Chapter 5 of 7 · Role guide
Promoters & venues
Meet the agents. Scout what comes next.
ADE does not book and has no in-house booker; it puts every agent and every rising act in one city for five days. This guide covers both modes: buying (meetings with asks, scouting support slots, the operational panels) and hosting (an official venue partner, a guest list of buyers, a door that works).
At RE:UNION For promoters who book Spanish-speaking artists, or want to, this is the one afternoon the agencies and labels from Spain and Latin America are in one room with their international counterparts. Bring dates and budgets.
Who it is for
Buying: face time with the agents you book from and the ones you want, a scouting week that shows who is next, and holds that become offers within a week. Hosting: presence in front of the whole industry, once a year, at a price you chose on purpose.
| Profile | What ADE is for, in this case |
|---|---|
| Buying | Club promoters and festival programmers. Here for agents, support slots and the ticketing, pricing and safety education the conference does well. |
| Hosting | Event companies and collectives putting on a night. Here to be seen by the industry, which only works with an official venue and a guest list. |
| Local operator | Amsterdam venues and promoters for whom ADE is the peak of the year: twelve events for Audio Obscura, sixteen shows in five days for Intercell. |
| Stage | Realistic goal for the week | First move |
|---|---|---|
| Exploring | Understand how the machine books, prices and runs a door. | Promoter Hub panels, ADE Green on Friday, one night watched from the door side. |
| First nights | Leave with two agents who know your room and one support act you want. | Meet the Event Organisers & Promoters; three agent meetings with dates and budgets. |
| Building momentum | Pin winter and spring; open the summer conversation early. | Offers, not catch-ups; scout the "invites" nights for next year's headliners. |
| Established | An official night that is a place, and the relationships that keep it full. | Venue partner by January, Festival Fund by e-mail, a guest list of buyers and media. |
Numbers that shape your week
- Meet the Event Organisers & Promoters
- Wed 11:00
- Venue registration
- Closed
- Pro Pass at your door
- Full is full
- Festival Fund
- By e-mail
Before ADE
January · hosting
Spring · hosting
Summer · hosting
Summer · buying
September · database opens
One week out
Bring
- Dates, budgets and avails
- The act you want, the one you'd accept
- Venue one-sheet with QR
- Audience context and calendar
- One event challenge to solve
- Tickets for the scouting nights
Your week
Wed 21
- 11:00–12:30 Meet The Event Organisers & Promoters Pro Pass
- 13:15–14:45 Meet The Agents Pro Pass
- 14:15–15:00 Behind the Booking: what artists, managers and promoters really want Pro Pass
Thu 22
- 11:15–12:00 Beyond the Numbers: 5 trends reshaping the industry today Pro Pass
- 14:30 → early evening RE:UNION · ADE 2026 Free · QR pass
- 15:30–16:15 The Shrinking Gatekeep: a conversation between artists Pro Pass
- 16:45–17:45 30 Years of ADE Pro Pass
Fri 23
- 12:30–13:15 Why Humans Still Need Dancefloors? Pro Pass
- 13:30–14:15 Creating the Next Generation of Club Promoters (AFEM) Pro Pass
- 14:15–15:00 Micro Communities: Connected Locally, Impacting Globally Pro Pass
- Time to confirm on the official listing Funding resilient scenes Pro Pass · no Green day tickets
Sat 24
- 13:15–14:00 A Deep Dive into MENA's Thriving Live Music Scene Pro Pass
- 13:30–14:15 The Brazil Boom Pro Pass
- 14:30–16:00 Meet the focus-region professionals Pro Pass
Sun 25
- 07:00 Sunday–07:00 Monday Keriko Separate festival ticket · check availability
-
Wed 21
- Morning
- Afternoon
- Evening and night
-
Thu 22
- Morning
- Afternoon
- Evening and night
-
Fri 23
- Morning
- Afternoon
- Evening and night
-
Sat 24
- Morning
- Afternoon
- Evening and night
-
Sun 25
- Morning
- Afternoon
- Evening and night
Sessions for you
-
Meet The Event Organisers & Promoters
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
Behind the Booking: what artists, managers and promoters really want
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
Beyond the Numbers: 5 trends reshaping the industry today
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
The Shrinking Gatekeep: a conversation between artists
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
Why Humans Still Need Dancefloors?
