Testing out the future of live music

MUSIC MOGUL AI AIMS TO MAKE BOOKING TOURS EASIER, BUT SOME AGENTS WARN AUTOMATION ONLY GOES SO FAR IN AN INDUSTRY WHERE HUMAN CONNECTION IS KEY

- BY DAVE BROOKS

Photo illustration by JIM COOKE Los Angeles Times; photo from Getty Images

FOR DECADES, booking a concert tour has been one of the music business’ most opaque processes — a craft built on personal relationships, instinct, reputation and thousands of emails that never lead anywhere. Now, as touring grows more expensive and artists are increasingly forced to operate like small businesses, artificial intelligence is being asked to step in. The question facing the live music world isn’t whether AI can help book concerts. It’s whether it can do so without flattening a system that depends as much on trust and taste as it does on data. That tension sits at the heart of Music Mogul AI, a new software platform created by veteran booking agent Brad Stewart of Stewart Entertainment in Charlotte, N.C. Designed to automate large portions of the touring process — from identifying venues and emailing promoters to negotiating fees, advancing shows and marketing concerts — Music Mogul AI is among the most direct attempts yet to apply artificial intelligence to one of music’s most relationship-driven jobs. ¥ Supporters see it as a potentially democratizing tool for independent artists locked out of traditional representation. Critics worry it risks turning a deeply human business into another stream of automated emails — at a moment when inboxes are already overwhelmed. “I didn’t build this because I think agents are obsolete,” Stewart says. “I built it because the system doesn’t work for a huge number of artists anymore.”

THE TOURING SQUEEZE

Stewart has spent more than 20 years booking tours, most recently as the founder of Stewart Entertainment Agency. Over that time, he’s watched touring costs climb steadily — gas, hotels, crew, insurance, production, venue staffing — while revenue opportunities for developing artists have narrowed.