Artist Management
Hello again!
If you caught my last post, I talked about the importance of adaptation when working in the music industry. I talked about this in two ways: by looking at what Jon Folk of Red 11 Music had to say about being a booking agent, and describing an experience I had myself during one of my sound engineering shifts at Taylor Down Under.
Today, I'm going to be analyzing the position of artist manager. I'll do this based off of two sources: the testimony of Matt Phillips, a manager under the firm Silverback Artist Management (who offered his view to careersinmusic.com), and an interview that I was fortunate enough to be able to conduct for my Artist Management class here at James Madison University. The interview was with the manager of an up-and-coming but strikingly successful artist, but for privacy reasons, I will leave them anonymous.
The Careers in Music website offers this summary of the position:
From this basic description, we can immediately see the importance of being able to adapt; there's no one thing that this job entails. You need to be good at almost everything, and at the turn of a hat. Matt Phillips went on to say that not only do you have to be good at everything, but that no one day is the same when working as a manager. The website continues:
It is not at all a surprise that being able to adapt is such a common theme in the music industry, and it is essentially exactly what the manager who I interviewed last week told me and my partner.
The interview was conducted for my Artist Management class. He requested that I keep him anonymous for this post, so for the sake of convenience I will refer to him as Mike.
The interview lasted about 45 minutes and in it, Mike reflected to us his start in the music business and what he thinks it takes for a manager to be successful. It doesn't surprise me that Mike shared a lot of the same views that Matt held. He also offered some interesting new insight as well.
We first asked Mike how long he had been involved with the business, and how he got into it in the first place. He started by saying that he had been involved with music in some capacity, which highlighted his passion for music right off the bat. He told us that as early as age 12, he was starting a "record label" (he told us over the phone that he was using air quotes that we couldn't see). What this meant for him at the time was that he was recording his friend's music and then distributing it around his school. Obviously this isn't a real record label, but it's still incredible that he was doing what people my age (22) are doing to get music around, and at the age of 12!
Mike then told us that he enrolled in college at the age of 18, but made the decision to drop out after only two weeks to become a tour manager. He did this until he was 22, while also remaining active in the distribution of recorded music. When he reached 22, he made the transition into artist management. Fast forward six years, and Mike has been in artist management ever since.
We talked at length with Mike about what he thought were important skills to possess to become a successful artist manager. Like Matt, he immediately brought up the importance of people skills. He went on to highlight the importance of being able to properly resolve conflicts and, just as importantly, being able to have those difficult conversations and having people walk away as happy as possible. It was eye-opening to here Mike say that as a manager dealing with conflicts with your client, you often take on the role of "personal therapist." This is a perfect example of a good manager's need to be able to take on many diverse rolls at any given time, as was highlighted by Matt. Mike summarized this role by saying that "it’s a home, and you’ve gotta keep the home happy."
Something that stuck out to me during our interview was regarding the contracts that Mike maintains with his clients. It is standard practice for a manager to maintain a contract with his clients, even if he knows them personally. There is another school of thought that says that contracts are unnecessary, and that they impede on the foundation of trust an artist and a manager need to have. Mike told us that he maintains absolutely no contracts with his artists (of which he has five), and due to the popularity of at least one of the artists that I know he manages, I found that very surprising.
Upon Mike explaining himself a bit further, it began to make more sense why he didn't maintain contracts with them. He told us that in the case of the artist that I had in mind, he knew them personally for a long time previously (he had even been roommates with one of them). To him it came down to an "ethical" issue. Like some other managers, he truly thought that his personal relationship and mutual trust with his client was enough to negate the necessity of a contract. He added, however, that he would likely want a contract with an artist he didn't know personally, and that he was considering putting protections in place over the work that he had done with his old artists today.
