Booking sites and agencies
Agency or audience? Alive Network and GigTag side by side
At your own gigs there is no coordinator: only you, the band and a crowd. What you need is a way for that crowd to reach you. GigTag gives your act one permanent QR code on the mic stand that opens your booking form, your next gig and your links in the browser. If you were reading about Alive Network, this is for the gigs you book yourself.
- No app for your audience
- Free to start
- One code that never changes
Why GigTag
What GigTag gives your own gigs beside Alive Network
Alive Network finds clients and manages the booking for the acts on its roster. GigTag does not find clients. What it does is make sure the gigs you book yourself are not the end of the story: your audience can enquire, follow and come back, and GigTag takes no commission.
- 1
A direct line from your audience
With the tag on your mic stand, someone in the crowd sends a booking enquiry from your page and it reaches you on the website or in the GigTag app. You answer it. An agency is built to put a coordinator between act and customer, which suits a different kind of booking.
- 2
Bookings without commission to GigTag
GigTag takes no commission on a booking that comes through your code. You agree the details with the person who enquired, and on Pro you send an invoice in your own design that they pay online. The free plan already includes the booking enquiry form.
- 3
Start today, on the free plan
You make the page yourself for a solo act, a duo or a band. The free plan includes your tag design, the print file, your links, every gig and residency and the booking form. Alive Network's site sets out its own application route for artists who want agency work.
- 4
Your public gigs build a following
Your page shows your next gig and weekly residencies, and fans add them to their calendar from the same scan. They can follow your socials, website and music links too. Over a summer of festivals and bar gigs, that gives people a reason to come back and see you.
- 5
Requests during the set
On Pro, the crowd requests songs from your list, or anything if you open requests, and you see a live queue on your phone. It is a tool for the performance itself, and it comes with the same code that carries your booking form.
In short
Alive Network and GigTag, in four lines
- Alive Network is a UK entertainment agency whose coordinators handle customer enquiries and contracts for the acts on its roster.
- GigTag gives the audience at your own gigs a direct line to you, with no commission taken by GigTag.
- You set it up yourself on the free plan, and the audience needs no app and no account.
- Our recommendation: use GigTag at every gig you book yourself, and let an agency handle the private events it brings.
Side by side
GigTag vs Alive Network, topic by topic
Who handles the client
You answer, with nobody in between
You do. The enquiry arrives on the website or in the GigTag app from someone who scanned your tag, and you reply.
Alive NetworkIts site says every enquiry is given to a dedicated coordinator, who contacts the artists and the customer and works out the details between them.
The paperwork
Keep Alive Network for contracts; GigTag adds invoices
GigTag is not an agency. On Pro it gives you invoices in your own design, which your clients then pay online.
Alive NetworkOnce a booking is confirmed, Alive draws up a legally binding contract between the parties, according to the page it publishes for artists who want to join.
Joining up
Set up your own page for free
You set up your own page for a solo act, duo or band. The free plan includes the tag design and print file.
Alive NetworkIts join page says artists apply online with quality promotional material or by live audition, and that applications are approved by its artist liaison team.
Where you work
One tag for every gig you play
The tag goes wherever you gig. Your page lists your next gig and weekly residencies so people know where to find you.
Alive NetworkIts join page says artists choose which counties they are willing to work in, and the agency supplies acts for events across the UK.
Before the event
The client has dealt with you throughout
With GigTag the person who enquired has dealt with you from the first message, so there is no handover to arrange.
Alive NetworkIts site says that after a booking is secured the artist can speak directly with the customer, and that emergency cover is available around the clock.
The quick view
| GigTag | Alive Network | |
|---|---|---|
| A QR code your audience scans | Yes, one that never changes | – |
| Song requests from the crowd | Yes, on Pro | – |
| Tips by card or Apple Pay | Yes, on Pro, into your own Ziina or Stripe. GigTag takes 0% | – |
| Booking enquiries | Yes, on the free plan | Yes |
| Your gigs and weekly residencies | Yes, on the free plan | – |
| Invoices for bookings | Yes, on Pro | – |
| A printed tag for your mic stand | Yes, in your own design | – |
| Works without an app for the audience | Yes, it opens in the browser | – |
A dash means we did not confirm it for Alive Network, not that it is missing: see what Alive Network offers above, or ask on its site.
