This site is a blog for musicians and music industry people. It is a free educational resource and it is also the way I advertise my music consulting services. I am an entertainment professional with deep roots in the music industry. Throughout my music career I have been a major label A&R representative, a music supervisor, an artist manager, a reality show producer, a bass player and the head of a digital record label.
In Part four, I discussed some best practices for turning friends into managers on a trial basis. This option may not work for everyone though. Perhaps as much as you love your friends they can’t seem to get out of their way long enough to manage their own lives, let alone your career. It may be time to find your way into the office of a professional music manager. This, however, is often easier said than done.
Approaching a music manager should be thought of like approaching an investor with a start up company that you are looking to get funded. When trying to get someone to invest in a start up it is always easier to get people to contribute when a business has momentum and is well beyond the blueprint phases meaning it is either on it’s way towards being profitable or already profitable. It is essential that you have this in your consciousness when you approach someone to invest his or her time in your project. It is also essential that you have in mind exactly what your business selling points are above and beyond what your music sounds like – it’s very rarely enough that your music sounds great.
A great deal of being successful in your approach has to do with understanding the perspective of people on the industry side of the fence. It is about appreciating how overwhelming it can be to sit behind a desk where dreams go to die and how inundated successful music managers are with people who want something from them. Keeping this in mind here are some best practices in making an approach
1) Don’t go in cold:
If at all possible find someone who knows a music manager with a decent roster or another type of music executive who would be willing to make an introduction for you. Not at all a revolutionary idea but surprisingly one that is often overlooked. Begin to ask friends and acquaintances directly if they know people who work with music. It really doesn’t matter if it is your friend’s cousin’s roommate – something about being vouched for – even if it is 2-3 degrees of separation can really help create initial contact.
2) Present well:
This is a snippet of a real email I got recently from someone looking for help:
“i luv 2 sing , it is my world &ill never giv up. im already doin dis thing myself&i hav a guy dats a friend dat sing 2. im thinkn abt goin 2 college n persue my career @ da same time.wat shood i do 2 b well-kNown??”
Needless to say if your point of first contact is through email – use spell check. You aren’t texting a friend of yours drunk at some bar – you are trying to make valuable connections that will serve you in your music career for a long time to come. Whether first contact is spoken or written however – take baby steps. Your goal is to meet someone first – not to sign a management contract in perpetuity within the first 30 seconds. There are just too many aspiring musicians to respond to all of them when you are a manager or an executive with successful clients – they have to pick and choose who they pay attention to. My experience is that most people respond, even to cold calls or emails, if you present yourself well.
3) Be Specific and mention business accomplishments:
Write thoughtful and individually tailored emails to potential targets (Generic form letters often fall flat and also tend to reek of desperation). Why are you targeting this executive specifically? What did they do with their career or their client’s careers or who suggested you reach out? Give them business reasons to reach out to you – it’s not about “I’m the best singer in the world” it’s about – “I’ve got a mailing list of 1500 people or “my shows are selling out” or “I just did demos with a guy who worked with other artists you have heard of…”
4) Take it Slow & Provide Value
You could say - “I want you to manage me…” but every manager has different ways of working – the person you are approaching could be the complete wrong fit in spite of their successes with other clients. Saying this to a stranger is about as reasonable as proposing on a blind date prior to shaking someone’s hand.
You may be better served by saying “I’d love to buy you a cup of coffee and get your advice” or “I love what you did with the marketing plan on your client X and was curious if I could ask you a few questions…” or if you are really crafty come up with another compelling business reason that this executive could benefit from knowing you. Perhaps – “I would gladly do demos at my studio for some of your artists in exchange for some advice” or “I am connected to a bunch of artists and producers that you should probably know about or “I can help you promote shows locally”. These are all business reasons that I have watched artists use to further their relationships with executives. It may not be necessary to do so- but it is a good option and can help build relationships.
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Where does that leave you? Well – hopefully it leaves you-
I’ll be back soon for the next installment of the music manager series where I go over the investor / manager and momager and dadager phenomenon. If you missed it check out my interview with Music / Tour Manager Dave Lory from the New Music Seminar
In Part three- I was discussing the different types of managers. One could argue there are other archetypes and lots of people mix and match attributes from different groups but from my almost twenty years in music on both sides of the fence- these are the four basic types I have come across:
1) Friends and acquaintances turned managers
2) Professional music executives
3) Momagers and Dadagers
4) Investor / Managers
Let’s go over the friend turned manager option first as this is probably the most attainable type of manager. I have seen this scenario play out many times and can tell you that if you are not careful you can damage both your career and your friendships if this is done wrong so pay attention and be open and honest with your would be manager from day 1.
This person should be:
Identifying your friend the possible manager isn’t always that difficult – it is seeing them with unclouded eyes that can be the hard part. I urge you to go over the list above in your head with anyone you are considering. If it becomes obvious that your buddy who is supposed to help you load out after the show often disappears only to resurface days later asking to borrow money and wondering aloud what herpes look like – keep looking – this is probably not your manager.
