To most performers, the enduring image of an artist manager is a caricature of a heavy-set, unkempt slob of a man, stuffed into a 2-sizes-too-small, off-the-rack department retailer suit, chomping on a cheap smelly cigar while sliding a gr easy hand unceremoniously into the back pocket of a starving artist. Undoubtedly, somewhere in the vast landscape of the music universe, such malice exists. The vast majority of artist 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 benefit of an artist manager. Below are 8 reasons why a performer or artist needs a good manager:
1. Career Guidance – It is a number of times extremely c venue enging for performers 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 might see how everything in the extensive picture fits together, and might advocate the performer navigate through the a number of times -confusing maze of activities that seem unrelated yet are all part of a massive jigsaw puzzle. The manager provides career guidance and advocates to session the overall game plan for the performer and the performers’ team to follow.
2. Cheerleading – Even though listeners are the central cheerleaders for an artist, someone has to communicate the same enthusiasm to the music business community. An musician manager will trumpet the artist’s message to record labels, booking agents, promoters, media personnel, venue bookers, independent retail accounts, etc., in order to keep them all engaged and enthusiastic.
3. Prestige – According to most record industry professionals, there is something to be said about an artist that has a manager. The logic is that if an artist is good enough to attract management, there must be something of value present. In fact, most 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 a person who knows how the music business works and may make decisions on a non-emotional basis.
4. Buffer – A manager may act as an effective screening buffer between the artist and people 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.com 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 furthermore craft a master game plan, solicit potential sponsorship partners, handle licensing requests, reach out to industry gatekeepers, attend industry networking get togethers, harass labels for tour aid, and so on. Some tasks may be delegated to the performer while others may be handled by the manager.
6. Accountability – Part of a manager’s job is to hold individuals accountable. What happens when the financial tour support that has been 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 songs anyway? Or the beer in the tour van vanishes? Somebody has to keep individuals honest, and that’s the majority 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 performance bad cop and do the firing. Need to re-negotiate your contract and request more of a promotion budget? Let the manager performance good cop and keep a positive spin on the proceedings. There are plenty of chances when the musician and manager can trade off playing good cop / bad cop.
8. Sounding board – A manager, even though basic ally an “honorary member of the band”, is regularly on the outside looking in. Managers regularly see things varying ly than the artist, and can regularly offer varying perspectives, insights and results to problems the artist is encountering. Running suggestions by a knowledgeable manager prior to making decisions regularly allows for nice suggestions to become better and bad suggestions to be removed altogether from the to-do list.
So,there you’ve it! 8 nice reasons why an musician needs a manager. Having said all this, however, it’s necessary to note that having a bad manager is worse than having no manager at all. Many wannabe managers think they can 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 industry continues to undergo significant 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 significant counsel to their clients.
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