I'm Out of a Job

Thread Count 22

Author

Erik Abel
April 20, 2023

Artists no longer have any use for me. And I hate to break it to you, but they don’t need you anymore either.

After playing around with ChatGPT prompts, I immediately realized that you don’t really need to hire experts anymore. All you need to know is how to ask the right questions. And soon, AI will ask the questions and answer them for you.

First, I will preface this by saying, for the time being, our relationships still matter. The promoter’s relationship with the agent, the manager’s relationship with the artist, etc. They all matter. But maybe not for long, because we can only gate keep for so long before the robots come knock us all over.

And for those of you who saw all of the traction the “Ghostwriter” Drake/ The Weekend AI track got in just two days, you know they’re coming for artists as well.

Not trying to be a buzzkill doomsdayer, so let me at least give you the right questions to help you book your own tour, before I’m out of a job.

I started with a simple prompt: “Help me route a tour for a hip-hop artist that plays venues in the 800-1200 cap range. Let's perform in the top 20 US hip-hop markets this August, taking only Mondays and Tuesdays off. Please keep the drives no more than 6 hours in a day. I need venues and cities please.”

And here was ChatGPT’s response: “Sure, I can help you with that! Here is a potential routing for a hip-hop tour in the top 20 US markets in August, based on your criteria:

  1. Aug 1: New York City, NY - Irving Plaza (1,200 capacity)

  2. Aug 2: Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer (1,200 capacity)

  3. Aug 3: Washington D.C. - 9:30 Club (1,200 capacity)

  4. Aug 4: Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live (1,200 capacity)

  5. Aug 5: Off Day

  6. Aug 6: Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club (1,000 capacity)

  7. Aug 7: Providence, RI - The Strand (1,200 capacity)

  8. Aug 8: Hartford, CT - Webster Theater (1,200 capacity)

  9. Aug 9: Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls Theatre (1,000 capacity)

  10. Aug 10: Off Day

  11. Aug 11: Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall (1,000 capacity)

  12. Aug 12: Chicago, IL - Metro (1,100 capacity)

  13. Aug 13: Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater (1,000 capacity)

  14. Aug 14: Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom (1,000 capacity)

  15. Aug 15: Off Day

  16. Aug 16: Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater (900 capacity)

  17. Aug 17: Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex (1,000 capacity)

  18. Aug 18: Boise, ID - Knitting Factory (1,000 capacity)

  19. Aug 19: Seattle, WA - The Showbox (1,100 capacity)

  20. Aug 20: Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom (800 capacity)

  21. Aug 21: Off Day

  22. Aug 22: San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore (1,200 capacity)

  23. Aug 23: Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre (1,200 capacity)

  24. Aug 24: San Diego, CA - The Observatory North Park (1,100 capacity)

  25. Aug 25: Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren (1,200 capacity)

  26. Aug 26: Off Day

  27. Aug 27: Dallas, TX - House of Blues (1,200 capacity)

  28. Aug 28: Houston, TX - House of Blues (1,200 capacity)

  29. Aug 29: New Orleans, LA - Tipitina's (1,000 capacity)

  30. Aug 30: Atlanta, GA - Center Stage (1,050 capacity)

  31. Aug 31: Off Day

Please note that these venues are based on a capacity of 800-1200 and are subject to availability. Additionally, driving times are based on Google Maps estimates and can vary based on traffic and other factors. It's always a good idea to double-check the driving times before finalizing the routing.”

WTF???!!! Are you serious? I swear I’ve booked this exact tour, and can tell you who handles the booking for each of these rooms. But I won’t, because I need to buy myself some time, while I work on finding myself a new career.

But when I did ask ChatGPT for the in-house talent buyers and their emails, it responded… “as an AI language model, I do not have access to up-to-date information on the in-house talent buyers for specific venues. The personnel responsible for booking talent can change frequently, and it can be challenging to keep track of those changes.

However, you can visit each venue's website or contact them directly to inquire about their current talent buyers. Typically, the venue's booking and event coordination staff can help you with this information. Additionally, there are industry resources available that can help you research venue contacts, such as Pollstar, which is a leading source of information for the live entertainment industry.”

Ummmm, yeah. My work here is done.

But, I highly recommend everyone gets to know AI as a tool, because it’s not going anywhere.

*This piece was still hand-written, with no assistance from AI (aside from all of the tour routing and tour commentary).

That’s been my PSA.

Keep doing what you love, and hold your loved ones close. It’s gonna be a wild ride.

Thanks again for all of the love and support. Please keep spreading the word, and I’ll try to get back to my positive, motivational self next week.

Til then.