How Nextar Artists keeps their 70/30 rule with SystemOne

At the helm of Nextar Artists booking agency, Tim Pijpen has been in the music business for over two decades. He co-owned and managed booking agency TTT Artists (repping die-hard artists like Paul Michiels from Soulsister).

Tim went on to establish Nextar Entertainment in 2009—a diverse artist booking agency representing some of the most popular and legendary Belgian artists. In 2017, he also joined Parkies Festival in Belgium as a Talent Buyer and later Sponsoring & Partnerships Manager.

During the pandemic, many artist booking agencies were forced to close their doors or find alternative income streams. Nextar, on the other hand, was still selling out COVID-safe events with limited audience numbers.

It’s clear that Nextar isn’t a typical artist booking agency.

Tim’s team handles live shows, business management, label contracts, and arena-level art direction for major local acts—a full-service operation built on the belief that artists deserve more than someone just buying and selling their shows.

Running an operation like this one demands serious administrative efficiency. Especially when federal tax laws change.

Tim has been a SystemOne customer since day one. When the Peppol mandate arrived, we were ready to tackle the problem head-on.

The Peppol speedbump that could cost time & money

When the EU and Belgian government announced the deadline for mandatory B2B Peppol invoicing, external software companies immediately started marketing expensive add-ons to agencies.

Tim ran the numbers. Bridging SystemOne with an outside Peppol tool through a custom solution? It was going to be way more expensive and carry more administrative weight.

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The manual alternative wasn't any better—using a separate portal to copy invoices across every day would cost them at least an extra hour of admin daily.

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For a busy agency on a tight schedule in a competitive industry, this was far from ideal. Tim needed a native solution.

Their goal: work faster, sell more & stay in control

When Tim was still working at a previous agency, he asked his boss if he could have a Blackberry (Google it, kids). He couldn’t understand why Tim would want to be able to answer emails on the road using a mobile device. But the times were already a-changin’.

Tim foresaw the potential for cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) to drive booking agency operations more efficiently.

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Tim’s 70/30 rule

Tim has a clear philosophy for how his team's time should ideally be spent: 30% on admin, 70% on sales and marketing. SystemOne makes that ratio achievable.

By automating contract signing and Peppol-compliant e-invoicing, Nextar's agents aren't buried in paperwork. They're out pitching arena tours and building artist careers.

Radical transparency for artists

Because Nextar operates as both a management and a booking agency, financial trust with artists is a high priority. SystemOne's structure makes that transparency easy.

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Artists can log in and see their own schedules and contracts directly and in real-time—no intermediary or ambiguity.

The SystemOne mobile app is free to use with unlimited seats.

SystemOne’s frictionless Peppol integration

Tim contacted SystemOne about the mandate, but we were already building the solution. Nextar Artists joined our beta testing group alongside other established Belgian booking agencies. We took Tim through a guided onboarding session, and he helped us improve InvoiceV2 with each iteration.

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No custom integration costs. No daily manual entry. Just the same platform they've always used, now fully Peppol compliant.

Learn more about running your agency on SystemOne by booking a demo with our team.