Early in the career of an artist, there will be a moment when it feels like it is time to step up the pace of meeting goals and go for the “big time.” Some will try to continue to manage themselves, thinking that the 15% commission many managers earn can be saved just by investing a little more time into the business part of being an artist. For artists who seek regional recognition and who record for their own independent label, many can—and do—earn a modest income touring and selling their music and merchandise without a manager. For ambitious artists, a manager would be helpful so they could focus on writing and creating music. However, for artists who seek national or international recognition, it is essential to have a professional manager advocating for them and promoting the growth of their career.
When should an artist seek management? In today’s music business world, artists should get a manager when they are prepared to become commercial artists, especially knowing that many deals being made between artists and labels consist of multiple rights or 360 recording contracts. A potential new artist with most big labels will be offered a so-called 360 contract that requires that the artist must share income streams—ranging between 5% and 30% depending on the contract—so it’s important that the artist resist the temptation to sign a recording contract without the guidance of a manager and an attorney. Some artists will feel that they may not get another chance to get a major recording contract and will sign a contract that gives away some of their rights, which might result in them making considerably less money—perhaps nothing—than if they had a manager or entertainment attorney guiding them in this area. We discuss this more in Chapter 11.
Advocacy by a manager on behalf of an artist is more important today than ever. The International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the counterpart to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Though MySpace long ago lost its place as the darling of the Internet, The IFPI reported in 2010 that MySpace featured 2.5 million hip-hop acts, 1.8 million rock acts, 720,000 pop acts, 470,000 punk acts, and 270,000 country acts, as well as millions of acts in other musical categories (IFPI 2010). To bring these statistics into better focus, in Austin, Texas during a single week in March 2014, the annual South By Southwest featured an estimated 2,300 different artists from across the world appearing at large and small local venues (SXSW 2014). Each of these artists has a dream, and most are competing for a measure of success in the music business. Without someone to professionally manage their music career, each of the unsigned artists seeking a recording or songwriting contract is likely to continue to be a hidden statistic in a data base.
As you read this chapter about artists preparing to search for a manager, understand that not everyone who holds themselves out as a manager is necessarily someone the artist will want to be in business with. When prospective managers make promises, the artist should ask them to give examples of their successes that can be corroborated. If they ask an artist to fund their career without a plan or a recent track record, it could be a red flag. The end of this chapter has a list of questions that will help the artist learn about a prospective manager. Don’t be bashful about asking them.
BEING COMMERCIAL IS NOT SELLING OUT
Among the first things that income-earning artists must really accept is that they have chosen a career in the music business. It is not a career showcasing the art of music—they already have that part of it figured out. They have elected to become part of the music business, and considering themselves to be commercial artists in the music business becomes an acknowledgment that songwriting, performing, and recording are going to be done with the objective of earning money. Many young artists struggle with the idea of becoming commercial until they discover that band members do not want to rehearse without the promise of earnings, and it becomes impossible to keep a performing group together. Likewise, managers are not interested in working with an artist unless there is the likelihood that they can earn money from a music group or an individual with a commitment to a career in the music business.
Some young performers feel that becoming commercial is “selling out” their artistry for the sake of money. They resist what they perceive the big label marketing machines will do to their music, because they fear they will be pressured into changing artistically into something that is inconsistent with who they are. However, most labels seek artists who are genuine and unique in their own ways, and who have potential for commercial appeal. Labels sign artists because of who they are artistically and because they think that there is a commercial market for their music. Most want to preserve the uniqueness of their artists that makes them special.
Veteran major label marketing executive, Mike Kraski, acknowledges, however, that some record labels attempt to “sand off rough edges” from the new artists they sign. In these cases, they may go too far by guiding an artist in a direction, creating “something that is not true to the artist” for the sake of creating something more commercial (Havighurst 2007). The artist should rely on the strength of his or her manager to insist that the label not homogenize the artist’s unique sound nor fabricate an image.
