. We do this on our dime, at no cost to that artist, to gain exposure for their act name and to get word out about THEIR SHOW. Below are examples of the types of ads we run: Show Promo Ad Examples National Ad Examples “FEATURED ARTIST” CAMPAIGNS On our main ticketing website we have “Featured Artist” spots that showcase the artist’s picture, act name, and a link to buy tickets for the show they’re playing. This is free to our artists, and is earned by one of the top ticket sellers for each show. This is ranked every week and rotates weekly. The featured artists are seen by thousands of music fans buying tickets for our upcoming events. HIGHLY TRAFFICKED WEBSITE VISIBILITY Each show we book will be listed on our main website, which receives thousands of visitors each week. Each show is listed on the venue’s calendar as well. Note: The venue may do additional advertising for the show such as include our show in their print ads, put posters up around the club, or put the line up on their marquee, but this is at each club’s discretion and varies from club to club, and can even vary from show to show. TENS OF THOUSANDS IN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK We also have a social network of tens of thousands of music fans, between our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. We regularly post updates and tweet about our show listings and featured artists to help spread awareness about local shows. We also regularly post pictures from our past shows to add exposure for our artists that way as well. FREE ARTIST RESOURCES PROMO SITE We provide a free Artist Resources website for our artists, as well as artists that don’t book with us. Our goal is to educate local artists on alternative promo strategies we have found to work better than the “same old strategies” that local bands have been doing for years without much success! 1-ON-1 PROMO HELP WITH OUR BOOKING REPS Each act that books with us gets 1-on-1 communication with their Booking Rep. Throughout the booking process each artist is able to ask for and discuss promo strategies. Our Booking Reps are trained to help artists with promo roadblocks, as well as trained on how to educate our artists on the most effective and high yield promo tactics we have found and used for years. ARE RADIO ADS, PRINT ADS, OR TV ADS COST EFFECTIVE? We have produced over 10,500 concerts and worked with over 60,000+ local acts since 2004. We have extensively tested and re-tested the effectiveness of every possible promotion tactic our staff could think of over the past 10+ years. We can only put our limited resources into the promotion tactics we know will cost effectively yield results. We have paid for and tested Print, Radio & TV ad campaigns for many years, but we have abandoned these overpriced and ineffective Ad Campaigns so that we could instead INCREASE average Artist Payment. If there is a promotion tactic we do not use currently it is because there is a tested and data driven reason why we’ve chosen not to spend resources on it. MORE IDEAS? We are always open to new promotion tactics. We welcome any new ideas, and we will thoroughly review and test any good ideas that we have not tried yet: admin@aftonshows.com

The rental agreement we have with each venue ensures that they’ll provide a full PA system and a qualified sound tech. You will never have to bring your own sound person or PA system for Afton shows. Anytime you confirm a show with us we will go into more detail as to what the venue provides and what you’ll need to bring. But here are the general guidelines: THE VENUE WILL PROVIDE

• The PA System
• Their resident Sound Tech
• Vocal Microphones
• Mic Cables
• Monitors
• Mic stands
• Drum Mics (If needed for their size of room)
• Their house lighting system

  WHAT ARTISTS NEED TO BRING IF YOU ARE A FULL BAND

• Your own instruments
• Instrument cables
• Amps & cabinets
• Drums, cymbals, and hardware

IF YOU ARE A SOLO/ACOUSTIC ACT

• Your own instrument(s)
• Instrument cables (if needed)
• Amps & cabinets (if needed)
• Any drum/percussion equipment needed

  IF YOU ARE A HIP-HOP, RAP, OR R&B ARTIST The Venue provides their FOH Sound Tech. They will run and setup the venue’s in-house PA System, mic stands, wired microphones, perform all mic and backtrack level checks, and play music in between sets. You can bring your own DJ if you prefer. Bring your own turntables if you need them. For playback of your backtracks you’ll need to use a portable audio player (phone, tablet, music player, etc) to plug into the sound system using a standard headphone cable. You can bring an audio CD with your backtracks on it as a secondary backup, and can use that if the venue has a CD player onsite. IF YOU ARE A DJ OR AN ELECTRONIC ACT You’ll have access to the venue’s PA System, sound tech, and their house lighting rig. You’ll need to bring:

