While it may or may not be good news to you, it is those artists who treat their live performances like a business who tend to succeed (and thus get to keep doing it). Often this means that these performers find a great team who runs the business and allows them to focus on the performance, but whatever the case, your performances must be viewed as you would any other type of business venture.

This means you must plan carefully, act strategically, monitor the financials, and thoroughly measure your progress. The point is not to take the "magic" out of the live performance, but rather to make sure there are an increasing number of fans there to witness the magic.

A big part of treating your performances as a business is making certain that all the legal elements of the performance are in order. Certainly if you are working with union musicians in your performances you will need to understand the legal implications, as well as the contracts. But even if you're just performing at the local bar, there are legal issues you need to be aware of.

This section will give you the information you need to make certain all of your performance related legal issues are attended to.