Artist agreements / Agency-to-agency booking
Agency-to-agency booking agreement for an artist
Most corporate gigs reach an act through two agencies: the event company that won the offsite, and the agency that represents the comic. The artist booking agreement assumes one client. This one is for the chain.
For education only. Not legal advice.
For education only. This template is general information, not legal or tax advice, and not a lawyer-drafted document. C4E Talent is a talent agency, not a law firm, and using this template does not create a lawyer-client relationship with anyone. Law and tax rules change and differ by state and country. Have a lawyer or chartered accountant review it for your situation before anyone signs. You use it at your own risk.
Written by C4E Talent, a talent management agency in Mumbai. Updated 28 October 2026.
The short answer
An agency-to-agency booking agreement covers a gig where an event agency books an act from the artist's agency for its own client. It fixes the net fee to the artist's agency, when it is paid and whether that waits for the end client, who passes on the brief, who answers for the end client and the venue, how the act is presented, and what stops either agency bypassing the other. This template covers it in 14 clauses.
- Who signs
- The event agency that holds the end client, and the artist's agency. The artist countersigns.
- When
- Once the event agency confirms the act to its client, before any advance.
- Length
- 14 clauses, each with a plain-English note
- Formats
- Word and PDF. Free, no sign-up.
C4E Talent uses this when an event agency books one of our acts. We quote the event agency a net fee and never contact its client about the event. Every number in the template is blank.
The agreement, clause by clause
Each clause reads as it does in the download. Fill the [BLANKS], and where a line starts with ☐, keep the option you want and strike the rest.
The parties
1.1This agreement is made on [DATE] between [EVENT AGENCY NAME], of [ADDRESS] (the "Event Agency"), and [ARTIST'S AGENCY NAME], of [ADDRESS] (the "Artist's Agency"), for the performance of [ARTIST NAME OR STAGE NAME] (the "Artist").
1.2The Event Agency is engaged by ☐ [END CLIENT NAME] ☐ a client it will name to the Artist's Agency in confidence (the "End Client").
The event and the performance
2.1The event is [EVENT] on [DATE] at [VENUE, CITY], for about [NUMBER] people. The Artist will perform [FORMAT] for [DURATION] minutes, starting at about [TIME], in [LANGUAGE].
2.2The terms in clauses 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Artist Booking Agreement on c4etalent.com (the performance, travel, stage, content and recording) apply between the Event Agency and the Artist's Agency as if the Event Agency were the Client, unless this agreement says otherwise.
Fee
3.1The Event Agency pays the Artist's Agency a fee of [AMOUNT] (the "Net Fee"), plus GST if the Artist's Agency is registered, plus travel and stay under clause 5 of the Artist Booking Agreement.
3.2What the Event Agency charges the End Client is its own business. The Artist's Agency will not ask, and the Event Agency need not disclose it.
Payment
4.1The Event Agency pays an advance of [50]% of the Net Fee within [3] working days of signing, and the balance ☐ before the performance ☐ within [15] days after the Event.
☐ Payment does not depend on the End Client paying the Event Agency.
☐ The Event Agency may pay the balance within [7] days of the End Client paying it, but no later than [45] days after the Event in any case.
4.2Late payment carries interest at [1.5]% a month from the due date.
The brief
5.1The Event Agency passes on the End Client's brief, off-limits list and run of show in writing by [DATE], and arranges any briefing call the Artist needs with the End Client.
5.2The Artist's Agency is not responsible for anything that goes wrong because the brief was late, incomplete or wrong.
The End Client and the venue
6.1The Event Agency is responsible to the Artist's Agency for the End Client's conduct, the venue, its permissions and the safety of the audience, as if they were its own.
6.2The Event Agency's event lead on the day is [NAME AND PHONE]. The Artist takes instructions only from that person.
How the Artist is presented
☐ The Artist may be presented to the End Client as booked by the Event Agency, without naming the Artist's Agency.
☐ The Artist's Agency is named as the Artist's representative.
7.1The Artist will not hand out the Artist's Agency's or the Artist's own business cards or booking details to the End Client or its guests at the Event, and will refer any booking enquiry made there to the Event Agency.
