Jun 11 2009
To the majority artists, the enduring image of an musician manager is a caricature of a heavy-set, unkempt slob of a man, stuffed into a 2-sizes-too-small, off-the-rack department store suit, chomping on a cheap smelly cigar while sliding a gr simple hand unceremoniously into the back pocket of a starving artist. Inevitably, somewhere in the vast landscape of the music universe, such malice exists. The vast majority of musician managers, however, are a motley collection of well-meaning, hardworking, selfless individuals struggling to make the dreams of a person they believe in come true.
For the legion of dedicated unbelievers out there, this is an article that attempts to shed light on the true worth of an musician manager. Below are 8 reasons why a band or musician needs a good manager:
1. Career Guidance – It is usually extremely difficult for artists to step back from the day-to-day activities and see the extensive picture (you know – the old ‘forest-for-the-trees’ thing). A knowledgeable manager can see how everything in the extensive picture fits together, and can stimulate the musician navigate through the usually -confusing maze of activities that seem unrelated yet are all part of a massive jigsaw puzzle. The manager provides career guidance and stimulates to session the overall game plan for the musician and the artists’ team to follow.
2. Cheerleading – Even though audiences are the central cheerleaders for an artist, an individual has to communicate the same enthusiasm to the music business community. an artist manager will trumpet the artist’s message to record labels, booking agents, promoters, media individual nel, venue bookers, independent retail accounts, etc., in order to keep them all engaged and enthusiastic.
3. Prestige – According to the majority record industry professionals, there is something to be said about an artist that has a manager. The logic is that if an artist is nice enough to attract management, there must be something of benefit present. In fact, the majority major labels refuse to sign an artist unless they have solid team (manager, attorney and publicist) in place. an artist in the absence of management is just too much drama! Labels would rather deal with an individual who knows how the music business works and can make decisions on a non-emotional basis.
4. Buffer – A manager may act as an effective screening buffer betwixt the artist and individuals that want to do business with the artist. This buffer tends to attract legitimate industry players while at the same time scaring away scam artists. There are no scarier words to a scam artist than “please talk to my manager”.
5. Time management – There simply is not enough time in the day to do everything that needs to be done in order to further the career of an artist. In betwixt writing songs, conducting interviews, designing artwork for compact disc’s and merchandise, managing a mailing list, filling out copyright paperwork, rehearsing with the band, employing and firing performers, updating performer web sites and MySpace profiles, getting pictures taken, shooting and editing DVD’s and YouTube videos, sending out packages and/or updating EPK’s, researching, repairing and buying equipment, etc., there isn’t time to likewise craft a master game plan, solicit potential sponsorship partners, handle licensing requests, reach out to industry gatekeepers, attend industry networking gatherings, harass labels for tour help, and so on. Some tasks can be delegated to the performer while others can be handled by the manager.
6. Accountability – Part of a manager’s job is to hold individuals accountable. What happens when the financial tour guide that was promised by the label fails to materialize? Or the check from the booking agent bounces? Or the FOH engineer at the show is MIA? Or the licensee fails to sign and return the contract but is using the artist’s tunes anyway? Or the beer in the tour van vanishes? Somebody has to keep individuals honest, and that is most appropriately the manager’s job.
7. Good Cop / Bad Cop – Need to fire the bass player but do not want to create an enemy? Let the manager play bad cop and do the firing. Need to re-negotiate your contract and request more of a promotion budget? Let the manager play wonderful cop and keep a positive spin on the proceedings. There are plenty of occasions when the performer and manager can trade off playing wonderful cop / bad cop.
8. Sounding board – A manager, even though standard ally an “honorary member of the band”, is a lot of the time on the outside looking in. Managers a lot of the time see things varying ly than the artist, and may a lot of the time offer varying perspectives, insights and solutions to problems the musician is encountering. Running pointers by a knowledgeable manager prior to making decisions a lot of the time allows for good pointers to become better and bad pointers to be removed altogether from the to-do list.
So,there you have it! 8 wonderful reasons why an musician needs a manager. Having said all this, however, it’s important to note that having a bad manager is worse than having no manager at all. A lot of wannabe managers think they could just “wing-it” with an artist, and continue to operate with the “lets-record-a-3-song-demo-and-shop-it-for-a-record-deal” mentality, even though the music business continues to undergo serious vary s. New business models are emerging, and only those managers that stay at the leading edge of the learning curve will produce successful strategies and provide serious counsel to their clients.