• Your own MIDI Controller (if you use one)
• Your own Turntables or CDJS (if you use them)
• Your own laptop (if you use one)
• Any cables or adapters you need to hook your equipment into the system via XLR or 1/4″ jacks
• Any other equipment or cables/cords/hook ups you normally gig with

Depending on the city size and the availability of our artists, we get anywhere from 1 to 4+ show dates per month on a year round basis. For the most part we have a variety of dates and clubs available. We are also continually adding new venues to add diversity to the dates available in any particular city Rather than officially offer you show dates that might not fit your genre or your specific needs, the first step to booking is for you to submit your Booking Profile. Once that is submitted, your Booking Rep will fully review your information and then have a better understanding on which of our upcoming shows to offer you. WHAT IF THE DATE OFFERED WON’T WORK FOR ME? Just let us know! Remember, we put on many shows each month year round in your area. So even if the show dates this month or next month don’t fit your schedule, don’t worry because we will continue to have new show dates each subsequent month. This is why the Booking Profile is the first step, you only submit it once, and from that point onward your Booking Rep will email you regularly with new upcoming show dates. WERE YOU ALREADY OFFERED A SPECIFIC DATE? If you’ve not yet submitted your Booking Profile and you were offered a specific show date/venue by one of our staff, that date may still be open and available for you to play. However, we won’t know for sure or be able to confirm you until you submit the Booking Profile. A show format and it’s genre can change from what we originally planned for, so make sure you contact your Booking Rep and submit the Booking Profile before you make any set plans to play a specific date. Once submitted, your Booking Rep will contact you with more details on the next available date that will be the best fit for you. DID YOU ALREADY SUBMIT A BOOKING PROFILE? If you’ve already submitted your Booking Profile you can login to your myafton.com account to view the show details of the shows you’ve been offered, or you can email your Booking Rep directly for more information on specific dates coming up in your area. Haven’t signed up yet? Submit your Booking Profile now – CLICK HERE

No problem. If you’re not currently gigging, not ready yet, or taking a break or “hiatus” for the foreseeable future then these are your options:

1. You can submit your Booking Profile right now so we have your information once you are ready to book. Then when you are offered a date, you can just let your Booking Rep know when you will be ready again.

    OR        

2. You can re-contact us by email, or visit this page (myafton.com/sign-in) once you’re ready.

Remember, we book full bands, full groups, and solo performers – so if you’re able to do some type of modified live show right now it’s usually best to submit the Booking Profile now so we can get the ball rolling. We put on shows each month year round, so it’s usually best to get on our roster now so we can plan bookings further in advance with you. Either way, just keep us posted with your status on offered dates so we know what to expect.

FOR LARGER NATIONALLY TOURING, SIGNED ARTISTS We can book touring acts in any of the 40 major U.S. cities we currently produce shows in. We’ve also done entire tours from start to finish for bigger artists. If you’re an unsigned local or regional, act see below. FOR UNSIGNED LOCAL ARTISTS Normally we book unsigned local and regional acts in their home city or home region. As for Touring Options, we can sometimes get an unsigned artist we work with into our other surrounding cities or states for shows, or for a possible mini tour – But first that act needs to be drawing 50-100+ fans for our shows in their home area. We are not able to put unsigned acts on tour or book them out of state if we have never worked with them before. The reason for this is that we take a loss anytime we book an unsigned act that can’t draw. For the most part, when we book a local unsigned act 3+ hours away from their home city, they have literally no draw and we end up taking a big loss just to have them perform at our show. So in order to shoulder those losses we require that the unsigned artist draw well for us in their home city/region first. If you are an artist that has a verifiable and established draw in multiple US cities that we book, feel free to submit the Booking Profile and we can assess the options. There are exceptions to the rule, but normally we cannot book an act in other states unless they have played for us and drawn well in their home city. You can see all of the cities we currently book by visiting AftonShows.com and clicking the “CITY” drop-down on the left toolbar under “FIND EVENTS”.