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.
It occurred to me recently as I got a call from a musician with a great deal of heart and hope but very little in the way of compelling reasons to get people to listen that it was time to discuss the notion of conversation currency. Below is my experience with working with figuring out what to say and do to build a business and meet the people I wanted to meet. For better or worse I built my first business the same way I built the bands I played in or worked with throughout my career.
I started my career with a tremendous advantage over most people since my first real job was as an intern and then assistant for Lava / Atlantic Records working under people who were very established and competent. The phone rang and rang and rang. The people they really wanted to talk to were busy so that left me on the line trying to figure out if I could help them with whatever information they needed and just generally being polite or mimicking things I heard my superiors say and trying to sound less young, inexperienced or blatantly unqualified.
It was not hard to be well connected in musician circles as someone who was a gatekeeper (even as minor of a gatekeeper as I was) for multi-platinum artists and what were at the time million dollar record deals. It was however hard to be taken seriously within the music business community. What I learned was that I had to find something of concrete and renewable value to the people I wanted to get close to. I didn’t know what else to call it – I’ve referred to it (mostly in my own mind) as conversation currency or if that doesn’t ring any bells for you – a reason that people will take your phone call and take your seriously. At the time in my early 20s I was out six nights a week and I knew more bands and artists than a majority of people on the planet. Trading on that information and being helpful was what helped me gain favor within that community.
Let’s fast forward several years, shall we? I’m fairly fresh out of the label system and I’ve had it with mid management shenanigans. I declare there is no going back to corporate America. I spend far too much money (thank you local NYC government officials) on an LLC and start calling myself a consultant. At this point in time I’m not even 100% sure what that means except that I really don’t want a “real” job…
On this particular day I am thinking of I am just staring at my phone and it’s not ringing. It occurs to me quite late in life that there is absolutely no reason for my phone to ring unless I hustle and start making things happen. I really had it somewhere in my mind that my phone would just start ringing the way it did at an almost fifty-year old company like Atlantic Records just because I had incorporated. I didn’t have a reason to call anyone who wasn’t already a contact or a friend. I had no excuse to meet new people because I didn’t have anything to say except that I was a consultant and worse – I was a consultant without any clients.
An ex A&R guy without a new label or a trust fund is like a food critic without a newspaper column or a blog – just a fucking pig with adjectives. Jesus Christ – what the hell was I going to consult on if I didn’t even have any desire to work with artists? (MusicianCoaching.com came several years later after a change of heart. The first company I founded only handles corporate clients).
I spent the first several weeks just trying to figure out what I had that I could use and what I liked to do. Luckily for me both things worked hand in hand. I had a big Rolodex and I liked introducing people to other people in the hopes that these new relationships would be mutually beneficial.
I spent the next few months calling up everyone I knew – asking them what they were working on and trying to determine what kind of person or opportunity they needed. Wherever I could I went out of my way to make an introduction. It turns out that this is the underpinning of business development- a skill that I had previously associated with being about as useful as whistling or being ambidextrous. It turned out that knowing where to get information is almost as good as knowing it yourself.
Pretty soon I got my first clients. Prior to being in business for myself I thought Pro Bono was a way for Sonny and Cher fans to identify themselves. It turns out to be a legal form of slave labor (yea, yea – it’s from Latin and means “the public good” that just wasn’t my experience with it). None the less when some friends offered me a chance to see if I couldn’t hustle up some business for various friends and contacts of theirs I jumped at the chance even when I didn’t fully believe in the project. Why? Because it gave me an excuse to talk to people. Being on the phone and being helpful served its purpose. I was top of mind for an opportunity – I had provided value to my friends and contacts in the past by introducing them to people and eventually one of my contacts would give me a client that would lend context to my business and give me an excuse to talk to people.
Several Pro Bono clients later I scored my first monthly retainer introducing a music start up to the industry people who could help them with their talent needs. After that I closed a tech client who needed help licensing millions of hours worth of music. Several corporate clients of all different shapes and sizes would soon follow suit.