Along with people skills, Mike also talked about how a manager needs to be comfortable with the balance of being polite with people, while at the same time being direct with what you want. It's fine (and necessary!) to be polite with people, but Mike expressed to us that starting out as a "dude from the South", it sometimes became difficult to tell if he was over doing it. In some cases, it would get to the point where he would negate what he was trying to say. He told us that in many cases it's better to heir on the side of being direct so as to not waste either party's time.
One of the last things we asked Mike in this interview was if there was anything he wished he'd done differently when he was first starting out, and his answer surprised us both: "Not really!"
He told us that he believes that his passion for music fueled the fact that everything he did starting out was in direct service of that passion. While it wasn't always fun, he thinks that that was just part of the work, and he didn't mind working to serve his passion. It was a truly inspiring and encouraging thought to hear myself as an aspiring music industry workforce member. He spoke of his work to us in this way:
From this, we can see that Mike often went through a serious grind, plain and simple, as many managers and industry professionals do. However, doing the job itself, he told us, was it's own reward. Later on in the interview, he said he'd never recommend anyone get into this job for money, and that people who feel entitled to success in this industry are setting themselves up to be unsuccessful. He also told us that success often hits when you least expect it. If you're in the job because you love it, however, then in many ways you've already made it.
It was my pleasure talking with Mike when I did. He was a relaxed, friendly guy, and happy to lend his insight to myself and my partner. It is my intention to send him a handwritten thank-you note (something my artist management professor recommended we do) with the hope that he will remember my name in the future. Finding success in the industry is all about your access to the industry, and with Mike in my "Rolodex", I hope that my access has broadened.
If you caught my last post, I talked about the importance of adaptation when working in the music industry. I talked about this in two ways: by looking at what Jon Folk of Red 11 Music had to say about being a booking agent, and describing an experience I had myself during one of my sound engineering shifts at Taylor Down Under.
Today, I'm going to be analyzing the position of artist manager. I'll do this based off of two sources: the testimony of Matt Phillips, a manager under the firm Silverback Artist Management (who offered his view to careersinmusic.com), and an interview that I was fortunate enough to be able to conduct for my Artist Management class here at James Madison University. The interview was with the manager of an up-and-coming but strikingly successful artist, but for privacy reasons, I will leave them anonymous.
The Careers in Music website offers this summary of the position:
"In general, job duties involve strategizing and creating marketing plans for album releases and tours, managing social media, merchandising, even doing some work that is typically considered the work of an A&R Coordinator, such as putting together records with Producers and finding artwork. Managers also help their clients with career direction, artist representation, tour management, and attaining corporate sponsorships." - careersinmusic.com
The logo for Silverback Artist Management, as it appears on their website.
From this basic description, we can immediately see the importance of being able to adapt; there's no one thing that this job entails. You need to be good at almost everything, and at the turn of a hat. Matt Phillips went on to say that not only do you have to be good at everything, but that no one day is the same when working as a manager. The website continues:
“When you’re a Manager, you just have to do anything” to get the client out there, he [Phillips] says. He works with a “full plate of different people,” including “Producers, Promoters, Booking Agents, record distributors, Lawyers, Business Managers, tech companies, record label reps, marketing people, brand management people and overseas Agents and labels.”
It is not at all a surprise that being able to adapt is such a common theme in the music industry, and it is essentially exactly what the manager who I interviewed last week told me and my partner.
The interview was conducted for my Artist Management class. He requested that I keep him anonymous for this post, so for the sake of convenience I will refer to him as Mike.
The interview lasted about 45 minutes and in it, Mike reflected to us his start in the music business and what he thinks it takes for a manager to be successful. It doesn't surprise me that Mike shared a lot of the same views that Matt held. He also offered some interesting new insight as well.
We first asked Mike how long he had been involved with the business, and how he got into it in the first place. He started by saying that he had been involved with music in some capacity, which highlighted his passion for music right off the bat. He told us that as early as age 12, he was starting a "record label" (he told us over the phone that he was using air quotes that we couldn't see). What this meant for him at the time was that he was recording his friend's music and then distributing it around his school. Obviously this isn't a real record label, but it's still incredible that he was doing what people my age (22) are doing to get music around, and at the age of 12!