As consumers, we want a commercial product that is quickly defined in familiar terms. It is the same in the music business. Artists are asked by key gatekeepers what kind of music they perform. Artists must be prepared to describe what they do musically in very few words. And often an artist’s style of music is defined by which radio format would use the artist’s music in their programming. When a manager, label, or publisher hears an artist describe his or her music as “contemporary acoustic alternative blues with hints of jam band influences but not as heavy as Hendrix,” it suggests that the artist is still trying to find a place in the commercial marketplace and that it may be too early for a management, recording, or publishing contract. On the other hand, when an artist says “my music is alternative rock using catchy lyrics and a killer live show that appeals especially to younger audiences,” it shows that the artist has defined his or her music, understands audience types, and knows that appealing to a younger listener is attractive to record labels. In other words, the artist understands that the label is seeking a business opportunity through the artist, and the artist is ready to deliver it.
Nothing polishes a performer and builds character as much as live performance. Performing regularly in smaller clubs in front of friends, family, and fans can help artists develop a show in a relatively safe environment. They can take chances by trying out new ideas and music to see what is connecting with audiences and what should be cut from the show. Artists can try out new songs they’ve written or experiment with new material they are considering including in their show. The only warning here is that friends and family can be very supportive and accommodating when they give feedback on performances, and may be inclined to tell the artist what they think the artist wants to hear rather than what the artist should hear in order to improve their performance.
Live performing coupled with demo recording and songwriting can season an artist and build confidence. Showing an air of confidence without being cocky is a strength managers seek in the artists they sign, and that kind of self-assurance can be developed only by getting as much experience as possible on stage, in the studio, and as a writer/co-writer.
Experience selling tickets and recorded music can be a strong selling point to prospective managers and eventually to record companies. An artist who consistently sells out small venues and sells 10,000 CDs per year at those performances and 5,000 downloads through their website will always get a conversation with a manager seeking talent to manage.
The most frequent question I get from artists that look to advance their careers is, “How can I get an artist manager to help with my career?” What follows is the answer I provided to someone who made a similar inquiry.
I can appreciate the frustration of trying to get the attention of someone to listen to your music and to manage your career. I teach artist management at universities and have written a book about the subject (Artist Management for the Music Business) and I’m often asked the same question you pose. Briefly, understand that a manager is primarily interested in the commercial viability of your creative work. There are a lot of truly creative people who write, sing, and perform very well but their work doesn’t have the commercial potential to make it worth the investment of time of an artist manager to try to develop. What is commercial potential? Having the likelihood that a lot of people will pay to see you perform and purchase your music. So the artist who can say to an artist manager, “Listen to my music because I play to rooms of 250 people many weekends and I sell 6,000 CDs and album downloads a year,” is the kind of artist who will get an artist manager’s attention. It shows you know how to make money with your music, and when you make money your manager does too. So, a potential artist manager needs to know your creative work attracts paying customers, and that’s really the starting point for you to make the case for artist management. Here is my website which has a free artist management directory (www.artistmanage-mentonline.com) that provides you with contact information to get you started.
Certainly the quality of your creative work plays a big part in a manager’s decision to take you on as a client. But at this point in your quest for management, the conversation is about the manager and whether they quickly see commercial viability in a relationship with you. Often, you have to get their attention before they will take time with your music, and that means showing that you understand the basic driver for management, which is the business of music. Today’s artists must present themselves as being prepared for a career. For a very long time, record labels would invest in the time and money necessary to develop an artist so that they would be ready to step onto the big stage. Managers were content to permit the time an artist needed to become a commercially productive performer and songwriter. However, artist development time and money is most often done at the expense of the artist, and it is done before the artist can expect management and labels to begin a conversation about having a larger career. Today’s artist must have a fan base, be able to “work” the fan base, as well as be a very good performer and–where possible—be an adequate to good songwriter.