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
Creating the Next Generation of Club Promoters (AFEM)
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
Micro Communities: Connected Locally, Impacting Globally
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
A Deep Dive into MENA's Thriving Live Music Scene
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
Meet the focus-region professionals
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
-
- Day
- Time
- Venue
- Why go
- Access
In the room
| Moment | Do this | Say or ask |
|---|---|---|
| Meet the Event Organisers & Promoters | Say what your room is, what you book and when; collect links, promise nothing. | Send me one link and your spring avails; I programme in November. |
| An agent meeting, Andaz | Open with the offer: date window, budget range, the act you want and the one you would accept. | Which of your artists fits a 600-cap Friday in March, and what would the fee position be? |
| A showcase, 01:00 | Watch the support act and the room; write one line per act before you leave. | Who booked the support, and are they touring in spring? |
| The Promoter Hub | Compare your pricing and conversion with the TicketSwap data; ask the Fourvenues team how Spain sells. | What did organisers your size change about pricing this year? |
| Your own door, first two hours | Be there. Brief the team to recognise Pro badges without letting the room fill with them. | Industry capacity is X; after that it is full for now, with a smile. |
Mistakes we keep seeing
| Mistake we keep seeing | Instead |
|---|---|
| A first ADE night as an unofficial event with no partner venue. | Partner with an official venue; be in the programme and the app, get Pro traffic. |
| A good party nobody who matters attended. | A guest list of agents, labels and journalists, invited in September. |
| Meetings without asks. | Dates, budgets, avails, the act you want and the one you would accept. |
| Booking safe because Amsterdam clubs do. | A visiting promoter is noticed for the booking only they would make. |
| Underestimating the door. | ID checks, Pro Pass capacity, same-day rules; brief the team and be there early. |
| Skipping ADE Green because it is "not my thing". | Routing, costs and funding are decided there; go on Friday. |
| Holds that never become offers. | Offers within a week, while the agent remembers the conversation. |
What veterans say
-
“ADE is always a very, very important moment of the year. We work towards it throughout the whole year.”
Jeroen Fontein source -
“You can only run sixteen shows in five days if everyone feels seen. That's the only way it works.”
Denzel Zurburg source -
“We never want to be headliner-dependent. Sometimes the bigger act plays earlier, and a local closes the night.”
Stijn Ceelen source -
“We almost always try to book artists at least three times.”
Christiaan Broedelet source -
“We don't book anything just to fill a slot.”
No Art / SONA Worldwide source -
“The conversations happening over coffee at Felix Meritis or during a chance encounter at a Business Hub directly translate into the tours, releases, and festivals that will define the next cycle.”
Damion Pell source
Budget
Indicative five-night totals using published 2025–26 ranges and the Pro Pass price on the official tickets page on 14 October. Buyers scout more nights than most delegates.
| Line | Buying trip, one person (Pro Pass) · €2,250–3,500 | Team of two, hosting (travel only) · €4,500–7,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | €795 + 3.77% fee (late rate, almost sold out) | 2 × €795 + fees; ask ADE about a company discount |
| Flights / train | €150–350 | €300–700 |
| Bed, 5 nights | €800–1,500 canal ring or De Pijp | €1,600–3,000, or a shared apartment |
| Food and coffee meetings | €250–400 | €500–800 |
| Transport | GVB included with the pass | included with the passes |
| Scouting tickets | 3–5 nights, €200–400 | €400–800 |
| Hosted night | — | Project budget: venue, production, artists, hospitality, marketing, Pro Pass capacity; no published benchmarks |
After ADE
- Same night
- Within 48 h
- Within a week
- By January
Hi [name], Good to meet you on Wednesday — thanks for the steer on [artist]'s spring routing. The offer, as discussed: [date window], [venue, capacity], [fee position], [support / production notes]. Venue one-sheet: [link]. If that works, I can hold [two dates] until [date]. Happy to talk through [second artist] as a support for the same night. [Your name], [promoter / venue]
New in 2026 for you
- New for 2026: Behind the Booking (Wed 21, 14:15, Promoter Hub) puts MDLBEAST's head of international talent buying, Encode Talent and NOON Agency in front of promoters on what artists, managers and agents actually want. source
- TicketSwap's Global Promoter Hub returns at RIVVIA · The Empress (Keizersgracht 264), with panels on Wednesday and Thursday; its trends report draws on 125+ organisers and features Fourvenues from Spain. source
- AFEM's Creating the Next Generation of Club Promoters (Fri 23, 13:30, Felix Meritis Husly Lounge) brings AVA, Encode and the Gashouder's programmer to the newcomer's problem. source
- ADE and VibeLab launch the Nighttime Culture Index at ADE Pro: a public dashboard on the cultural vitality of nightlife in six cities (Amsterdam, Lagos, New York, São Paulo, Seoul, Sydney). Session time on the official programme. source
- ADE Green takes over Felix Meritis on Friday 23 with a Pro Pass only (no day tickets): Why Humans Still Need Dancefloors, The Road to Low Impact Touring, Funding Under Fire, Meet the Experts of Sustainability & Social Change. source
- The Festival Fund is for registered festival locations only, one application per event by e-mail, and is "emphatically not a government subsidy". Grant sizes are not published. source