Artist Management – Eight Reasons Why A Band Or Artist Needs A Manager

To most musicians, the enduring image of an performer 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 easy hand unceremoniously into the back pocket of a starving artist. Assuredly, somewhere in the vast landscape of the music universe, such malice exists. The vast majority of performer 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. Below are 8 reasons why a performer or performer needs a good manager:

1. Career Guidance – It is again and again extremely c venue enging for performers to step back from the day-to-day activities and see the large picture (you know – the old ‘forest-for-the-trees’ thing). A knowledgeable manager can see how everything in the large picture fits together, and can help the musician 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 helps to  set the overall game plan for the musician and the performers’ team to follow.

2. Cheerleading – Even though audiences 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 person nel, 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 performer that has a manager. The logic is that if an performer is nice enough to attract management, there must be something of value present. In fact, most major labels refuse to sign an performer unless they have solid team (manager, attorney and publicist) in place. an performer 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 can act as an effective screening buffer amidst 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 performers. 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 amidst writing tunes, conducting interviews, designing artwork for CD’s and merchandise, managing a mailing list, filling out copyright paperwork, rehearsing with the band, employing and firing musicians, updating performer websites 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 purchasing 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 events, harass labels for tour guide, 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 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 songs anyway? Or the beer in the tour van vanishes? Somebody has to keep individuals honest, and that’s most appropriately the manager’s job.

7. Good Cop / Bad Cop – Need to fire the bass player but don’t 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 nice cop and keep a positive spin on the proceedings. There are plenty of occasions when the performer and manager can trade off playing nice cop / bad cop.

8. Sounding board – A manager, even though basic 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 diverse ly than the artist, and might a lot of the time offer diverse perspectives, insights and results to problems the musician is encountering. Running tips by a knowledgeable manager prior to making decisions a lot of the time allows for nice tips to become better and bad tips to be removed altogether from the to-do list.

So,there you have it! 8 nice reasons why an performer needs a manager. Having said all this, however, it is vital to note that having a bad manager is worse than having no manager at all.  Many wannabe managers think they might 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 meaningful change 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 meaningful counsel to their clients.