A network in these terms is a web of supporters with whom artists regularly communicate about their music. An artist’s fan base is at the heart of the network. Artists send regular digital messages to fans to announce new music or new performance dates and locations. They also communicate through their e-teams or street teams promoting themselves and their music, microblogging on Twitter, posting to social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, and keeping their posts to all social networking sites current. This continuous communication about the artist—often by the artist—keeps fans coming back to online pages and websites, and keeps up the connection with the artist.
Networking through social media is something that some artists do very well because they enjoy it; others do it because they know it is expected of a musician, and some are not interested. Having a Facebook page as an artist is among the basics to building fan numbers and engaging them with music and performances. Fans come to an artist’s page to learn what is new. “Liking” an artist gives a fan a glimpse of things happening with an artist as they scroll through their own personal newsfeed, but it can be overdone. We all know Facebook users who post six times a day who we quickly scroll past because what they have to say is never compelling. The same can happen to an artist who overuses Facebook. Sure, you want to engage fans, but do it at a pace that makes your news special. For example, an area performance would get an announcement the weekend before, and the artist’s opinion on its success after the performance would be interesting for fans who couldn’t attend.
Social media networking is just like building relationships through any other kind of networking. The goal is to continue to engage your current fans and build your base with more. Even if an artist has little interest in online social media networking, it is somewhat like guitar strings and drumsticks—you need to use them to attract and keep fans interested. The artist must have a presence on sites and services like Facebook and Twitter, and must keep them fresh with something new—whether it is once a week or once a month. The idea is to let your fans know your activities on a regular basis. Equally important is that using social media shouldn’t be an attempt to hard sell fans something; don’t say that your new single is for sale on your website, but instead, announce that you have “just completed new music that I’m excited about. Check it out on my website.” Or post a sample of your new music video on Facebook. They’ll know to look for it on YouTube.
Another part of social media that is sometimes overlooked is old-fashioned email. Email is important because, compared to social media, it is very personal to the individual fan. Building a base of email addresses by offering contests, meet-and-greets, and giveaways gives the artist the way to directly communicate to those who are social fans but also committed fans. At club performances, always have cards to handout to everyone that contains all of your social media contact information and, for their later reference after they leave, have the doorman use the artist’s website hand stamp on the way into the club to show that the cover charge has been paid.
Another important part of the network for artists is getting to know those who offer to support their career and to be sponsors when the time comes to push their career to the next level. For example, someone might say something like, “If there is ever anything I can do for you, let me know.” That is the cue for the artist to get contact information about the individual, and from that point on that person should be included as a guest at local performances and receive all communications about the activities of the artist. These are the most important fans an artist can develop, because the launch of a career always requires money, and so-called “angels” like these who have offered help can be keys to a manager finding funds to develop the artist during those early months of the big commercial push. As a point of reference, other sources of financial support for new artists are savings, family, loans, and sponsorships.
Building a network requires maintenance. The artist can’t just create a presence and assume that’s all that is necessary. People in your network can tell if you are keeping your points of contact fresh. As the working manager of a group, someone must be the “point person” for networking. As an individual artist it can sometimes keep you busier than you want, but it’s necessary.
When an artist makes the decision to advance his or her career, it also becomes a decision to adopt the demeanor of industry professionals from that point forward. That does not mean the artist cannot have fun creating music, but it means that every public performance and industry meeting requires the artist to be completely prepared to make the best possible first impression. Assume that the “lucky break” is in the audience every time there is a performance, and be prepared to deliver the best show possible.
Being professional on the Internet is also important. Amateur pages of artists that are found on social networking websites are a reflection of how mature the artist has become as a part of the music business, and they also become a statement about the artist’s professionalism. Potential career supporters will also use the artist’s personal website as a reference point about the artist, and the site should look as professional as the artist can afford. That means artists should seek advice from those who design websites for the music business and then invest a little money to make sure that their very public image on the Internet is one that says they are “somebody.” And this is also the time to set up a basic, but functional, artist website using the artist’s name and the domain name as the way to learn about the artist. A domain name is merely the location of a website on the Internet. Examples are U2.com and TaylorSwift.com. Provided it is still available, your artist domain name can be purchased inexpensively from a number of sources such as Yahoo! and GoDaddy.com.
