A lot of artists are looking to get someone else to take over the business side of things allowing them get on with the music. Often they want a manager to “take them to the next level”, but this isn’t really how it works. It is useful to have a manager in the sense of someone speaking on your behalf, to help push your career through interactions with the industry, but only if they are the right one. You only need a manager once you are ready, when your product is good enough and you are a great band with a decent fan base. You still need to be hard working and interacting with your audience through social media, this is expected of all musicians now.
Picture by Paul Linus Claassen
The way to get a good manager is to keep doing what you are doing, building a grass routes fan base online and through playing gigs (promoted on Live Unsigned). Building an audience one person at a time. Eventually you will hit the point where you will be approached, as long as your name is in the right blogs and print press and you are playing the right gigs. Try and keep doing as much as possible yourself for as long as you can, the more well known you are and the larger your fan base the more chance you have of getting decent management.
When you are approached by a manager its very tempting to sign to them straight away, but don’t. Once you have one manager interested others are likely to follow. Always remember to get any contracts reviewed by an industry lawyer and be careful if they also offer a record, merchandising and publishing deal all in one. This is called a 360 deal and will give the management too much control. Avoid. Ask some questions before agreeing to anything like:
- How much commission will they take? Does this amount change for any reason?
- How many other acts are they managing? Are you a priority?
- Does the management want to be involved in the creative part of the process?
- Whats the long term plan for your career?
- What new acts have they broken recently? The music industry has changed a lot in the last few years and they need to be up with current trends.
- Whats the plan for playing live, is it small tours, supports or even house concerts?
- Will you build a following through DIY methods or look for an old style recording/publishing deal?
- Whats their social media strategy?
- How long is the contract for? What happens if things don’t work out?
- How much will they put into the band in cash/time terms?
- Who exactly do they know? Can they prove it? Have they a proven track record?
- Do they understand your genre and have contacts that are relevant?
Before moving forward get a detailed proposal of what the manager can do for you in the short term and over the course of the next few years. Really the best way to find a manager is through people you trust. The people you have met through building your network of contacts using the techniques in the previous few Live Unsigned blog posts are very useful here. Anyone can say they are a manager, it doesn’t mean they can get you the best deals or know the best contacts. Be very careful as mistakes at this point can be very expensive later on.
You and your management must share the same vision for your future career. If not things can get very messy, especially once lawyers are involved.
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Tags: band manager, career in music, lawyers, management
