Music Concerts

To most musicians, 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 seller 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 musician managers, however, are a motley collection of well-meaning, hardworking, selfless individuals struggling to make the dreams of an individual 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 performer manager. Following are 8 reasons why a performer or performer needs a nice manager:

1. Career Guidance – It’s again and again extremely difficult for performers to step back from the day-to-day activities and see the ample picture (you know – the old ‘forest-for-the-trees’ thing). A knowledgeable manager may see how everything in the ample picture fits together, and may stimulate the artist navigate through the again and again -confusing maze of activities that seem unrelated yet are all part of a massive jigsaw puzzle. The manager offers career guidance and stimulates to performance the overall game plan for the artist and the performers’ team to follow.

2. Cheerleading – Even though fans are the central cheerleaders for an artist, an individual has to communicate the same enthusiasm to the music business community. An performer manager will trumpet the artist’s message to record labels, booking agents,  promoters, media person 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 musician that has a manager. The logic is that if an musician is nice enough to attract management, there must be something of benefit present. In fact, the majority major labels refuse to sign an musician unless they have solid team (manager, attorney and publicist) in place. An musician in the absence of management is just too much drama! Labels would rather deal with someone 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 amidst the musician 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 performers. There are no scarier words to a scam musician 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 among writing songs, conducting interviews, designing artwork for compact disc’s and merchandise, managing a mailing list, filling out copyright paperwork, rehearsing with the band, hiring and firing artists, updating band websites 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 purchasing equipment, etc., there isn’t time to additionally craft a master game plan, solicit potential sponsorship partners, handle licensing requests, reach out to industry gatekeepers, attend industry networking parties, harass labels for tour aid, and so on. Some tasks may be delegated to the band 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 aid 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’s the majority appropriately the manager’s job.

7. Good Cop / Bad Cop – Need to fire the bass player but don’t want to produce 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 good cop and keep a positive spin on the proceedings. There are plenty of chances when the artist and manager may trade off playing good cop / bad cop.

8. Sounding board – A manager, even though basic ally an “honorary member of the band”, is again and again on the outside looking in. Managers again and again see things different ly than the artist, and could again and again provide different perspectives, insights and results to problems the artist is encountering. Running suggestions by a knowledgeable manager prior to making decisions again and again allows for nice suggestions to become better and bad suggestions to be removed altogether from the to-do list.

Now,there you’ve it! 8 nice reasons why an artist needs a manager. Having said all this, however, it’s vital 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 business continues to undergo meaningful differ s. New business models are emerging, and only those managers that stay at the leading edge of the learning curve will establish successful strategies and offer meaningful counsel to their clients.