Using electronic media also requires the touch of a professional. In an age of sloppy and flippant text messages and careless email drafts, it is important to assume that every message an artist sends will be received by a professional who is expecting the artist to share that same level of professionalism. The use of convenient communication methods does not mean the message writer should not respect the ways these tools are used by business people. Always use good grammar, accurate spelling, and appropriate punctuation when using electronic communication.
Being professional also means having a simple agreement between band members, if the artist is indeed a band. A partnership agreement among group members spells out how the earnings and expenses are shared, what assets of the group are owned by individuals and which are owned by the group, how disputes are settled, who gets credit for songwriting, and what happens when one member of the band leaves for whatever reason. There are other considerations in a partnership agreement, and the primary reason to have it is so that everyone understands what the “rules” are as participants. I have included a rather detailed sample of a partnership agreement in the back of the book as Appendix B, and it reads like a law journal. However, look at the italicized section headings for guidance on what decisions you need to make as partners and ask a lawyer to put an agreement together for you. If you don’t want to take the time and money to use a lawyer, at least hold a band meeting, agree on the most important parts of your partnership, and have someone write it up for each to sign. Having an agreement is a measure of insurance that the membership of the group will be preserved because key areas of possible misunderstanding have been discussed and memorialized.
An artist manager will make a number of evaluations about an artist before deciding to offer management, often beginning with a performance at a public venue or a private showcase followed by a more formal meeting to discuss possible management. Certainly the music and preparedness of the artist will be part of those early assessments, but there will be a time when the manager has a conversation with the artist that explores those things that will help make the final determination whether a management deal is practical. Questions that an artist could expect from a potential manager will resemble those someone encounters in any job interview, but an artist needs to keep in mind that a manager is trying to determine the pros and cons in making a decision to manage or not to manage. From the manager’s perspective, this decision represents a huge commitment of time to develop the artist, and he or she is trying to find out how many assets—and how much baggage—a potential client brings to the bargaining table. The questions and answers sound formal, because they are. The answers, coupled with the SWOT analysis found in Chapter 13, will contribute to the final decision.
1. What do you want to do with your career as an artist, and not just some formal goal—what do you want for yourself that will make you genuinely fulfilled as a creator of music? (The manager is determining what is actually driving the artist’s desire for a career and whether his or her expectations of a career in music are realistic.)
2. How much experience have you had writing songs and recording? How often have you performed live over the last couple of years, and did you enjoy it?
3. How are you organized as an artist? Are your band members considered partners or are they hired as needed depending on what the performance requirements are? (If the artist and musicians are part of an organized group, the manager will consider how much income is realistically possible for the group. Income requirements split five ways for a group can be considerably higher than for a single artist who pays band members as an expense.)
4. What do you think is the key to your becoming successful as an artist in the music business? (This is one way to get the artist’s opinion on one of their key strengths, but it also lets the manager know whether the artist’s view of themselves includes a vision for a commercial career in the music business.)
5. Have you ever had a contractual agreement with someone else to manage your career? If so, have you taken steps to formally terminate it? (The manager wants to know if a former manager will show up some day claiming an entitlement to the artist’s worth. If a contract with another manager exists, the manager wants it taken care of before a management contract is signed.)
6. Do you have your own publishing company and record label?
7. What is it about being an artist that is most satisfying to you? (Over the course of a career in the music business, it will be important to the manager to continue to motivate an artist, and knowing from the beginning where the joy of a career comes from can help to keep the career moving.)
8. If there was one thing about being an artist that you could avoid, what would it be? (The manager wants to know what part of the artist’s career development will require work in order to grow.)
9. How much money do you owe? Who do you owe it to? Have you been filing state and federal tax returns regularly? Do you usually pay your bills on time? (Information about finances can show red flags to the manager that will give an idea of what will be necessary to eliminate the distraction of bill collectors. Likewise, it can also reassure the manager that doing business with a financially responsible artist can usually avoid having to deal with finances as an issue.)
