It's easy to confuse the work of concert promoters with that of talent buyers, booking agents, concert producers, and other behind-the-scenes players in the live music business, and for good reason: there's plenty of overlap. But while a talent buyer books performers for the venue where they work and a booking agent represents performers looking to set up live shows, concert promoters aren't affiliated with a venue or an artist. Rather, they independently plan, market, and sometimes produce live concerts, including single shows, tours, festivals, and special events. 

Promoters need to be as disciplined as they are passionate, able to negotiate intelligently, keep tight control over expenses, and pay careful attention to the myriad details involved in producing a live music event.

For concert promoters, every job begins with budgeting: determining the right amount of money to spend on a concert, tour, or festival in order to maximize returns. Concert promotion is at heart a numbers game, and since promoters assume all of the financial risk for the shows they put on, they have to be sure that the event will be profitable. Success hinges entirely on the promoter's music and market savvy, negotiating skills, and ability to recruit an audience. Once a budget is in place, they might secure performers, pick a venue, and negotiate contracts and fees. Then there's the matter of designing and executing a marketing strategy. Finally, the promoter works with concert/event producers—either in house or third party—to arrange travel, transportation, and lodging for the artist and crew, as well as on-site hospitality; to devise a rider (a set of requests, usually creature comforts) with the artist; and to create a production schedule for load-in, load-out, lighting, and sound. If the event is a festival, the promoter will also hire a festival director and event operations coordinators.

At its heart, concert promotion is the art of creating an audience for a show and can involve almost anything that has to do with filling seats, such as ticketing and quality control. But if that's concert promotion, then why talk about concert production and booking above? The answer is that most medium- to large-sized concert promotion companies—such as Live Nation or AEG Presents—actually do much, much more than just promotion. It's common for these companies to own and manage a number of venues where they plan, book, produce, and promote their own shows—the whole live event pipeline. In addition, some even manage their own roster of artists. While a few independent concert promoters remain who create and distribute flyers, help plan radio visits, and organize online media campaigns for shows booked and produced by someone else, concert promotion companies focus on planning and organizing events from start to finish. When people talk about concert promoters, they're often talking about employees of these companies, rather than the independent variety.