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Forward e-Newsletter |
Management
Options
by Bobby Borg |
When your act is at the point where you are getting positive press,
opportunities to play bigger and better live gigs, and a body of fans
asking when you’re releasing your next recording, it might be
time to look for a personal manager to help bump your career to the
next level.
A manager can help an artist formulate goals and create a strategic
plan. An artist looks to a manager to be a motivator, counselor, confidant,
diplomat, and day-to-day business person. The right personal manager
can mean success beyond one’s wildest imagination – but
with the wrong personal manager, the results can be devastating. Needless
to say, choosing a personal manager may be one of the most important
career decisions that you can make.
Before seeking out and hiring a manager, it’s important to understand
the various types of management options available to you. We’ll
address three of the most common scenarios: self-management, start-up
management by an individual attempting to break into the music business,
and established professional management.
Self-Management
Good management begins with the artist. Too often musicians believe
the solution to their problems is finding some third-party person
to magically whisk them up from rehearsal room to super-stardom. It’s
true that an experienced manager can make good things happen, and
sometimes quickly, but a manager cannot be an excuse for laziness.
First you must seriously ask yourself if there's anything you can
be doing yourself, like:
• Have you written a large repertoire of songs and developed
them to the best of your ability?
• Have you recorded your songs? Are you selling your own CDs
at live performances and over the Internet? Are you tracking your
sales?
• Are you booking your own shows and doing everything you can
to promote them?
• Are you building a strong fan base and getting fans excited
about your music?
• Are you stimulating interest in the press and over the Internet?
• Have you given serious thought to your career vision or goals
and do you know exactly what you want to accomplish?
• Are all members of your band united in a common goal?
You must acquire a basic knowledge of the music business and devote
some good old-fashioned hard work on your own before ever thinking
about a getting a personal manager. Some artists have it so together
that the first time a personal manager comes into play is after they’ve
signed an agreement with a record company. But even then, an artist
must continue to monitor his business and work together with their
personal manager to build a successful career.
Start-up Management
Perhaps you’ve reached a point in your career where the time
spent running your business is inhibiting your creative development.
Or maybe you’ve done everything you can to advance your career
and can’t go any further without a helping hand. Perhaps finding
a personal manager is the right solution. But the reality is most
managers with any clout or won’t be interested in working with
you until you’re a signed act or are close to being signed.
These managers are simply too busy handling artists that bring them
an immediate return on their investment of time.
There are always exceptions, but generally your first manager will
likely be:
• A close friend who’s willing to make phone calls and
help promote shows without getting paid for the first few months or
years. In fact, he may not even be called a “manager”
at all, working with the understanding that as soon your career progresses,
he will be replaced by an established professional and offered some
other position in the band.
• A business person who’s always dreamed of being in a
band and has the desire to live those dreams through you, or an experienced
musician who has got all the passion and drive needed to set you on
course.
• A club owner who sees hundred of bands perform each year.
This individual has a good idea of what works and what doesn’t
and is willing to offer you an objective point of view and career
guidance.
• An intern or junior assistant of a professional manager by
day who’s looking to cut his teeth on managing his own band.
He’s got the advantage of having his boss for guidance and sees
how a professional office is run.
These people all share one thing in common: they are relative newcomers
to the management business. Start-up managers are usually young, aggressive,
ambitious individuals who are willing to work their tails off for
you. They’ll devote every minute of their day towards helping
you reach your goals. They have business savvy, are good talkers,
and are eager to learn. These traits are exactly what’s needed
from a manager in the developmental stages of your career.
Take notice: the early stages of your career are when you have to
be the most careful with picking a manager. A lot of wanna-bes will
feel they can adequately manage your career, but despite their good
intentions, they may end up costing you time and money due to their
inexperience and lack of connections. There are managers in this business,
and there are damagers. Watch out for the damagers.
Established Professional Management
Let’s say you have developed your career to the point where
you’re creating a buzz in your hometown – you’re
getting some press and college radio airplay, and perhaps record companies
are beginning to ask about you. If this describes your act, your management
options are going to be pretty wide open. Things are going to begin
moving fast for you, and you’ll need an experienced pro to take
the reins.
Managers are in business to make money just like anyone else. If you
are in a position to make them money, there’s more reason to
work with you. You’ve come a long way on your own, and unless
your ego starts to expand drastically or you decide to start shooting
drugs, you’ve already proved you have what it takes. The term
“established professional management” covers a broad spectrum,
but for the sake clarity here we’ll divide it into two distinct
categories: “mid-level managers” and “big league
managers.”
Mid-level managers. Mid-level managers may have a great deal of experience
in the industry but have not quite broken a band to stardom. Maybe
they have one client on their roster who sold 200,000 records, but
they still don’t have a gold record hanging on the wall. These
are the guys who are typically well-liked in the industry and are
well-connected enough to open doors. They may be exactly what you
need to get the record companies from just being interested in you
to actually closing a deal.
Mid-level managers usually have a great understanding of the business
and perhaps were even A&R representatives or marketing managers
at a label before getting involved in the management business. They
enjoy the entrepreneurial spirit and freedom provided by managing
bands. The problem is they are not as powerful as someone like a big
league manager and therefore it may take them longer to get things
done.
Big league managers. Big league managers are very well-connected in
the industry. The relationships they’ve formed, the respect
they’ve earned, and the favors they can trade give them the
power to make things happen for you with just a few phone calls. These
guys have been around for years and have lots of gold and platinum
records hanging on their walls. They may even run a large firm and
have a number of managers working under them. The clients these managers
represent provide a number of touring opportunities for your band.
In addition, these managers have established strong relationships
with record companies over the years, and the labels are happy to
have them representing you. If a big league manager is truly dedicated
to making you a huge success, then it’s a pretty good bet that
things are going to start moving fast for you.
Take note: you may not always get the attention you deserve from a
big league manager. A manager who has been involved with a band from
the very beginning has much more invested emotionally than someone
who comes aboard later. These are typically the guys that will go
down with the sinking ship before giving up. In the long run, this
may be exactly what you may need.
Bobby Borg has over 25 years of experience in music. He is a graduate
of Berklee College of Music in Boston with a BA in Professional Music,
and the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) with a certificate
in music business. Borg is the author of The Musician's Handbook:
A Practical Guide to Understanding the Music Business, published by
Billboard books. He is also a staff writer for Music Biz magazine
and a host of other online educational resources. Borg is the author
of six self-published instructional method books for musicians, and
has written educational articles for Modern Drummer.
Learn more about Bobby Borg and to get your copy of The Musician’s
Handbook at www.bobbyborg.com.
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