Artist Management: 8 Reasons Why A Band Or An Artist Needs A Manager
For most musicians, the enduring image of an art manager is a caricature of a burly, scruffy man, stuffed into a department store suit two sizes too small, chewing on a cheap suit. smelly cigar as he slips a greasy hand unceremoniously into the back pocket of a starving artist. Surely, somewhere in the vast landscape of the musical universe, there exists such malice. However, the vast majority of artist managers are a motley collection of well-intentioned, hard-working, and selfless individuals who are striving to make the dreams of someone they believe in come true.
For the legion of dedicated disbelievers, this is an article that tries to shine a light on the true value of an artist manager. The following are 8 reasons why a band or artist needs a good manager:
- Career Guidance: It’s often extremely difficult for artists to step away from day-to-day activities and see the big picture (you know, the old ‘forest for the trees’ thing). A knowledgeable manager can see how it all fits into the big picture and can help the artist navigate through the confusing maze of activities that seem unrelated but are part of a huge puzzle. The manager provides career guidance and helps establish the overall game plan for the artist and artist team to follow.
- Cheering: Although fans are the main cheerleaders for an artist, someone has to convey the same enthusiasm to the music business community. An artist manager will announce the artist’s message to record labels, booking agents, promoters, media personnel, club booking agents, independent retail accounts, etc. to keep everyone engaged and excited.
- Prestige: According to most recording industry professionals, there is something to be said for an artist having a manager. The logic is that if an artist is good enough to attract direction, there must be something of value present. In fact, most major labels refuse to sign an artist unless they have a strong team (manager, lawyer, and publicist). An artist without direction is too much drama! Labels would rather deal with someone who knows how the music business works and can make decisions unemotionally.
- Buffer: A manager can act as an effective projection buffer between the artist and the people who want to do business with the artist. This buffer tends to attract legitimate industry players while scaring away scammers. There are no scarier words for a scammer than “please speak to my manager.”
- Time Management: There just isn’t enough time in the day to do everything that needs to be done to jumpstart an artist’s career. Between writing songs, conducting interviews, designing CD artwork and merchandise, managing a mailing list, completing copyright paperwork, rehearsing with the band, hiring and firing musicians, updating band websites and profiles MySpace, taking pictures, filming, and editing DVDs. and YouTube videos, sending packs and/or updating EPKs, researching, repairing and buying equipment, etc., there is no time to come up with a master game plan, solicit potential sponsoring partners, handle requests for licensing, communicating with industry gatekeepers, attending industry networking events, harassing record labels to support touring, etc. Some tasks can be delegated to the band, while others can be handled by the manager.
- Accountability: Part of a manager’s job is to hold people accountable. What happens when the financial support of the tour that the label promised doesn’t materialise? Or does the check from the booking agent bounce? Or is the FOH engineer at the show MIA? Or the licensee does not sign or return the contract, but he is using the artist’s songs anyway? Or does the beer on the tour fade? Someone has to keep people honest, and that is the manager’s most appropriate job.
- Good Cop / Bad Cop: Need to fire the bassist but don’t want to make an enemy? Let the manager play bad cop and do the firing. Do you need to renegotiate your contract and request more promotional budget? Let the manager play good cop and keep a positive spin on proceedings. There are many occasions where the artist and manager can switch the role of good cop/bad cop.
- Soundboard – A manager, despite basically being an “honorary band member”, is often on the outside looking in. Managers generally see things differently than the artist, and can often bring different perspectives, viewpoints, and solutions to the problems the artist is facing. Execution of ideas by a skilled manager before decisions are made often allows good ideas to become better ones and bad ideas to be removed from the to-do list entirely.
So, there you have it! 8 good reasons why an artist needs a manager. Having said all this, however, it is important to note that having a bad manager is worse than no manager at all. Many would-be managers believe they can just jam with an artist and continue to operate with a “let’s record a 3 song demo and buy a record deal” mentality. , despite the fact that the music industry continues to undergo significant changes. New business models are emerging, and only those managers who stay ahead of the learning curve will create successful strategies and provide meaningful advice to their clients.