10. The last time you had a conflict with someone—a band member, a venue manager, maybe an audience member—how did you resolve it? (The answer to this question will give the manager insight into the emotional maturity of the artist.)
11. If a fan were to describe you as an artist in two sentences, what would that description be? (This tells the manager whether the artist has a realistic view of his or her self-image.)
12. What training or coaching do you think would make you a better performer or songwriter? (This is a back-door approach to asking a question that most people include in an employment interview to get interviewees to list their weaknesses, but it also gives insight into areas that the artist sees as possible opportunities to advance his or her career.)
13. What is going on in the music business today that you think will be an advantage to you as an artist in the music business? What do you think will be the biggest threat to your career? (The artist’s responses to these questions will let the manager know how much the artist has considered the business environment that he or she plans to become part of.)
14. Tell me what you know about our management company. (The manager will use this as a gauge to find out how much—if any—homework artists have done to learn about someone they are considering to direct their career. An artist who knows about the management company is one who probably understands how important the conversation is. If the artist knows little about a management company, he or she is at a serious disadvantage when negotiating a management contract without an entertainment attorney.)
It is clear from these questions and concerns from a prospective artist manager that the artist must be prepared to demonstrate that he or she is ready for the music business. This book is also designed to give artists insight into the artist manager’s role in their career and what they should expect from the manager as they prepare to implement a career plan in partnership with the artist. So questions an artist should ask of a prospective manager include:
1. What artists have you managed and what was your success with them?
2. What artists are you currently managing?
3. What do you think of my career possibilities? How do you think I fit into commercial music?
4. How strong is your network—who do you know who you can help you guide my career?
5. What are your expectations on your earnings from my career? What do you expect to be earning commissions from?
6. What expenses will you pay and what expenses will you expect me to pay?
7. Give me an idea what the first six months will be like working with you. How will you use my time to get my career going? Can you provide me a timeline for our first year?
8. Will you be directing my career or do you have others who work for you who will also be involved? What is their background(s) managing an artist?
9. How involved is your management company in client services like publicity and digital media?
This is a list that will help artists begin the conversation from their perspective, but it certainly isn’t a complete list of discussion points. Some artists will find some of these questions uncomfortable, but the subject of each question deserves a response that the artist should consider. If the management relationship with the artist is to work, it’s important that each of these sensitive topics be explored before a formal contract is considered.
Most artists new to the commercial side of the music business are part of the echo boomer generation, or people who were born after 1982. These are the children of the baby boomers. Among the attributes of the generation is impatience in achieving success (Howe and Strauss 2009). A label executive I spoke with said that some artists ruin their chances of becoming a commercial success in the music business because they expect too much to happen too quickly. An example he provided was of an artist who signed to a major label who had five different managers within five years. The relationship with the label becomes strained when there are so many different people trying to direct the career of an artist. Likewise, the artist–manager relationship becomes difficult if not impossible when the artist has too many members of their family “whispering in their ear” with career guidance (Cassetty 2013). The message here to a new artist is to find a manager who shares your vision for your career, then patiently follow their direction and become the best business partner you can.
References
Cassetty, Todd. Personal interview. Dec. 2013.
Havighurst, Craig. “Nashville Band Leaves Label and Thrives.” All Things Considered. NPR. WPLN, Nashville, 7 Feb. 2007.
Howe, Neil, and William Strauss. Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation. New York: Random House, 2009: 56.
IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry). “Investing In Music.” 2010. Available online at www.ifpi.org/ (accessed 20 Jan. 2014).
IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry). “Investing In Music.” 2012. Available online at www.ifpi.org/ (accessed 20 Jan. 2014).
Leung R. (writer). “The Echo Boomers.” 60 Minutes. CBS. WTVF, 4 Sept. 2005.
SXSW (South by Southwest). 2014. Available online at http://sxsw.com/music/shows/2014 (accessed 20 Jan. 2014).