Alive Network or GigTag
Where GigTag is different from Alive Network
A coordinator, or a direct line
With Alive Network, a coordinator sits between you and the customer until the booking is agreed. With GigTag there is nobody in between. A person at your gig scans the code on your mic stand, your page opens in their browser, and they send a booking enquiry. It reaches you on the website or in the GigTag app, and you answer it yourself.
Applying to a roster, or printing a tag
An agency chooses its acts, and Alive Network's site sets out how to apply. GigTag has no roster. Any solo act, duo or band can make a page, and the free plan includes your own tag design, the print file, your links, every gig and residency, and the booking enquiry form. You can print the tag yourself or order a printed one.
Built for the gig itself
Alive Network is built around private events. GigTag is built around the night you are playing, including the regular ones. The page shows your next gig and your weekly residencies, and fans can add them to their calendar. On Pro they can request songs from your list during the set. Pro also gives you invoices in your own design that clients pay online.
A night with GigTag
A summer festival bandstand for a soul band
Your nine-piece is on the bandstand in the park for the town's summer festival, playing to picnic blankets and pushchairs and a crowd that keeps growing. You booked this one yourselves. The tag is on the front vocal stand, where people wandering past the stage can reach it. A family scans it and your page opens in the browser. They follow your socials. A man near the front checks where you are playing next and adds the date to his calendar.
On Pro you have opened requests, and between songs the bandleader glances at the live queue in the GigTag app and calls the next one. After the set, while the horns are packing away, someone on the festival committee sends a booking enquiry from your page about a private party. It is there on the website when you look that night. You reply yourselves, and when the date is confirmed you send an invoice in the band's own design, which is paid online. GigTag takes no commission.
About Alive Network
What is Alive Network?
Alive Network is a UK entertainment agency. Its site describes it as the UK's largest live entertainment booking agency and says it has been booking acts since 1999. It supplies live bands, solo musicians, DJs, classical players and other entertainers for weddings, parties and corporate events. Acts are chosen by the agency: its site says artists apply online or by audition, and an artist liaison team decides who joins.
A customer searches the site by type of entertainment and location, shortlists acts and sends an enquiry. Its site says each enquiry goes to a coordinator, who speaks to the customer and the artists and settles the details. When everyone agrees, Alive draws up the contract. Its site also mentions emergency cover around the clock. See its site for its terms for artists.
- Where
- United Kingdom
- Website
- alivenetwork.com
How Alive Network works
- 1
Search and shortlist. A customer chooses a type of entertainment and a location on Alive Network's site, looks through the artist profiles that come up and shortlists the acts they like.
- 2
Send an enquiry. The customer submits an enquiry about the acts on their shortlist. Its site says each enquiry is assigned to a dedicated coordinator at the agency, who takes it on.
- 3
The coordinator liaises. The coordinator contacts the chosen artists and the customer, and works through the details and requirements until both sides are happy with the arrangement for the event.
- 4
Contract and contact. Once the booking is confirmed, Alive draws up a legally binding contract. Its site says the artist can then speak to the customer directly in the run-up to the event.
Who Alive Network is for
Wedding couples. Couples choosing ceremony music, reception acts and evening bands. Weddings are one of the main occasions on its site, and a coordinator is there to help them through the choice and the booking from start to finish.
Corporate and party organisers. Businesses and individuals booking entertainment for corporate events and private parties. Its site lists a very wide range of acts, including entertainers, speakers and team-building as well as bands, solo musicians, DJs and classical players.
Artists seeking agency work. Performers who want an agency to bring them private event bookings. Its join page says artists apply online with strong promotional material or by live audition, and that its artist liaison team approves the applications it receives.
The verdict
GigTag or Alive Network: which should you choose?
The bottom line
For the gigs you book yourself, we recommend GigTag without hesitation. Its strongest point is the direct line: someone in your audience sends an enquiry from your own page, you reply, and GigTag takes no commission. It costs nothing to start. Alive Network is still the better fit if you want an agency to find wedding, party and corporate clients and manage those bookings for you, and many acts will sensibly do both.
Agency work and GigTag can run in parallel. Let the agency do what it does for weddings and corporate dates. Use GigTag at the gigs you book yourself, where nobody else is handling the audience. At an event the agency booked, follow your agreement with the agency on how further enquiries should be passed on.
- Step 1
Let the agency do its work
For weddings and corporate dates that come through Alive Network, work the way the agency and its coordinators ask. That side needs nothing from GigTag.
