Today we’d like to introduce you to Bret Peretz.
Bret, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started “working” in this industry on the Moongoddess Entertainment Street Team in Tampa, Florida in late 2011 or early 2012. At the time I just wanted free tickets and found out with pretty minimal effort I never had to pay for shows! I had a great “day job” which afforded me the opportunity to attend a pretty decent amount of music festivals.
Fast forward to August of 2013 and I was down at B.E. Easy Music Festival with the band Displace (half of the band were my roommates at the time). Walking in I was given one of their artist passes and jokingly said to them “If anyone asks I’m your manager.’ Chris Sgammato, who was self-booking the band while being the frontman replied: “Do you want to be?” My network had grown so much since I started street teaming that I figured I might as well give it shot, so after a few conversations I was officially booking and managing Displace. Having absolutely no Idea what I was doing.
July of 2014 I gave notice at my day job and the next month left for a 3-week tour with Displace. I probably shouldn’t have done because if I didn’t get a really lucky call right before I left for that tour I’m not sure what I’d have done when I got back. Luckily for me, one of my friends called me to fill in last minute for a Luke Bryant (I think) show working for CID Entertainment. That, in turn, led to me somehow getting a supervisor position at Lock’n Music Festival in September of 2014. I spent the next year working as many festivals as I could while managing and booking for Displace.
A year later I was back at Lock’n working again. At the end of the weekend, I was introduced to a few members of Atlanta based band Voodoo Visionary. That November I took Voodoo on as my 2nd booking client. From there I took on a couple other smaller acts, including Atlanta based Funk You and moved across the country from Tampa to Denver.
I only spent six months in Denver and was on the road working festivals for three of those. At this point, I had developed a pretty good relationship with Nick Weinberg from Aisle 5 and also Funk You’s manager. He invited me to come to Atlanta and work in the venue. After only 6 months I moved 2,000 miles across the country again and settled into Atlanta on 4/20/2016. Which was just in time to start working at Sweetwater 420 Festival the next day.
I had already promoted a couple of shows here locally before moving to the city and now being here took a much more active approach. Over the next year and a half, I continued working festivals, booking for a handful of bands from all over the country and sitting in the box office at Aisle 5 getting to know all the locals.
In November of last year, I flew up to Burlington, Vermont and interviewed with Hoplite. Hoplite is a full-service booking and management company with over 25 clients spread across the nation. I was offered and accepted the job as an agent. Currently, I am the Southeast representative for the company, assist in the Mid-South and, with a few acts handle the majority of their booking regardless of the region.
I’ve seriously cut back the festivals I’m working. This year I have taken a focus on booking with Hoplite and promoting shows here in Atlanta with Don’t Fret.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s been smooth in parts but this industry can be so unpredictable. Venues you’ve worked with for years will close, festivals stop happening, the people who were hiring you for events may get fired and you won’t know who to turn to!
I’ve been very lucky in the support I’ve received from friends and family which has made it way easier. I haven’t always noticed the bad times were bad because of the people around me. The hardest part was just getting used to not sleeping much and when you do have the opportunity realizing it may be in the back seat of your car at a rest stop in the middle of Mississippi.
Please tell us about Don’t Fret Entertainment.
The main focus of Don’t Fret Entertainment at this point is to promote shows here in Atlanta. I’d try to keep the shows I book within the realm of the “jam world” meaning acts that fit into Rock, Funk, Folk, Jamtronica. From meeting people here I’ve branched out a little further and this year started booking DJ’s on some shows.
The thing I’m the most proud of for Don’t Fret is the fact that I still work with so many people I met in my first year or two in this industry. The relationships have been long lasting which has helped immensely in growing my network and discovering new bands.
There’s something fun about “discovering” a band that hasn’t played here and getting to be the first person to bring new music to Atlanta.
What set’s Don’t Fret apart if the particular style of music I’m working with and my willingness to look at other promoters, not as competitors but partners. In the last year I’ve co-promoted events with seven other local entertainment companies (Speakeasy Promotions, Rhythm-N-News, Vibes Inc., Medicine for The Soul Entertainment, Magnolia Miracle, Native Groove and Envisioned Arts ATL).
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I wish I would have discovered live music earlier. I didn’t go to my first festival until I had already graduated from college. While it’s been a journey I’ve enjoyed, it hasn’t been the easiest and getting an internship in the industry while in or shortly after college would have saved me a lot of trouble learning things on my own.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dontfretent/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dontfretent/
Image Credit:
Jeff Myer’s Photos, Bonnie M. Moret Photography
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