Artist Management Association Statement on Competitive Bidding
The Artist Management Association represents artist representatives and independent producers working across commercial photography and production. We are deeply concerned by recent reporting that a major holding company has encouraged its staff to make its own production division the default choice for clients and, where a triple bid is required, to explore supplying all three bids from within its own network. We do not object to integrated production. It does work well, and clients are right to use it where it serves them. We object to a competitive process that one participant controls. When the same organization decides who is invited to bid, competes in that bid, sees the other bidders' pricing, presents the options to the client and benefits financially when its own division wins, the process is no longer independent, regardless of how it is framed internally.
Fair, transparent and genuinely competitive bidding is not a formality. It is how independent agents, producers, and artists access opportunity, and how clients see the full field of talent available to them.
We therefore call on all integrated production companies and the broader holding company community to commit to the following practices:
Disclose to all bidders when an affiliated production company is participating in a bid.
Provide every bidder with substantially the same brief, budget information and timing, briefed at the same time.
Keep outside estimates and treatments confidential from competing teams, including any internal team.
Tell clients plainly when a recommended option is owned by the company making the recommendation.
These are reasonable expectations for any competitive process, and they cost nothing to adopt.
The AMA will continue to advocate for the practices and policies that protect our community. We encourage our members and the broader industry to share their experiences with us as this develops.
For inquiries, contact: info@artistmanagementassociation.org