Unless you are 100% sure that this person is the only person you want to manage you- I would suggest you have a conversation with the friend turned manager that you are going to do some kind of trial period to see how things work out with the professional relationship. In doing so you set up reasonable expectations for both sides and you schedule a date (the end of the trial period) to go over your working relationship. Another reason to set this relationship up as a trial arrangement is that it is not uncommon for bands to outgrow management. You have probably seen it your travels as well – the guy or gal who was great at making sure all the gear was packed up and that merch got sold started to be outclassed when questions like “How much should we ask for this Sync license?” or “What kind of door deal do most other acts of our size get?” started to arise.
Still, I am a believer in converting friends into managers if you are lucky enough to have hardworking friends who are eager to learn. People who are willing to do this kind of work for a fledgling artist, usually for free, are worth their weight in gold. There are many stories of very successful music managers who started out this exact way and, of course, there are plenty of stories about people like this who got blown out in favor of someone with more experience the minute things started heating up for the artist. I suggest you remember not to put 100% of your expectations on a manager of any kind to make things happen. Yes- they should be generating new business opportunities as well as managing your existing opportunities but it is also up to you to continue these business efforts as well.
Along those lines, don’t just hire someone and say “You’re our manager now”. I see this all the time and it drives me up a proverbial wall. If you are hiring someone and entrusting them to represent your artistic efforts when you are not around you had better have a very clear understanding of what you want from this person and please for the love of God don’t drop generic bullshit on them like “I want to get to the next level”.
The plan for your success has to start with you so instead of saying “we want to be big” or “we want to be successful” (as if anyone with half a brain was formulating a plan to ensure that you were doomed to failure in the garage) you should have a roadmap of the next few months that you can communicate. This is important no matter what kind of manager you have but especially with one who is rather new. If you are having trouble figuring out what you need to start with – here are a few of the standard artist build hurdles
To summarize – the friend turned manager is not a bad option provided that you
I will detail the approach on more established managers in the next installment. In the meantime check out this interview with an established music manager
How do I find a music manager? How do I find a booking agent? I just need to find someone to get my music to the next level. I’ve heard these questions and statements before and fifteen or so years ago I sounded exactly like this. As it turns out I wound up on the industry side of the fence and traded in the crowded smelly van for a record company desk job but I do have some answers for you. If you showed up here via Google search chances are you won’t like what I am going to tell you but I implore you to keep reading.
Let’s start at the very beginning – do you have anything to manage?
I know – sounds like a stupid question, but is it? I’m not asking you if you have lots of work that you could use help with, nor am I making light of the pure volume of work that is the creation of both recorded and live music. What I am asking you is do you have something ready to bring to market that needs managing or are you still building out your product?
There is no shame (I’ll repeat it again) NO SHAME in being in the developmental phases of your career. We live in an instant gratification kind of world, which is why when I write articles like this I know statistically that a majority of people won’t have made it this far because they were looking for a “get famous now” button. Take your time and develop your product – this will help you rise above the MILLIONS of other people who went out to guitar center purchased their first instrument and recording gear and had the first song they ever wrote up on MySpace the next day hoping for some kind of miracle won’t ever come.
Back to management – let’s talk about what you should have together before even considering approaching someone to invest in your career. *** Notice I said invest because whether or not they spend a dime on you management is an enormous expenditure of someone’s time***
Before approaching anyone to manage you- have most of these together:
These are the building blocks and the marketing materials you will use over and over and over again. There are no words, no email sales pitch and probably not even naked photos of an executive in compromising positions that will get you taken more seriously than having the items above in place. Many of these items can get pricey so do your homework and shop around if you feel that any of these items are best done by work for hire. Having these materials will get your more gigs, will get you taken more seriously by your peers and potential fans and ultimately (if you have a product people want) will help you build a business in music.
“Okay – wait – isn’t this super basic? Does he think we are Idiots?”
No, absolutely not. But I can tell you that statistically aspiring musicians are looking at the wrong things to get ahead. Check out what people search for online for music related terms according to a Google AdWords querry in June 2010:
Term: “Get My Music Heard Online”
Global Monthly Searches: > 10
Term: “Get more people to my shows”
Global Monthly Searches: > 10
Term: “Make a Living In Music”
Global Monthly Searches: 46
Term: “Marketing My Music”
Global Monthly Searches: 110
Term: “Get a Music Manager”
Global Monthly Searches: 590
Term: “How to Get A Record Deal”
Global Monthly Searches: 18,100
Draw your own conclusions but I think too many people are looking for a shortcut to fame that barring an act of God or Justin Bieber just doesn’t exist.
I will be back with the subsequent portion(s) of this increasingly poorly named article early next week and I will actually get up to the part where you approach someone and what you should discuss.
In the meantime do a search under “manager” in the search bar at the top right of the blog – There will be lots of fun interviews with very experienced music managers.
…Or continue to part 2 now.
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