Entertainment Directory is an agency???

Hello painting peeps,
I have stupidly stumbled into getting booked by an agent.
I put my business details and some photos on an Entertainment Directory called EntertainOZ, I thought it was just like a classified of entertainment people in Australia.... I feel very stupid and naive now.
They asked me to send quotes for some booking requests .... I did this and when someone wanted to book me for a Barmitzvah they sent me a contract to sign stateing I had to hand out their cards and blah blah blah.
I was like - what the hell is this?
Why did I only find out about this now?
Why didn't they send me their contract information when I applied to advertise my business through their website?
Aren't agent supposed to avidly seek work for you? - not just set up a site and let me and the client do all the work?
This seemed sneaky and is not sitting well with me.
I need every painting opportunity to promote my own business - I want my painting to build MY business not someone elses.
I also was contacted by another painting company near me that wanted me to paint for them but told me they were not agents.
I agreed thinking they had a big company that was bigger and better then mine and it wouldn't hurt to do some painting for them when I wasn't booked.........WRONG AGAIN!
They are a small two person company that started the same time I did - the only difference is they have a large advertising budget and very professional website - which I can't afford. They want MY painting to promote their business when their company is two suburbs away from me.
I can't help but feel this is actually HURTING my business.
Is it really?
How did I get myself into this? And how do I get out without the other people bad mouthing me and my business?
I'm seriously feeling sick about the whole situation.
I am not that desperate that I need to work for these people, so if I am hurting my business I want to get out.
Can anyone with experience in this crap help me out?
I realize now how blind I was. Live and Learn.

For me, when in doubt, be honest. Tell them straight out that you did not realize that was the kind of business they were running and that you are not interested in working in a situation where you are handing out someone else's cards. You have not talked to the clients at all, so it's not your problem at this point, it's theirs for not making sure that you agreed with all the terms ahead of time.

There are only a few instances where I work for someone else, giving out their cards and they have to meet my hourly rates or no deal.

If you're getting work & getting paid your rate, what's the big deal? Think of them as a repeat customer. Many years ago when I lived in another state, I worked for an agent & they had me working nearly EVERY weekend for the rate I wanted. If they kept me busy & I didn't have to bother with the contract work, etc, I did not mind handing out their cards at all. Why bite the hand that feeds you?

it's a big deal to me when I'm trying to build MY business and not someone else's. I'll do work for other businesses as long as I can still give out my contact info.... I'll even give them a slightly discounted rate for the repeat business they provide. But it's usually a company that doesn't want to make clowns/facepainters their main business (like a bounce house place or indoor playspace that just wants to be able to offer the "whole package").

Well said Perry.