Artist Managment

We hear about artist management all the time but do you really know what their roles are and why they are so important? Hopefully, by the end of this post, you will. The relationship you have with a manager is probably the closest in the music industry. Managers are there to guide, advise and take control over business affairs. Finding a good manager can take an artist from being an underground talent to worldwide stardom; such as Brian Epstein (The Beatles), Simon Fuller (The Spice Girls), Malcolm McClaren (Sex Pistols) and Paul Rosenberg (Eminem).

A key thing to remember is that as an artist you employ your manager, not the other way round. They are employed as your representative for the business side and their jobs can include bookkeeping, organizing bills and contracts. It is also their responsibility to find, and negotiate, the best business deals for their artist. As their representative, a manager should always put their artist first. For example, if a record company offers a small advance but higher funding for promotion the manager should advise the artist to take it. It would be preferable for the manager if there were a higher advance so that he could commission more money but he should always put the artist first expecting bigger rewards at a later stage. This will become clearer later on when we look at how managers are paid.

However, when it comes to managers, it isn’t all about business. Many management companies play the role of assistants to the artists and may have a close involvement in daily activities. These jobs might include paying bills, sorting shopping and even buying birthday presents. The relationship formed with a manager can be almost like a marriage so it is imperative that you get along. If the relationship does turn sour it’s dealt with in a slightly different way than other music industry disputes. Courts usually don’t insist that artist and managers must continue working together. This differs from many record label disputes as we’ve seen recently with ‘Kesha’. However, it’s common for courts to enforce that the artist continues to pay commissions to the manager. So finding someone you can work closely with is vitally important and we’ll examine what to look for in a manager, in a bit.

How are managers paid? Managers are usually paid differently than record labels and publishers. They are paid a commission on the gross sums that an artist is paid. As the manager is an employee of the artist, and is hopefully working to get them the best opportunities, they are paid a commission of what the artist earns. The standard rate in the UK is 20% but always remember every contract is different so these things can be negotiated. If you change managers it’s common for the new one to a receive commission of 15% as the previous manager will still be taking their 5%. This is known as an ‘override’ and is in place because the previous manager, usually, will have been the one who brought the artist their first success. Managers are only allowed to commission money from certain activities and not from others. It’s vital to know these so if you choose to employ a manager you don’t get taken advantage of.

What managers CAN commission money from:

• Record Company advances and royalties
• Publishing Company advances and royalties
• Merchandising Company advances and royalties
• PRS and MCPS payments (that go to the artist)
• Appearance Fees for example; Film, TV, Live Shows
• Creative Fees for example; books and articles

What managers CAN’T commission money from:

• Recording Budgets paid by a Record Company
• Touring Budgets paid by a Record Company
• Merchandise Budgets paid by a Merchandise Company
• Tax Repayments

Managers do not usually invest in the artist. They are employees after all and they will expect to get back the costs made on activities such as phone calls, transport, meals, software and promotional activities. It is important to consider that no matter what level of fame you reach you look after your own money. A successful relationship can crumble easily over money. Managers often prefer not to have direct access to the artist’s money so that they are not vulnerable to being accused of mishandling funds. A clever idea would be to set out all duties, tasks, payments and territories early on so these problems don’t arise. You could also set an amount a manager can spend per month and should an expense supersede this, the artist can be contacted.

There are so many managers out there, what am I looking for? Well it’s simple really, you’re looking for someone you can work well with and that will represent you professionally and work hard for you. It’s important to have vigorous interviews in order to find out whether the relationship is going to work. In many cases managers and artists start their business with a trial period in order to see if they can work well together. If you are thinking about finding a manager here are some important questions to consider finding out the answers to.

• How experienced are they?
• How successful have they been?
• How long have they worked in the industry and in what roles?
• What is their reputation?
• What are their strengths?
• Do they focus more on the business or the creative side?
• Are they currently working with any other artists? If so how many? (You want a manager that has time to focus on your career)
• Where are they based?
• How much do they know about you as an artist?
• What contacts do they have?
• Do they have experience of the industry outside the UK (preferably with good contacts in America)
• How often would the contact be between artist and manager?

If you take all of these questions into account and you are able to find answers that satisfy you, and you feel you could work well together, then you may just have found the winning formula. Artist management is one of the most important roles within the music industry and finding the right partnership can lead to a long and extremely rewarding relationship.