Lina Kotzian.
Booking takes a human touch.
Titan’s Lina Kotzian on data, trust and helping young promoters take their next step.
Lina Kotzian · Titan Vienna
A booking begins long before an artist says yes. Dates, capacity and budgets matter, as does communication between everyone involved. Lina Kotzian explains how digital teams and data analysis have changed the work, and why personal contact remains essential.
Lina Kotzian is CEO of Titan Vienna. The Vienna agency has worked in electronic music booking, event management and music consulting since 1993. We received her answers to our five questions on 2 November 2026.
Data helps. Trust remains.
Titan has worked in electronic music booking since 1993. Which change in the relationship between artists, clubs and promoters most shapes your work today? Can you point to a situation that illustrates it?
Technology, or connectivity in general, has greatly influenced and changed collaboration in this field. Where it used to be very easy to arrange deals or details directly with the artists, it now all happens digitally with several people from the wider team involved. On the one hand, that is an advantage because, ideally, several people are working towards the same goal. On the other, it sometimes makes things unnecessarily complicated. I see this development positively because, looking back, the industry carried a high risk of loss: many decisions were simply made on gut feeling.
A good current example of how technological development is helping our industry enormously is AI-assisted data analysis. It provides a strong basis for negotiating with artists using actual facts and, in doing so, greatly reducing the risk of financial loss.
Even so, as a talent buyer, booker or promoter, you still have to do your homework. One thing AI cannot do is find the right connection for authentic communication with each partner. That takes a great deal of sensitivity. But that is precisely how long-term partnerships emerge, allowing everyone involved to earn and grow together.
What makes a good enquiry
When a promoter wants to book a particular act, what do you first want to know about the night and its audience? Feel free to describe a booking where those conversations made the difference.
You can tell quite quickly whether someone works professionally. Often, the very first email makes the difference. It starts with simple hard facts such as the date and venue. Then come capacity, budget, ticket prices, a financial plan, additional options and requirements such as territorial exclusivity.
With in-demand artists, it is now often the financial offer that ultimately makes the difference. That makes things harder for smaller grassroots promoters, which is a shame because they are incredibly important to the existence of a scene or culture.
Our doors are always open to new, young talent and ideas.
Professionalism and the human touch
You work on both club nights and larger shows. What can a small, well-run club night teach us that also helps with a major production?
I think it is more the other way round. Club promoters can sometimes learn from festivals’ professionalism. Perhaps the human touch is something we can still learn from a small, well-run club night. Often, sharing dinner with the artist before the event makes the difference: that personal contact with the promoter.
Unfortunately, that has declined considerably, too. The big festivals often understand better how important the relationship with the artist is and have dedicated positions for it.
Listen first, then curate
Your work also includes music concepts for hotels and brands. How do you find a musical direction that fits the place while leaving the artists room for their own signature?
That always happens through very close dialogue with the respective partners. In-depth analysis and preliminary conversations are absolutely essential.
The next step for the scene
Looking at the Austrian scene, where do you see people or ideas you would like to give more opportunities to? What could an agency like Titan do to help?
The scene here is finding things a little difficult at the moment, even though our geographical location makes us an interesting market. Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary: for many people, Austria was a destination for high-quality, exceptional events. Because of the lack of a scene here, we now work mainly with clients abroad.
But there are also some very hard-working young promoters in Austria who have built communities with limited resources. The next step is always important: how do I go from a national promoter to an international player? We support many of them, often in an advisory capacity or by handling the booking when a somewhat more expensive artist is involved, someone who is not so easy to reach without references.
Through our booking strategy and the bookings themselves, we have helped build many Austrian clubs and festivals, whether they still exist or not, helping establish their image and keep them going. It often takes on a momentum of its own. But it is rewarding to look back and see what you helped build. Our doors are always open to new, young talent and ideas.
Lina Kotzian
Interview by email · Editorial and image art direction: SCENE:ID. Julie Brass · Bereitgestellt von Lina Kotzian / Titan