You are not the center of the Universe. The Bar is.
The art of not throwing a tantrum at your gig.......
Your show doesnt start when you hit play.
It starts the moment you walk in the door.
Before the first lyric.
Before the first note.
Before the first Insta story.
And it lives on long after the final chord fades out……
You're booked to deliver a live experience — not just a setlist.
That means you’re not just showing up to play music.
You’re stepping into a living, breathing, unpredictable environment where a dozen moving parts — patrons, kitchen chaos, safety concerns, layout changes, function conflicts, power issues — collide.
So when a Duty Manager asks you to move, adjust, pivot, or plug into a different power source on the fly, it’s not personal.
It’s operational.
It’s the live in live music.
And how you respond in that moment ……well that is as much a part of your performance as your playlist.
Just this past Saturday night, a venue had two major functions collide with regular trade. The Duty Manager, seeing the pressure building, made a professional call to shift the live music setup into another bar area—still within the venue, still fully staged, but adjusted to allow safe flow and crowd control.
The Artist was asked—calmly, reasonably—to move.
They refused.
“I was hired to play that bar. I’m not moving.”
Then they packed up, stormed out, and left the venue without entertainment, mid-service.
The venue was blindsided.
The patrons disappointed.
The music brand—damaged.
When the agent followed up, the Artist responded:
“I don’t need the money and I don’t give a f*** about that gig.”
This kind of response doesn’t make you powerful.
It makes you vulnerable.
Here’s the brutal truth:
By holding firm to a specific physical location in the contract, you’re no longer operating as a music entrepreneur—you’ve turned yourself into labour hire. A body hired to stand in a marked box for X hours. That’s not artistry. That’s factory-line thinking.
Live music is not about geography.
It’s a fluid, conscious exchange of energy between you, the audience, and the staff managing the space between.
A true live performer adapts.
A professional understands the room is alive—it shifts and breathes.
A brand collaborates under pressure.
We’ve said it before, but let’s make it even clearer:
The way you respond to a Duty Manager—especially in the face of grumpy, ineffective communication—matters.
When tension rises, try this:
Take a deep breath
Step back—literally two steps
Hold your body language with calm authority
Choose your words, tone, and posture with care
Then apply this wisdom from Jefferson Fisher, conflict resolution expert and author of The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More:
“When someone is rude to you, insults you, or belittles you, a long pause is your greatest weapon.”
Fisher's Key Principles for Artists:
Start with the Outcome: “I want to deliver a safe, great show for your patrons.”
Set Boundaries: “I’m concerned about OHS; let’s find a safe option.”
Listen Actively: Understand their position, even if you don’t agree.
Don’t Take it Personally: It’s logistics, not a character attack.
Be Direct, Calm, and Respectful: That’s how professionals win trust—and more gigs.
Every moment—on and off stage—either builds or breaks your brand.
How you enter a room
How you speak to the bar staff
How you respond to a changing brief
All of it communicates who you are as a business.
Think your job is done when you load in?
Think again.
Your job begins when things change.
Because when the room moves, you move with it.
Live music is about flow.
It’s energy.
And that energy is dynamic, shifting, unrepeatable.
So when the layout changes, or the stage gets pushed back, or the manager moves your rig to protect a function or fix a hazard—it’s not a betrayal. It’s the venue doing their job.
Do yours.
Adapt.
Serve the room.
Hold your head high.
And keep your brand bulletproof.
You were not hired to stand in a corner and tick a contract box.
Your act was contarcted to move the room.
When the brief changes, you’ve got two choices:
Fight for your corner and reduce your brand to labour hire,
Rise to the moment and become the artist venues fight to rebook.
The Art of Communication isn’t about winning arguments.
It’s about becoming unforgettable—for the right reasons.
A beautiful voice onstage means nothing if it’s attached to ego offstage.
A stunning venue renovation means little without staff skilled in conflict resolution.
Together, we build experiences.
Together, we serve the audience.
Together, we protect the future of live music.
Start there……
Written by Nichola Burton. I work in partnership with Agents, Artist Managers and Event Producers, who juggle a diverse range of relationships in the Musoverse, to curate, manage and measure data in systems, experience, creative and content to support the entire Musoverse operation in my enterprise A Little Pitchy Copyright 2025
