Spotlight: Stef Ekkel Bookings
“Building structure in your bookings from day one”
With this first Artwin Live Spotlight, we take a look at the daily practice of artists and agencies working with the platform. In this series, we want to show how they organise their work, what challenges they encounter in practice and which tools help them along the way.
We start with Stef Ekkel Bookings, the agency run by Stef Ekkel and Sem Pouwels. They officially launched their agency at the beginning of February and have been using Artwin Live from day one as the foundation for their bookings, communication and administration.
Stef Ekkel Bookings focuses mainly on bookings for Dutch artists, bands, DJs and live acts. From private parties and local events to large concerts and festivals across the country.
When Stef and Sem started their agency, the choice for Artwin Live was quickly made.
“I already knew Artwin Live and had good experiences with it as an artist. When we started this agency, we wanted to do things professionally from the beginning instead of working with separate Excel files and emails.”
From the start, they decided to build their workflow around one central system. They set things up step by step by experimenting with the platform before officially launching the agency. Once everything was clear, they deliberately configured their environment, including contract templates, email templates and the first version of their artist and client database. As a result, the first booking requests were handled in a structured way right away.
“When the first booking requests came in, everything just worked naturally.”
In their daily work, the biggest advantage is the overview and speed.
“Managing clients, requests and budgets centrally helps a lot. It allows us to move quickly and always have the right information available when a booking needs to be finalised.”
They mainly use the bookings, contracts and invoices modules, because this allows them to manage the entire process from initial request to final payment within one system. According to them, working this way also helps them present themselves professionally towards promoters and clients.
“Clients receive clear confirmations, contracts and communication, which makes us come across as professional from the very beginning.”
They especially notice the difference when handling multiple booking requests at the same time.
“Because everything is centralised, we keep a clear overview even when several requests are running at once. That helps us grow in a controlled way without things becoming chaotic.”
For agencies that are just starting or still working manually, they have clear advice:
“I would definitely recommend using Artwin Live, especially because you build structure from the beginning instead of having to reorganise everything later.”
Looking ahead, Stef and Sem want to continue growing their agency and help clients find the right artist or act for their events.
“We like to think along from the start, so that both our clients and ourselves can look back on a successful event. We hope to keep growing and handle more bookings, with Artwin Live remaining the foundation that keeps everything organised.”
In this spotlight, Stef Ekkel Bookings shared a look into their workflow since launching the agency. Over the coming months, we will speak with more agencies and artists to show how they organise their work and what role Artwin Live plays in their daily operations.
Are you also working with Artwin Live and would like to share your story, or are you curious how it could work for you? Feel free to reach out, we’d be happy to think along with you.