I doubt that.
I've never felt the need of having a website, because friends of mine (I won't call them 'agencies') are booking me as much as I need. Besides, they really know what I can do, something that will never be entirely clear on my website.
Even with good search tools, how is one going to select out of all the acts that are out there? An informed partner can help you make good decisions about what you need for your event, this is the real value of an agent. The shopping list is just a small feature of their site, to show how well connected they are. But in reality, nobody is going to watch all those 200 jugglers and decide which one they want, the agent decides that for you!
I could never imagine selling myself only. There are too many different things I can do for a client, even with just me they would still have a hard time figuring out what they want, and most of the time they want multiple performers. In the end the one with the best website & most world records wins. My agents hire me because of my skills.
Also they take care of much of the client communication, which I enjoy too. It is much easier to say "My artist works 3 batches of 30 minutes on a day" than to say myself "I don't really want to do more than 3 times 30 minutes", I'd be afraid to sound lazy! haha
Anyway, I have no experience with these huuuuugee ass agency's like stardust, but by their size I can only imagine they are able to organise huge ass events, no hassle.
by Daniel Simu, in response to this post 2015-09-01 14:04:10