I don’t want to appear like I am preaching to your from the top of a lofty pile of cash, or that I even have delusions of such grandeur, but I am making a living. Unlike past corporate jobs I have never been more grateful for every penny on my own. It is important to note that every experience and every client added to the story I could tell the next client. This is not to say that my business doesn’t hit its lulls but it has gotten easier with time.
So my musician friend – how does this apply to you?
Well – are you a musician without a band? Are you a band without a gig? What do you have in trade to get someone to take your seriously? Are you good at production? Are you great at playing leads or arranging in exchange for some other services? Can you make great beats? Or think even further outside the box – do you know how to fix a tour bus? Do you know every beautiful guy or gal in your hometown and can you bring them out to live performances? Maybe you just know people…lots and lots of people and like talking to them about what they do…
Have you asked people in a position to help you who or what they need today and can you figure out where to get it? Figure out what is interesting about your current story so that you can tell the next gatekeeper you encounter why he needs to know you. Figure out what you have of value and what you like to do and start picking up the phone. Remember – just being a dude in a band or a guy with beats alone isn’t enough.
Happy hunting,
-Rick-
In part six I went over the ups, downs, pros and cons of parents who manage their kids. This is lucky part seven, the last in a far too long and rambling series of articles about music management. In this last installment I will go over the manager / investor archetype.
“With Money Comes Compromise.”
I don’t know where I first heard that or if I am lifting a fairly famous quote without attribution (by all means call me on it in the comments section if I am) but this statement has never been more true than in the case of a manager who gets his or her gig with the band because of the ability to invest.
It is a funny thing about the music business – I have watched this same scenario play out time and time again where people who are successful in other industries take a look at the business, make a judgment on the people in the business and decide that they can do it better. What people either don’t know or seem willing to forget is that the music industry seems to function more like Roulette than anything taught in a Wharton MBA class and many of the rules that govern most other industries seem not to apply. The most obvious difference is that people are willing to invest millions and millions of dollars every year into products (read: music and artists) without knowing if there is any demand for these products. Thank God music still makes people feel something and makes them forget the bottom line though or we’d all be in trouble. Keeping that in mind there are some pros and cons about having a manager who becomes a music manager not based on their experience but because of their ability to fund a career.
Not to state the obvious but having some money to invest in your career is always a good thing and it is the Achilles heel of most artists (unless of course you are cynical in which case it is talent). If you are fortunate enough to find someone to invest in your career the first thing you need to do is to have a complete understanding of what this will cost you in terms of your back end. No one who is making an investment in art (if you have found someone who is just handing you cash then I have a sick father who needs an operation and a bridge I want to sell them) will do so without making a land grab for your future rights- it’s just the way the world works. This much is the same in any industry. It can be really difficult if you are eating cup of soup for dinner and dodging your landlord at the beginning of the month to turn down an investment of any kind regardless of the back end cost but I urge you to think of your career not in terms of one day, one week, one year but a lifetime. Is $50,000 worth giving away all of your publishing on anything you ever write for life? I hope not- but you never know. That said – just understand what you are relinquishing in exchange for investment today and if need be – spend some money on a good music lawyer.
As I have mentioned earlier – part of the problem with an investor in music is the distinct possibility that they won’t fully understand the business regardless of their successes in other industries. At times this kind of manager needs to be managed by the artist because the minute they begin spending any cash on someone’s career a whole host of people with questionable services will arrive like sharks who smell blood. While the cash is flowing it can be a fun ride but I assure you that investors will always look down the ledger on a project at some point and there had better be some signs of a return for the party to continue.
I’m sure many of you are scratching your heads and wondering if this is a common phenomenon. I didn’t think so either until recently trying to negotiate a client of mine on to a tour only to find out that there were dozens of offers from unsigned artists willing to pay for the privilege of opening up for a name brand artist. These people do exist and it does happen more often than I had once thought.
If you are lucky to have someone like this in your orbit just make sure you know what this investment will cost you in your possible future earnings and that you and this person have an understanding and share a common vision for your career otherwise you could wind up being a death metal group opening up for a Bee-Gees Tribute band if you aren’t careful.
That about does it on music management. I will be back to doing more interview content shortly. Have a great 4th of July, 10
Rick
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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