ROSTR has become a daily habit for booking agents. Now it's going after the other side of the deal.
The company announced ROSTR Promoters on Sunday at the International Entertainment Buyers Association's 56th Annual Conference in Nashville. It calls the product the first searchable database of concert promoters. The directory is set to launch in 2027 and will be included in all ROSTR subscription plans.
"Promoters carry the financial risk on every show that goes on sale, and they are the least documented job in the business," said Vivian Wang Donohue, ROSTR's chief growth officer. "We had to do venues first, because you cannot map a promoter without knowing the rooms. This is the other half of that."
ROSTR built its business by mapping artist teams: the managers, agents and reps behind each act. Later it added a venue database, which launched with 33,000 rooms. Donohue told Decibel that over time, more and more promoters were showing up on the platform and asking to be listed.
"Everyone started asking, 'How can I get on ROSTR? I want a profile,'" she said. "It's partially they're asking for it. The other part is they're on there, but they're not represented."
Beyond the Big Two
Donohue said the directory will sort promoters into three main types:
Touring promoters, who stay with an artist across a whole run
Festival promoters
Regional buyers, who focus on a single market or region
She expects "thousands" of listings.
ROSTR already has most of the data on Live Nation and AEG, she said. The bigger payoff is further down the food chain.
"Everyone knows AEG and Live Nation," Donohue said. "How are you going to route from Los Angeles to New Orleans? Who's the promoter in West Texas? Who's the promoter in New Mexico?" She argued that knowing those buyers can be the difference between a tour that pencils out and one that doesn't.
According to the company, profiles will show which artists a promoter has worked with, which genres they book and which markets they've worked in. Much of the data will come from the promoters themselves. When ROSTR put an early-access QR code on screen during its IEBA presentation, Donohue said, "tons of people" signed up on the spot. "They know if they get listed on ROSTR, they're going to get more business."
Donohue was joined on stage by IEBA Executive Director Brian Wagner and AEG Presents' Adam Weiser.
The IEBA Connection
The launch comes six months into ROSTR's partnership with IEBA. So far the partnership includes:
50% off ROSTR's annual Individual plan and 25% off annual Teams plans for IEBA members
LIVE JOBS, IEBA's job board, which ROSTR built and runs
A free one-year Pro subscription for each student who gets a scholarship from IEBA's Educational Outreach Fund (more than 50 a year). Other students can get Pro for $15 a month.
"Our partnership with ROSTR is really about creating access and opportunity at every stage of a career," Wagner said. "We're not just adding value to IEBA membership — we're helping develop the pipeline of talent our industry needs for its future."
Why It Matters
For decades, knowing who buys shows in secondary and tertiary markets has meant knowing the right agent, or having the right numbers in your phone. Readers of our Top 20 Underserved Music Markets list know the problem: plenty of markets have demand, but they're hard to route through if you don't know who to call. A directory that makes those buyers easy to find could open up those markets.
The open question is upkeep. ROSTR's pitch is that its data is verified and current. Keeping thousands of independent promoter profiles accurate, many of them self-reported, will test that promise.