No bypassing, either way
8.1For [12] months after the Event, if the End Client books the Artist through the Artist's Agency or the Artist directly, without the Event Agency, the Artist's Agency will pay the Event Agency [10]% of that booking's fee.
8.2For [12] months after the Event, if the Event Agency books the Artist without going through the Artist's Agency, the Event Agency will pay the Artist's Agency its usual commission on that booking.
8.3There is no other penalty. Nothing in this clause stops anyone working with anyone.
If the End Client cancels
9.1If the Event is cancelled or moved, the cancellation scale in clause 9 of the Artist Booking Agreement applies between the Event Agency and the Artist's Agency, whatever the End Client has agreed with the Event Agency.
If the Artist cannot perform
10.1If the Artist cannot perform, the Artist's Agency refunds every payment within [7] days, pays any non-refundable travel the Event Agency booked, and ☐ offers a replacement of similar standing and fee for the Event Agency to accept or refuse.
Confidentiality
11.1Each agency keeps confidential the other's fees, margins and client names, during this agreement and after it.
Tax
12.1Each agency invoices the other on its own GSTIN where registered. The Event Agency deducts TDS where the law requires and issues the certificate on time.
Disputes and the law
13.1This agreement is governed by the laws of [INDIA / THE UAE, EMIRATE OF [EMIRATE]]. The courts at [CITY] have jurisdiction.
13.2If a dispute arises, the agencies will first talk for [15] days. ☐ If that fails, it goes to arbitration by a sole arbitrator in [CITY].
General
14.1This agreement and any attached copy of the Artist Booking Agreement are the whole agreement about the Event. Changes count only if both agencies confirm them in writing, including by email. It may be signed electronically. If any clause is unenforceable, the rest stands.
Signed by: Event Agency; Artist's Agency; Artist, confirming the booking. The download has signature, name and date lines for each.
Take the agreement with you
Agency-to-Agency Booking Agreement: Word to edit, PDF to print. Blanks are highlighted.
Law and tax notes
Pay-when-paid
Nothing in Indian law stops two businesses agreeing that one pays when its own client pays, but it moves the risk of a slow client onto the act. If you agree it, cap it with a final date, as clause 4 does.
No-bypass terms
Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act 1872 voids agreements restraining a lawful trade or profession, and section 74 limits a stated penalty to reasonable compensation. A finder's fee on a client one agency introduced is a payment term. A ban on ever working with that client, or a large fixed fine, is the kind of term that fails.
GST in a chain
Each agency charges GST on its own invoice if registered. A registered event agency can usually claim credit for the GST it pays the artist's agency; confirm with your CA, especially where one agency is outside India.
UAE
Where the event agency is in the UAE and the act's agency in India, tax on a cross-border service and any withholding in the UAE need advice from a CA and a UAE adviser. This template does not cover them.
Stamp duty
Stamp duty. An agreement signed in India attracts stamp duty under the Stamp Act of the state where it is signed. Pay it, usually through e-stamping, before or at signing. An unstamped agreement is not void, but a court will not accept it as evidence until the duty and any penalty are paid.
Questions people ask
What is a net fee in artist booking?
The amount the artist's agency receives from the event agency, before any margin the event agency adds for its own client. The event agency's price to the client is its own business.
Should the artist wait until the end client pays?
Not by default. Under this template the event agency pays on its own dates. If both agencies agree pay-when-paid, the template caps it at 45 days after the event.
Can the artist's agency contact the event agency's client?
Not about that event, and the act refers any enquiry made at the event to the event agency. If the client books the act directly within 12 months, the event agency receives a finder's fee.
Who is responsible for the end client's behaviour at the event?
The event agency, under clause 6. The act has no contract with the end client, so the event agency answers for the client and the venue.
The other templates
- Artist booking agreement · The client (a company, an event agency or a family) and the artist, or the agency signing for the artist.
- Artist invoice · The artist, or the agency that contracted the gig, sends it to the client.
- Artist management agreement · The artist and the manager or agency.
- Artist listing agreement · The artist and the agency or site that lists them.
- Performance recording consent · The performer and the event organiser or client who wants to record.
- Confidentiality letter · The artist signs it and gives it to the client.