Employers: Live events promotion companies

Openings: On-the-job training and networking

Salary Cap: High seven figures

Number of Jobs: About 20

As the promoter for the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival, Attal is responsible for finding and booking the artists for the three-day, 130-band smorgasbord of acts playing every genre from rock and country to bluegrass and New Orleans jazz. This year's festival, which takes place from September 26 to 28 and is expected to draw 225,000 fans, will be headlined by the Foo Fighters, Beck, and Gnarls Barkley.

In the past, the festival has helped put bands like The Killers and Ghostland Observatory on the map, and attracted headliners like R.E.M., Coldplay, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, and Sheryl Crow.

While the 2008 lineup has been set for several weeks, Attal and his staff of nine bookers, who also run the alt-favorite Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, are constantly on the search for new talent. They spot new bands at small clubs around the country and also scour music trade publications and websites like YouTube, Pitchfork, and Stereogum, as well as iTunes. They also pore through the thousands of submissions from bands hoping to play their various festivals.

"I'm on the phone all day, cutting deals with agents to get people booked," Attal says. "It's not as glamorous as it sounds. You're not out partying with the bands. I go to a show two to three times a month. It's all details and nit-picking."

Attal, who used to play guitar in a punk-rock band, got into the music festival business in 1996 when the organizers of South by Southwest, another Austin-based music festival that's since expanded into film and new media, contacted Attal and his partners about staging a concert at Attal's newly opened restaurant and nightclub, Stubb's Barbecue.

"They wanted to put a stage in our backyard for a band I thought was called the Fudgies," Attal says, laughing. "It turned out to be the Fugees, just as they were exploding. The day of the show was the second day we were open, and 5,000 people were trying to get in."

Two thousand got seats in the outdoor amphitheater, and the rest watched from the top of a parking garage and a field next door. "After that, I knew I wanted to be in this business," Attal says.

In 2002, the parent station of the long-running Austin City Limits music show on PBS contacted local promoter Charlie Jones about ways to boost the show's ratings and overcome its image as being only for aging folk and country fans. Jones enlisted Attal's help, and the pair booked the first A.C.L. music festival in three weeks, creating an instant success and a boost for the TV show.

Now, during each festival, Attal walks from stage to stage, just enjoying the music and touching base with the artists, agents, and managers. This year, with a newborn at home, he'll cut down on entertaining, but still plans to keep tabs as things unfold.

"When it's the right band and the right show, it's hard to beat for entertainment," Attal says of the festival. "When you've got 65,000 people screaming in the audience, you can't beat the energy. It's all about the music."