- Step 2
Set up your own gigs
Make a page for the act, enter the gigs and residencies you book yourselves, and put the tag on a mic stand at each of them.
- Step 3
Keep enquiries in their lanes
Answer GigTag enquiries from your own audiences yourself. If someone approaches you at an agency event, deal with it as your agreement with the agency says.
Choose GigTag if
You book a good share of your own gigs and want the people watching to reach you directly, with no commission taken by GigTag.
Start freeAlive Network may still suit you if
You want an agency to find wedding, party and corporate clients and handle the enquiry and contract for you.
GigTag FreeYour page, your tag design, every gig and residency, a booking form. One act.
GigTag ProSong requests, tips, invoices, more than one act. AED 30, £11.99 or $15.99 a month.
GigTag Printed tagFrom AED 100 in the UAE, £24.99 in the UK or €28.99 in the EU, delivered free, with a large size for more; $32.99 elsewhere, plus postage from the UK. Or print your own, anywhere, for free.
Questions
Alive Network and GigTag: what people ask
Something else? Ask us. A person reads every message.
Is GigTag better than Alive Network for an independent band?
For a band that books a good share of its own gigs, GigTag is the tool built for those nights: a permanent QR code, a booking enquiry form, your dates and links, and on Pro song requests and invoices. It does not find clients or act as your agent. If you want that, an agency such as Alive Network is the place to apply.
Why would an act on Alive Network's roster also use GigTag?
For everything outside the agency diary. At a pub, festival or residency you arranged yourself, GigTag lets the audience enquire directly, save your next date and follow you, with no app and no commission taken by GigTag. At events the agency booked, follow your agreement with the agency about new enquiries.
What is Alive Network?
Alive Network is a UK entertainment agency that supplies live bands, musicians, DJs and other entertainers for weddings, parties and corporate events. Its site calls it the UK's largest live entertainment booking agency and says it has operated since 1999. Customers enquire through the site and a coordinator handles the booking.
Does GigTag act as my agent the way Alive Network would?
No. GigTag is not an agency or a marketplace. It does not find clients, negotiate or draw up contracts. It gives your act a permanent QR code for the mic stand and a page where the audience can send a booking enquiry. What happens next is between you and the person who enquired.
Can I be on Alive Network's books and still use GigTag?
GigTag does a different job, so nothing on its side stops you. What you can do alongside an agency is set by your agreement with that agency, so read it. A sensible split is the agency for the events it books, and GigTag for the gigs you arrange yourself and the audiences at them.
How do Alive Network bookings and GigTag enquiries reach me?
Alive Network's site says a coordinator contacts the artists a customer has chosen and manages the booking through to a contract. A GigTag enquiry comes straight from a member of your audience who scanned your code and filled in the form on your page. You see it on the website or in the GigTag app.
How do acts join Alive Network?
Its join page says artists apply online if they have high-quality audio, video and photos, or by live audition, and that its artist liaison team decides on applications. See that page for the current process. With GigTag you simply make a page for your act and hang the tag on your mic stand.
How can a band get bookings without an agent?
One way is to make it easy for people who watch you to ask. A GigTag on the mic stand opens your page in their browser, with a booking enquiry form that comes straight to you. GigTag does not find clients, so a band may also want an agency such as Alive Network for private event work.
Can band members all be part of one GigTag?
Yes. A GigTag belongs to the act, and band members can join the band. On Pro one account can also hold more than one act, which is useful if the horn section goes out as its own group. How line-ups are presented to customers on Alive Network is covered on its own site.
Does a GigTag work at outdoor gigs and festivals?
It works anywhere people can point a phone camera at it. The tag is small, hangs on your mic stand and opens your page in the browser without an app, so a festival crowd can use it as easily as a pub audience. It is most useful at gigs you arrange yourself, away from the private events an agency such as Alive Network books.
Looking for Alive Network itself?
This page is GigTag's. Alive Network's sign-in, prices, reviews and support are on its own site.
Sites like Alive Network: more booking sites and agencies compared
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Alive Network is the name of its owner's product; GigTag is not connected with it. What is said about Alive Network here comes from its own public website, checked on 7 October 2026. Products change: if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
For musicians
One code on your stand. Requests, tips and the next gig behind it.
No app for your audience, nothing to download. Free to start.