Main PageArtiste meets Artiste Manager: A marriage for music business success or failure? (2)
Toyin Adeniji
When
the artiste/musician crosses that threshold when his practice of making
music becomes a productive business engagement, where the act of
self-management is no longer a viable economic option, then it is time
to find an effective and compatible artiste manager to ‘marry’. The
relationship between the artiste and the artiste manager has been
compared a lot with that of a normal marriage relationship between a man
and a woman. Successful marriages are built on trust understanding and
mutual respect between the two partners likewise the relationship
between the artiste and his manager. Since marriage is not for boys and
girls, the artiste before getting a manager must be business ready and
prepared to be managed while the artiste manager too must be prepared to
manage.
There are rules to the engagement which must be contractually binding with roles and responsibilities clearly set and defined from the onset. The music industry is replete with stories of the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of artiste and artiste manager relationships.
As part of the artiste’s process of preparing to be managed, it is very important for the artiste to understand and come to terms with acknowledging that he/she is essentially a business entity. Having this mindset has the power to change the game entirely in favour of the artiste because it fundamentally alters the artiste’s perspective about the music business and determines the outcome of his/her experience in the music industry. It is little wonder that low-talent artistes with a high business mindset always fare better than high-talent artiste with low business mindset in the music business. It was this realisation that completely revolutionise Jay Z’s music career and transformed him from being an artiste to becoming a business mogul and one of the most influential personalities in the global entertainment business. Jay Z said “I am not a businessman; I am the business, man!” His coming to terms with the understanding that he was not just an artiste engaged in the business of music, but that as an artiste, he is the business. This knowledge and mindset helped him to re-envision the way he saw himself, conducted himself as a business and how he valued ‘Jay Z’ as a business. This mindset will determine how you set up yourself as a business, how you manage your resources, what you do with your money, how you speak and conduct yourself in public and most importantly your attitude towards your music and your audience etc.
It is important to understand that as a business, both the artiste and his/her music are assets for which the artiste manager has the responsibility of managing. Like many other items of value owned by an organisation, assets are managed to the financial benefit of the company. This means that the primary goal or objective of the artiste as a business is to create and generate value for the company; while it is the responsibility of the artiste manager to manage, multiply and commercialise the benefits and opportunities derivable from the artistic and musical value-creations of the artiste. An effective artiste manager must thoroughly understand the artiste’s talent(s) and commercial potentials and be responsible in collaboration with the artiste to design workable strategies for the maximum commercial exploitation of all identified values or resources inherent in the artiste. The careers of the artiste and that of the artiste manager are dependent on the continued success of the business generated by the artiste; preparing the artiste for his/her roles and responsibilities as a business is therefore of high importance.
One of the greatest strength of an artiste manager is in knowing how to find the artistic appeal of the artiste and how to market and promote it to the artiste’s music audience or market. Effective artiste managers possess the ability to know and recognise opportunities that are best for their artistes and how to exploit it as promotional events to stimulate and create interest in the artiste thereby enlarging the artiste’s fan base. A good artiste manager must understand the fundamentals of music career development and promotion and have access to the tools required to accomplish these objectives.
The relationship between the artiste and the artiste manager is a partnership built on mutual interests that requires time and patience to grow. It must be stated clearly and emphasized here that the primary connection and interest between the artiste and the artiste manager must be about the artiste’s music and talent. There must be a sincere and honest establishment of interest observed over time in the artiste’s music and personality by the artiste manager to be. The artiste before committing to a contractual management agreement with an artiste manager must tread carefully, watch and observe to be sure that there is truly a mutual connection in terms of the artiste manager’s knowledge and understanding of the artiste, his/her music and the artiste’s musical/artistic goals and objectives. It is necessary for the artiste to seek to know what to expect with regards to the roles that the artiste manager will play in managing and directing the career of the artiste.
