How To Become A Talent Buyer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a talent buyer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A talent buyer fulfills a comprehensive list of skillful and specialized roles while performing tasks. These tasks typically include identifying and hiring the right talent for a particular event. A talent buyer studies the entertainment needs of a specific market and tries to find the right talent to meet these needs.

This person manages the show's budget and evaluates bills to see whether or not they will sell. They do this while deciding whether a promotional campaign is enough or if a more vigorous campaign is needed for an event. To be a successful talent buyer, you must have a clear understanding of musical genres.

One of the essential qualities that a talented buyer has to have is a good ear. You will use this to assess the quality of the kind of music that the chosen artist produces. It is also vital that you have good communication skills as they are crucial to negotiating with the agents of a more established act. Talent buyers make an average of $47,438 each year.

ScoreTalent BuyerUS Average

Salary

5.0

Avg. Salary $63,807

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

4.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.78%

Asian 6.27%

Black or African American 9.49%

Hispanic or Latino 12.91%

Unknown 4.44%

White 66.11%

Gender

female 32.32%

male 67.68%

Age - 49

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.1

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a talent buyer

Explore talent buyer education requirements

Most common talent buyer degrees

Bachelor's

79.3 %

Associate

11.2 %

High School Diploma

5.4 %

Start to develop specific talent buyer skills

Skills	Percentages
Booking	61.85%
Ticket Sales	8.82%
Production Coordination	6.64%
Live Events	5.44%
Blues	2.58%

Complete relevant talent buyer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New talent buyers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a talent buyer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real talent buyer resumes.

Research talent buyer duties and responsibilities

Assure suppliers comply with safety and quality alignments within company standards and manage non-conformance reporting for logistics as per company policy.
Communicate with booking agents via phone and email, negotiating cost to fit within WUD's budget.
Self-Own booking agency and event promotion company.
Assure suppliers comply with safety and quality alignments within company standards and manage non-conformance reporting for logistics as per company policy.

Prepare your talent buyer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your talent buyer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a talent buyer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable talent buyer resume templates

Build a professional talent buyer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your talent buyer resume.