Why A Band Or Artist Needs A Manager

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 seller 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 artist managers, however, are a motley collection of well-meaning, hardworking, selfless individuals struggling to make the dreams of someone 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 value of an performer manager. Following are 8 reasons why a performer or performer needs a good manager:

1. Career Guidance – It is a number of times extremely difficult for musicians 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 can see how everything in the extensive picture fits together, and can help 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 offers career guidance and helps to session the overall game plan for the performer and the musicians’ team to follow.

2. Cheerleading – Even though fans are the central cheerleaders for an artist, someone 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 individual 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 wonderful enough to attract management, there must be something of worth 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 might 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 among writing tunes, 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 musicians, updating band web sites 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 buying equipment, etc., there isn’t time to also 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 guide, 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 help 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 the majority appropriately the manager’s job.

7. Good Cop / Bad Cop – Need to fire the bass player but do not want to establish 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 could trade off playing good cop / bad cop.

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

Now,there you have 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.  A lot of wannabe managers think they could 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 provide meaningful counsel to their clients.