Also, I would not expect that an administrative fee of this sort would cover expenses that are specific to your group, for example printing costs for a flyer for your ensemble or postage for mailing it to a large list, or an ad devoted entirely to your ensemble in Chamber Music Magazine. If you get billed for all the expenses Edna enumerates and this administrative fee on top of that, then the agency may be charging what is traditionally called a retainer.

If the administrative fee covers the expenses expected, but also includes some additional income for the agency, I see Edna’s point that it is not necessarily unreasonable to accept that sort of arrangement as long as you feel the income it provides to the agency is not serving as a disincentive to making bookings happen for you. I will point out that the “standard” commission of 20% is not a directive Moses carried down from Mount Sinai on carved stone – rather we managers charge that rate because, frankly, we can. While it is not my sense that retainers are a pervading practice, things may indeed be changing.

Ultimately, the critical question to ask a potential management is what is the estimated bottom line for your (non-commission) expenses for the first year and subsequent years. (You should ask about both because in a first year it would be normal for you to need to lay out for materials created which are likely to have a shelf life of at least a couple of seasons. You may also be told that you must have a photo shoot, record a demo, etc., which you will likely pay for directly.)

Any manager should be ready and willing to be open about what you are being billed for and what you should expect. You in turn should not be reticent about asking, either before you sign the contract or any point along the way. If you can’t have good communication about this, it is not a good indicator for a healthy overall relationship.