Management

Who is a Music Manager?

A ‘manager’ should be an individual or company that will take you under their protective wing and develop you as the best artist you can possibly be. A ‘manager’ should make the right introductions to Co-writers, Producers, Stylist’s, Record companies and Music Publishers and negotiate the best ‘deal’ for you in each area.

 A ‘manager’ should negotiate the terms of your Recording Agreement so that they pay the best possible return on Mechanical Royalties. The ‘manager’ should have a clear understanding of the Music Industry and should have contacts that will enhance you through your journey in the Music Industry. Some ‘managers’ are specific in their knowledge and skills and may from time to time bring in third party contacts to handle specific areas of the artists career. For example a ‘Tour Manager’, someone who specialises in your protection and scheduling for any ‘live’ work you are hired to perform. This could be International as well as domestic, so a good ‘Tour Manager’ will have knowledge and experience in travel requirements; VISA’s, Plane Tickets, Hotel Reservations, Transport, Security. Successful ‘managers’ will quite often have numerous clients and cannot attend every event their individual clients are booked for.

 An integral part of the music ‘managers’ role is to remain ahead of the client’s needs when dealing with labels, publishers, promoters, advertising etc. You as the artist may be signed to a Major record company and therefore may not always be their main focus of attention.

 It is the ‘managers’ role to chase record company executives to promote their artists internally to key markets across the globe. A ‘manager’ must make its client the single most important artist in existence to the record company, to its A+R department, its Promotions department, its Distribution department. All these areas must be monitored if the artists release is to be a success. The ‘manager’ must deal with the music publishers ensuring that songs are being tracked for airplay, licensing for compilations, synchronisation rights, which territories are broadcasting the song? The ‘manager’ must negotiate publishing advances (monies given to the composer in advance of royalties generated from airplay, licensing, sync licenses).

 A successful ‘manager’ will negotiate the best terms for its artist/composer ensuring that the terms of the agreement are in the best possible favour of the composer regarding copyright retention, composer/publisher percentages, exploitation of copyrights, indeed to make sure that every possible avenue of potential royalty earnings is exploited.

 A successful ‘manager’ will protect the rights of its artist/composer at all times and in all areas of exploitation, from signing the artist to their management company, to negotiating the best possible terms and conditions for recording and publishing deals. They will also build a team of people around the artist who will each use their skills in each of their specialist areas to enhance the image and reputation of the client.