How to get booked to play at The O2

The O2 has a capacity of 20,000

This week The O2 in London is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

In that time, it's become one of the must-play venues for some of the world's biggest names, such as Little Mix and the 1975.

To play there, they have to be booked by its programming director, Emma Bownes, who is responsible for The O2's calendar.

We found out what it takes to get noticed by someone with the keys to one of London's biggest venues.

Have a BIG release ready to drop in the next 18 months

With acts like Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles passing through, it's no surprise gigs at The O2 are booked well in advance.

That means anyone planning on playing there needs to get their attention way before they want to perform.

"The biggest challenge is making it work for us and the artist," said Emma.

"We've pretty much finished 2017 at the O2, we've just got a couple more artists that we'll confirm before the end of the year.

Emma Bownes was a promoter for Mean Fiddler before starting to book shows for Wembley Arena

"The first half of the year is done for 2018 as well, so now we're trying to fill in the gaps.

"We look at the releases that are coming out that year and think about which will be the biggest.

"Then we speak to the promoters of those artists, work out how many dates they want and try and secure those first.

"When we had Adele for example, she did eight shows here and we tried to get that sorted first because it's harder to get a run of eight dates with the appropriate days on and off in the diary in a position that suits the rest of the tour."

Work your way up...

Selling out smaller venues like London's Scala will help acts get noticed

"You can tell when an artist is growing through the various venues.

"The rate at which they grow through the venues varies depending on an artist to artist basis.

"They might start off at London venues like The Garage or Scala, then Shepherds Bush or Kentish Town Fourm.

"Then they'll do the Brixton Academy or Hammersmith Apollo, then they'll come up via Wembley - then to the O2.

"You can see that rise coming and you can judge how quickly they're selling out venues.

"Then based off that you can see if they're worth an O2 night. Or maybe more than one - we judge it off ticket sales."

...or be Katy Perry

However, Emma also says there are exceptions to the rule.

"I remember Katy Perry did that climb really quickly. She started off at Scala I think.

"I can't remember exactly where she went after that but I remember at the time thinking, 'She's coming though really quickly'.

"But it does happen quite a lot, like with 5 Seconds of Summer they played two or three Wembley Arenas a couple of years ago, then they played the O2.

"They sold out two and they could have done more, they came up really quickly as well."

Be ready to keep a secret

A lot of the staff at The O2 didn't know comedy group Monty Python were booked until the tickets went on sale

"Promoters and agents, which is completely understandable, are really keen that we don't tell anyone who we're holding dates for.

"We code our diary to such an extent that sometimes we have to double check we all know who it is we've got booked in.

"We take it really seriously if a promoter says, 'Do not tell anybody,' which literally will not tell anybody.

"When we had Monty Python for 10 nights at the O2, it was such a big deal.

"We had to keep it such a big secret, I knew and only a couple of guys in the office knew.

"They were so keen to keep it a secret that we set the show up as Russell Brand and friends on the ticketing system, then at the very very last minute switched it over because they were that worried about word getting out."

Join Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire or Oasis

It might be a long shot but one way to get booked is to become a member of one of the bands Emma's already keen to book.

"If there's anybody on my wish list I think I'd have Arcade Fire and Arctic Monkeys on the same bill - which is totally unrealistic but that's what I'd like.

"Maybe we'll have to have one on one day then one the next.

"And maybe an Oasis reunion - that would be nice too."

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