Agents and Business Managers of Artists, Performers, and Athletes
13-1011.00
Bright Outlook Updated 2025

Represent and promote artists, performers, and athletes in dealings with current or prospective employers. May handle contract negotiation and other business matters for clients.

Sample of reported job titles: Agent, Athlete Marketing Agent, Booker, Booking Agent, Entertainment Specialist, Literary Agent, Print Agent, Talent Agent, Talent Representative, Theatrical Agent

Occupation-Specific Information

Tasks

  • Collect fees, commissions, or other payments, according to contract terms.
  • Send samples of clients' work and other promotional material to potential employers to obtain auditions, sponsorships, or endorsement deals.
  • Keep informed of industry trends and deals.
  • Conduct auditions or interviews to evaluate potential clients.
  • Negotiate with managers, promoters, union officials, and other persons regarding clients' contractual rights and obligations.
  • Confer with clients to develop strategies for their careers, and to explain actions taken on their behalf.
  • Develop contacts with individuals and organizations, and apply effective strategies and techniques to ensure their clients' success.
  • Schedule promotional or performance engagements for clients.
  • Arrange meetings concerning issues involving their clients.
  • Manage business and financial affairs for clients, such as arranging travel and lodging, selling tickets, and directing marketing and advertising activities.
  • Hire trainers or coaches to advise clients on performance matters, such as training techniques or performance presentations.
  • Prepare periodic accounting statements for clients.
  • Obtain information about or inspect performance facilities, equipment, and accommodations to ensure that they meet specifications.
  • Advise clients on financial and legal matters, such as investments and taxes.
Find occupations related to multiple tasks

Technology Skills

Hot technology
Hot Technologies are requirements most frequently included across all employer job postings.
In demand
In Demand skills are frequently included in employer job postings for this occupation.

Occupational Requirements

Work Activities

  • Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
  • Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
  • Communicating with People Outside the Organization — Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
  • Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
  • Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
  • Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
  • Working with Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
  • Selling or Influencing Others — Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions.
  • Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
  • Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
  • Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
  • Developing Objectives and Strategies — Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
  • Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others — Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.
  • Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others — Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks.
  • Providing Consultation and Advice to Others — Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related topics.
  • Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
  • Performing Administrative Activities — Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork.

Detailed Work Activities

Find occupations related to multiple detailed work activities

Work Context

  • E-Mail — 100% responded “Every day.”
  • Telephone Conversations — 100% responded “Every day.”
  • Contact With Others — 94% responded “Constant contact with others.”
  • Time Pressure — 66% responded “Every day.”
  • Frequency of Decision Making — 71% responded “Every day.”
  • Spend Time Sitting — 60% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
  • Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams — 69% responded “Every day.”
  • Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals — 53% responded “A lot of freedom.”
  • Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 68% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Freedom to Make Decisions — 54% responded “Some freedom.”
  • Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team — 48% responded “Extremely important.”
  • Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results — 49% responded “Very important results.”
  • Level of Competition — 36% responded “Extremely competitive.”
  • Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — 66% responded “Every day.”
  • Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities — 34% responded “Very important.”
  • Duration of Typical Work Week — 45% responded “More than 40 hours.”
  • Written Letters and Memos — 38% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
  • Conflict Situations — 39% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
  • Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers — 35% responded “High responsibility.”
  • Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People — 36% responded “Once a month or more but not every week.”

Experience Requirements

Job Zone

Title
Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Education
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Related Experience
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Job Training
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Job Zone Examples
Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include real estate brokers, sales managers, database administrators, graphic designers, conservation scientists, art directors, and cost estimators.
SVP Range
(7.0 to < 8.0)

Training & Credentials

State training
Local training
Certifications
Find certifications nationwide
State licenses

Apprenticeship Opportunities

Start your career and build your skillset. Visit Apprenticeship.gov to learn about opportunities related to this occupation.

Worker Requirements

Skills

  • Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Negotiation — Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
  • Persuasion — Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
  • Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
  • Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Social Perceptiveness — Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  • Coordination — Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  • Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  • Time Management — Managing one's own time and the time of others.
  • Writing — Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  • Active Learning — Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Complex Problem Solving — Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
  • Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  • Service Orientation — Actively looking for ways to help people.

Knowledge

  • Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  • Sales and Marketing — Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
  • English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
  • Administration and Management — Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
  • Fine Arts — Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
  • Communications and Media — Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
  • Administrative — Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
  • Personnel and Human Resources — Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

Education

How much education does a new hire need to perform a job in this occupation? Respondents said:

  • 41%
     
    Bachelor’s degree required
  • 38%
     
    High school diploma or equivalent required
  • 17%
     
    Master’s degree required

Worker Characteristics

Abilities

  • Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Written Comprehension — The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Written Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Fluency of Ideas — The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Originality — The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Category Flexibility — The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

Interests

Interest code: ESC
Want to discover your interests? Take the O*NET Interest Profiler.
  • Enterprising — Work involves managing, negotiating, marketing, or selling, typically in a business setting, or leading or advising people in political and legal situations. Enterprising occupations are often associated with business initiatives, sales, marketing/advertising, finance, management/administration, professional advising, public speaking, politics, or law.
  • Social — Work involves helping, teaching, advising, assisting, or providing service to others. Social occupations are often associated with social, health care, personal service, teaching/education, or religious activities.
  • Conventional — Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources.

Work Styles

  • Initiative — A tendency to be proactive and take on extra responsibilities and tasks that may fall outside of one's required work role.
  • Self-Confidence — A tendency to believe in one's work-related capabilities and ability to control one's work-related outcomes.
  • Leadership Orientation — A tendency to lead, take charge, offer opinions, and provide direction at work.
  • Perseverance — A tendency to exhibit determination and resolve to perform or complete tasks in the face of difficult circumstances or obstacles at work.
  • Adaptability — A tendency to be open to and comfortable with change, new experiences, or ideas at work.
  • Social Orientation — A tendency to seek out, enjoy, and be energized by social interaction at work.
  • Achievement Orientation — A tendency to establish and maintain personally challenging work-related goals, set high work-related standards, and exert high effort toward meeting those goals and standards.
  • Integrity — A tendency to be honest and ethical at work.
  • Attention to Detail — A tendency to be detail-oriented, organized, and thorough in completing work.
  • Dependability — A tendency to be reliable, responsible, and consistent in meeting work-related obligations.

Workforce Characteristics

Wages & Employment Trends

Median wages (2024)
$46.30 hourly, $96,310 annual
State wages
Local wages
Employment (2024)
21,400 employees
Projected growth (2024-2034)
Much faster than average (7% or higher)
Projected job openings (2024-2034)
2,200
State trends
Top industries (2024)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024 wage data and 2024-2034 employment projections . “Projected growth” represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2024-2034). “Projected job openings” represent openings due to growth and replacement.

Job Openings on the Web

State job openings
Local job openings

More Information

Professional Associations

Disclaimer: Sources are listed to provide additional information on related jobs, specialties, and/or industries. Links to non-DOL Internet sites are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.

National Associations