Ok, so I know most of you probably aren't or didn't have bands at your weddings, but I'm hoping that maybe you can still give me some advice from a moral/ethcial perspective. Sorry for the lengthy story.
For several weeks I have been talking to Jared, the manager of the Identity Theft band. They seem awesome and I wanted to book them but it really is a huge chunk of money to throw down, and I wanted to be able to see them live before putting down a deposit. We were unable to make it to any of their shows the last few weeks (some due to conflicts, some due to being weeknights and the venues being an hour+ away from our house). Yesterday, I wrote Jared an e-mail, apologizing that we didn't make it out on Friday and asking if they had their March schedule available yet as we can't make the only 2 public shows they have left for the month. I mentioned that I didn't want our date to get swiped before we had a chance to see them. He writes me back and low and behold, our date has been swiped.
Jared then suggested that I contact a guy he knows named Eddie (who I later find out is an agent) and assured me that he would be able to hook me up with a few other good bands in the area. I considered contacting Eddie, but before I could give it a second thought, Eddie has e-mailed AND called me. Apparently he has already received my contact information from Jared (even though I never gave permission for it to be handed out). In Eddie's e-mail his exact words are, "I book the private events for Identity Theft as well as multiple additional bands in Dallas-Ft.Worth. We regret Identity Theft is already booked on 9-22-12 but I would be glad to forward you the list of bands that are currently open that day."
Ok, so my thought is, "Sweet! Someone who can help me! How nice!" I really assumed that he was just a manager for several bands in the area. So, I tell him that I would take him up on his help and give him the price range we are wanting to stay within. FF to today. I get a call and e-mail from George, who is with another band that I had been considering previously. He tells me that Eddie has contacted him and that Eddie is a booking agent and that if I book through him my fees to book will be significantly increased. He suggests that if I'm going to book with them that I do it on my own.
I am furious that this guy offered his "help" to me without explaining that there would be additional fees involved. I know nothing about booking agents, but I had no idea that they could just offer to "help" you and in turn charge you extra for something that you could easily do yourself. Eddie sent me a list of bands with prices (and some with audio clips) to consider. I tried contacting one of the bands myself and he told me that Eddie had already contacted him on my behalf, so he wasn't sure "what to do". I gave him a mini version of my schpeel about the situation. He suggested that I request that Eddie release the bands that he's submitted to me, so that I can contact them on my own.
ANYWAY, my question is...what the heck do I do? All I can figure is that I could write this Eddie guy back and explain that I feel that he misrepresented himself and that I had no idea he was a booking agent and if I had, I never would have used him. I think it's kind of ridiculous that a job like that even exists. It's called Google, my friend.
