So, You Want To Be A Manager?

Hi guys, how are you? This is for those of you who are looking to be managers in the music industry, and of course, um, artists who are looking to find a manager should probably watch this as well. So that you can see what it takes to be a great manager. Okay. The thing about being a manager is that you can't just pick up a book and learn how to manage artists. It's a skill that's sort of learn as you do. And if you haven't done it before, it's a little bit of a disservice to the artist that you're managing because you're kind of cutting your teeth on that artist. They're kind of your guinea pig, right? You're, you're learning as you go. Um, but everyone who's ever managed, including myself, um, we have done that. We've learned as we've moved forward. The problem with that is that most people that do that fail. Um, I can even tell you that as a manager, I hated it. So I was not very good at being a manager. I was able to do the basics, but I wasn't able to do everything that I needed to do in order to really help my clients and get them to the next level of their career, right? So my best suggestion, if you want to be a manager, is to work underneath someone who is a great manager already, and someone who's managing an artist that has a successful career, a current successful career. Um, the traits that are most important, in my opinion, um, are really the know-how, meaning the experience, and the connections. You need to be able to pick up the phone and call booking agents if you want to get your artists on a tour. You need to be able to pick up the phone and call sponsors, um, endorsements, people that, that have a product that are willing to invest into your artist financially in order to spread the word about their product. You need access to different clothing companies to get your artist gear for for photo shoots and for videos. And all of these things are relationship-based. You can't just pick up a directory of booking agents and go through and start calling people. You've really got to have an in within that company so that that person that you're in can tell you the best person within the company to interact with, to, you know, who can best help your artist. And in addition to that, can make the introduction so that you're not cold calling. It's very difficult in the music industry to cold call, as many of you have learned. When you reach out to people in the music industry, they do not respond to you, and that's because it's so oversaturated and there's so many people that are reaching out either by phone or by email or through social media that it gets a little bit daunting for the person you're reaching out to. There's just too many people coming at them. So if you're not introduced to them through somebody that's a viable resource for them or somebody they respect, it's just gonna be very hard to get to them. It's the nature of the business. I know that sucks. It's just— it's the way it is. So having said all that, the best thing that you can do as an up-and-coming manager is to work underneath somebody that's already doing management as a viable career. That way you learn what to do, you get their know-how, you see how it's done, you cut your teeth with training wheels basically, and you are able to gather their connections and resources because you're working with them. So you've got access to everybody they have access to. Um, most people do not do this. I don't know why, but it's the best thing that you can do as a manager. Um, you may need to work under that person for free for a while in order to, um, get a position. But if your life goal is to be a manager, you can plan that out. You can get a job, sock away money and then intern with somebody for 3 months, 6 months, whatever it takes in order to live your dream. Or you can find an alternative way to make money, either freelancing or a part-time job, or hell, even waiting tables at night. Whatever you have to do in order to live your dream, it's absolutely worth it. In terms of managing an artist, you need to help that person plan their career. So you need to understand all aspects of the music industry so that you can help them plan their career. And you're going to sit down in tandem with them and figure out how you're going to get from point A to B. But you need to find out what that point B is. You need to find out what their goal is. Some artists want to be superstars, you know, larger than life. They want to be the next Taylor Swift or the next Drake or the next Weeknd. Some artists are are just happy to keep doing what they're doing and just feed their family and, and make a career out of this. So they're not trying to be a superstar, but they're just trying to tour maybe once a year and have some income, maybe make, you know, $100,000 a year doing what they do, and they're happy. Um, and some artists don't really want to make money doing this. They just want to get their music out there, and they want a little bit of fame. And if you're going to be a manager who makes you know, 15 to 20% of the income, you need a solid understanding of what your artist wants to do, where they want to go, and how they want to do it. Some artists want to stay independent, like Chance the Rapper, Nipsey Hussle, Tech N9ne. There's a lot of artists out there who believe in the independent route. I believe in the independent route. And then there's artists out there who want to be signed to a major label. If you're managing an artist who wants to be signed to a major label and you're of an independent state of mind, you two are never gonna mesh because you have a different vision than they have, and your visions need to be united. You need to be, you need to set the goal together, and then you as the manager, it's your job to enact the plan to get to that goal. And because most artists are broke, you're going to have to enact a plan where the artist can make money as quickly as possible. In fact, one of the things that I tell artists is that in the management agreement, there needs to be a clause that, that stipulates the manager is going to make them a certain amount of money every year. And what that money is, you know, how much that is, is up to you guys to decide. You know, the two of you can come together and, and figure that out, but it's protection for the artist from a manager that is new and doesn't exactly know what they're doing. If the artist's goal is to eat from the music industry and you've got— let's say you've got a contract with the artist and in the first year you agree that you should be able to make the artist $100,000 or $50,000 or a quarter million dollars, whatever amount of money the two of you agree upon, That should be in the contract so that there is a minimum point that you need to achieve so that if you don't, the artist will have the opportunity to leave and go find a manager that can do a better job. And that's no disrespect to you because you may, you may be working really hard and the artist sees all that you're doing for them and the artist might say, you know what, our contract stipulated that you had to make me $100,000 this year. You didn't make me $100,000, you only made me $75,000, but you know what, I really like working with you. I see the potential that you have and I want to stay with you. It, it now becomes the artist's choice whether to stay with you or move on. So if you're cutting your teeth on that artist, you don't have their entire life and dreams in your hands, and, and they have the ability to move on if you're not able to deliver what's necessary as a manager. Again, a better solution would be to work underneath a manager until you have the experience level and the knowledge to really benefit your artist career. Management is not something that you just wake up and do. It's not easy. It's not intuitive. It can really— you can really negatively impact somebody's life if you don't know what you're doing and you don't have the right connections to get them to the next level. For example, if you are managing an artist whose goal is to get a deal, do you even know how to get a record deal? Do you even have connections with the labels to, to get your artist to that level? Do you have a budget? Do you have the ability to market and promote your artist to garner the attention of a record label? Can you build that buzz big enough for the artist on the street so that the labels are clamoring to sign your artist? If you can't do that, then you're not really a manager, you're just somebody who's trying to help an artist, and you might be holding the artist back more than you're helping them. So all this to say, learn the business, work under somebody that's very successful at doing this. They're going to be happy to have your help. If you're great at what you do, they're going to help you for the rest of your life. They're going to be a great asset to you going forward. But you've got to learn this, you've got to have the connections, and you've got to really be an asset to the artist that you're working with, or they're not going to succeed. You know, you're the backbone of their career. So don't hold somebody back and learn the business. And good luck to you. If you have questions, email me. I'm happy to answer any questions that you guys have. This is Wendy Day at gmail.com. Okay guys, take care.