This model is not catering to demand. It is manufacturing it.

Every number in the eighteen counted series in one CSV, plus the raw lineup files, the roster map and the deep-dive reports. Nothing behind a form. Check the arithmetic yourself.

Ten checkable numbers about who actually gets booked in contemporary jazz. Send this one first; everything else is the evidence behind it.

Of 49 artists in this week’s SmoothJazz.com Airplay top 50, 35 already hold festival slots in this study and 12 are on one of the four desks. The three volumes, lined up in one page.

Eighty per cent of revenue from the legacy artists? The figure has no source anywhere in the published record. Eight things this circuit says, set against the trade press, the peer-reviewed literature, the Form 990s and its own posters.

Seven commercial operations air the format full-time in the U.S.; five full-format stations were found abroad. 205 digital outlets, every chart panel, every row publicly sourced.

All 420 weekly number ones matched against public radio-promotion credits. 150 are credited by a published source to five independent firms; every row is linked to its source and tiered by strength of evidence.

Every smooth and contemporary jazz festival, cruise and concert series found in public listings, worldwide, with location, usual month and whether a 2026 or 2027 edition is confirmed.

Four booking desks supply 42.5% of promoter-run festival slots in this study. The supply map, the per-festival percentages, and the four people who hold two published roles.

Seven artists lead 39 of 102 artist covers. Since 2018, 25 of 40 cover credits went to artists on the four booking desks — up from 21 of 67 in 2008–2017.

Rick Braun on 28 of 35 bills. Gerald Veasley on 29 of 35. A wider-buying festival than Rehoboth, with a concentrated top of the bill. The nonprofit that ran it, the Berks Arts Council, announced on 27 July 2026 that it would cease operations after 55 years.

84.5% of slots over the last ten editions went to a returning artist. Two artists on the entire 2026 bill of thirty had never played it.

Eric Darius on 8 of 8, and he is also the host. 42 artists play both San Diego and Newport Beach.

The alias problem: Rick Braun billed under five different band names at one festival. The 2026 headliner first charted in 1959.

An independent promoter with no documented ties to the others, a blank calendar, a steam train — and the same roster. Every jazz act he books was already on somebody else's poster.

Three artists have played 7 of 7. Nobody has played three editions, and nobody has played four. Plus the promoter's Form 990s.

The oldest and largest event in the study — 915 slots, 309 artists. Peter White on 23 of 38. The founder has hosted the JazzTrax radio show since 1985; the Los Angeles Times reported his account of the festival’s origin in 1991.

No agency books it — one independent promoter, no talent buyer named anywhere. Four desks still supply 57.1% of the bill, and twenty of Reliant’s twenty-four clients have played it in nine editions.

Fourteen seasons in a hotel ballroom, 2010–2027. Four desks supply 3.5% of the bill against 22.1% across the artist-run events here. Three method errors that flattered it are named on the page.

Thirty-three consecutive seasons (34 calendar years, 1993–2026) under one buyer, Roland Guilarte, and the volume that cuts against the thesis. The series has the third-highest repeat rate in the study — 52.5% of slots to an act that had already played for him — and yet the four desks supply only 28.7% of his bill, against 42.5% at promoter-run festivals. Loyalty to artists, not to rosters.

Vincent Ingala, Michael Lington and Dave Koz across every festival in the study. The ceiling, the spread, and the artist whose largest single employer is the cruise that carries his name.