The artiste needs to objectively ask the prospective artiste manager about artistes managed in the past and the level of success achieved with them; and also find out about the artistes he/she is currently managing. Since the music business is largely about relationships and connections, it is necessary to find out who your prospective artiste manager knows and how strong his/her network is in the music industry. Ask for a detail plan of action on how the prospective artiste manager intends to utilise your time to jumpstart your career within the first six months to a year. Most importantly, the prospective artiste manager must demonstrate a high level of excitement and passion about working with the artiste and his/her music. No matter how great a salesman is, if he is not excited or passionate about the product, he cannot successfully make significant sales of the product.
There are rules to the engagement which must be contractually binding with roles and responsibilities clearly set and defined from the onset. The music industry is replete with stories of the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of artiste and artiste manager relationships.
As part of the artiste’s process of preparing to be managed, it is very important for the artiste to understand and come to terms with acknowledging that he/she is essentially a business entity. Having this mindset has the power to change the game entirely in favour of the artiste because it fundamentally alters the artiste’s perspective about the music business and determines the outcome of his/her experience in the music industry. It is little wonder that low-talent artistes with a high business mindset always fare better than high-talent artiste with low business mindset in the music business. It was this realisation that completely revolutionise Jay Z’s music career and transformed him from being an artiste to becoming a business mogul and one of the most influential personalities in the global entertainment business. Jay Z said “I am not a businessman; I am the business, man!” His coming to terms with the understanding that he was not just an artiste engaged in the business of music, but that as an artiste, he is the business. This knowledge and mindset helped him to re-envision the way he saw himself, conducted himself as a business and how he valued ‘Jay Z’ as a business. This mindset will determine how you set up yourself as a business, how you manage your resources, what you do with your money, how you speak and conduct yourself in public and most importantly your attitude towards your music and your audience etc.
It is important to understand that as a business, both the artiste and his/her music are assets for which the artiste manager has the responsibility of managing. Like many other items of value owned by an organisation, assets are managed to the financial benefit of the company. This means that the primary goal or objective of the artiste as a business is to create and generate value for the company; while it is the responsibility of the artiste manager to manage, multiply and commercialise the benefits and opportunities derivable from the artistic and musical value-creations of the artiste. An effective artiste manager must thoroughly understand the artiste’s talent(s) and commercial potentials and be responsible in collaboration with the artiste to design workable strategies for the maximum commercial exploitation of all identified values or resources inherent in the artiste. The careers of the artiste and that of the artiste manager are dependent on the continued success of the business generated by the artiste; preparing the artiste for his/her roles and responsibilities as a business is therefore of high importance.
One of the greatest strength of an artiste manager is in knowing how to find the artistic appeal of the artiste and how to market and promote it to the artiste’s music audience or market. Effective artiste managers possess the ability to know and recognise opportunities that are best for their artistes and how to exploit it as promotional events to stimulate and create interest in the artiste thereby enlarging the artiste’s fan base. A good artiste manager must understand the fundamentals of music career development and promotion and have access to the tools required to accomplish these objectives.
The relationship between the artiste and the artiste manager is a partnership built on mutual interests that requires time and patience to grow. It must be stated clearly and emphasized here that the primary connection and interest between the artiste and the artiste manager must be about the artiste’s music and talent. There must be a sincere and honest establishment of interest observed over time in the artiste’s music and personality by the artiste manager to be. The artiste before committing to a contractual management agreement with an artiste manager must tread carefully, watch and observe to be sure that there is truly a mutual connection in terms of the artiste manager’s knowledge and understanding of the artiste, his/her music and the artiste’s musical/artistic goals and objectives. It is necessary for the artiste to seek to know what to expect with regards to the roles that the artiste manager will play in managing and directing the career of the artiste.
The artiste needs to objectively ask the prospective artiste manager about artistes managed in the past and the level of success achieved with them; and also find out about the artistes he/she is currently managing. Since the music business is largely about relationships and connections, it is necessary to find out who your prospective artiste manager knows and how strong his/her network is in the music industry. Ask for a detail plan of action on how the prospective artiste manager intends to utilise your time to jumpstart your career within the first six months to a year. Most importantly, the prospective artiste manager must demonstrate a high level of excitement and passion about working with the artiste and his/her music. No matter how great a salesman is, if he is not excited or passionate about the product, he cannot successfully make significant sales of the product.
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