Talent agencies?

If I open a new club how do I go about finding DJs or live music acts to play there? Do they all hang out on the street somewhere like day laborers? Or are there any talent agencies that represent a fairly large number of acts? I don't want to run around finding people one by one I'm a) too busy and b) too lazy to do that.

There is another post floating around in here about a new club opening.. You might want to read the responses there. after that if you plan to go ahead with it.. Post classified adds looking for staff in your profile. maybe have events for hiring etc.

you might want to try MichaelJ Rossini , he is co-owner of a training school for dancers and other acts, he would probably know a few dj's etc , pretty well connected guy (say i sent you and get me some kudos points lol)

Look through the Live Music event listings in search, ignore all the Mall opening and yard sale spam, look for events with an artist or DJ listed first in the title and go to some events.

Open Mics are also good events to find live talent (though slightly more often on the raw newb end of the spectrum) SOme good long running events are the one on Menorca Island at the Hummingbird Cafe and the one at the Merry Pranksters - both of those are real hubs for live music people. There are many more of these though, and I only point to 2 that crossed my mind.

There is also now a weekly (rotating between monday afternoons and sunday afternoons) event called Kat's Connection that is specifically geared at providing a showcase for venue owners to view prospective talent.

DJ's I'm not so good at knowing, but I'd say similar tactics would be good to employ:

Go look around at active events, find someone you like and approach them. Even if they can't fill a slot, they probably know similar folks.

Friends are also a good source of contacts. Ask them if they have seen or heard any good ones at clubs and go from there.

When I was a club manager, I would perve profiles and if someone had in their's that they DJ-ed, I would talk to them about it. I made a great friend that way...and she rocks as a DJ!

Actually, yes. We all hang out in the Home Depot parking lot. Very often, we DJs will pile into the back of someone's pickup truck so we can perform a bit of day labor in someone's garden.

Seriously though, check the classifieds. Lots of DJs have ads up, including me.

Cheers.

How about creating your SL version of Talent show and give out big prizes but pick your
own secret celebrity Judges so they don't send all their friends to vote or hack accounts for them and manipulate or try to sleep with the Judges to win the contest?
Or so just go find a day labor place to hire whomever?

As Kaklick said thsats the best way, as well you can advert looking here
http://slmc.myfastforum.org/forum56.php

and there are a few other threads in that forum to help you out

The best musician manager I have dealt with by far is Kat Vargas. Her musicians are wonderful, she is on the ball and I have had absolutely no issues.