Mike then told us that he enrolled in college at the age of 18, but made the decision to drop out after only two weeks to become a tour manager. He did this until he was 22, while also remaining active in the distribution of recorded music. When he reached 22, he made the transition into artist management. Fast forward six years, and Mike has been in artist management ever since.
We talked at length with Mike about what he thought were important skills to possess to become a successful artist manager. Like Matt, he immediately brought up the importance of people skills. He went on to highlight the importance of being able to properly resolve conflicts and, just as importantly, being able to have those difficult conversations and having people walk away as happy as possible. It was eye-opening to here Mike say that as a manager dealing with conflicts with your client, you often take on the role of "personal therapist." This is a perfect example of a good manager's need to be able to take on many diverse rolls at any given time, as was highlighted by Matt. Mike summarized this role by saying that "it’s a home, and you’ve gotta keep the home happy."
Something that stuck out to me during our interview was regarding the contracts that Mike maintains with his clients. It is standard practice for a manager to maintain a contract with his clients, even if he knows them personally. There is another school of thought that says that contracts are unnecessary, and that they impede on the foundation of trust an artist and a manager need to have. Mike told us that he maintains absolutely no contracts with his artists (of which he has five), and due to the popularity of at least one of the artists that I know he manages, I found that very surprising.
Upon Mike explaining himself a bit further, it began to make more sense why he didn't maintain contracts with them. He told us that in the case of the artist that I had in mind, he knew them personally for a long time previously (he had even been roommates with one of them). To him it came down to an "ethical" issue. Like some other managers, he truly thought that his personal relationship and mutual trust with his client was enough to negate the necessity of a contract. He added, however, that he would likely want a contract with an artist he didn't know personally, and that he was considering putting protections in place over the work that he had done with his old artists today.
Along with people skills, Mike also talked about how a manager needs to be comfortable with the balance of being polite with people, while at the same time being direct with what you want. It's fine (and necessary!) to be polite with people, but Mike expressed to us that starting out as a "dude from the South", it sometimes became difficult to tell if he was over doing it. In some cases, it would get to the point where he would negate what he was trying to say. He told us that in many cases it's better to heir on the side of being direct so as to not waste either party's time.
One of the last things we asked Mike in this interview was if there was anything he wished he'd done differently when he was first starting out, and his answer surprised us both: "Not really!"
He told us that he believes that his passion for music fueled the fact that everything he did starting out was in direct service of that passion. While it wasn't always fun, he thinks that that was just part of the work, and he didn't mind working to serve his passion. It was a truly inspiring and encouraging thought to hear myself as an aspiring music industry workforce member. He spoke of his work to us in this way:
"You’re in the van with the band, you’re staying up until 2 AM and then having to wake up at 7 AM and drive to the next town, and you’re exhausted and you’re sick and you’re having a blast, and then you’re the conduit to their [the artist's] whole team. Their manager is talking to you, their publicist, their radio team, their label… you’re meeting all these people and you’re kind of seeing this 360 view of how everything works..." ("Mike")
From this, we can see that Mike often went through a serious grind, plain and simple, as many managers and industry professionals do. However, doing the job itself, he told us, was it's own reward. Later on in the interview, he said he'd never recommend anyone get into this job for money, and that people who feel entitled to success in this industry are setting themselves up to be unsuccessful. He also told us that success often hits when you least expect it. If you're in the job because you love it, however, then in many ways you've already made it.
It was my pleasure talking with Mike when I did. He was a relaxed, friendly guy, and happy to lend his insight to myself and my partner. It is my intention to send him a handwritten thank-you note (something my artist management professor recommended we do) with the hope that he will remember my name in the future. Finding success in the industry is all about your access to the industry, and with Mike in my "Rolodex", I hope that my access has broadened.
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