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Aiden Smith

Mr Corbo

English 12

21 January 2021

ISearch

What I Knew:

My whole life I have been in love with music. From the lyrics to the instrumental to the

performing, all of it. I began making music about three years ago, I have always wondered what

the business side of music is like. At the beginning, I thought managers strictly put deals

together, but as I dove closer into the profession, I realized this is only a taste of what managers

do. Their schedule is packed with promoting and marketing songs, managing social media,

working deals with different venues and borderline babysitting. When my curiosity began, I was

on a Zoom call with one of my friend’s dads, Larry Ciania, who was a professional music

manager. Although we were on the call for an hour and a half, I had the feeling that I hadn’t even

cracked the first pages of the music management book. At the beginning of senior year, I decided

it was time to think of a career that was realistic, rather than dreams of becoming a musician or

MLB player. Wanting to stay within those two realms, I decided to look into music management.

As I dove deeper into it, I realized more and more that this was a great possible career for me. I

knew that it involved two things I loved doing, music and business. Also, management positions

at jobs have shown me how to manage people. Naturally, I think I am a good leader which also

makes me think I could be good at managing as well, because of the various leadership skills

needed. Needing to keep a musician at the top of his/her game at all times. A relationship

between the artist and the manager doesn’t have to strictly be business, which leads me to think
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creating more of a friendship with an artist would help with productivity. With my social skills, I

believe I could become friends with anybody and keep anybody at the top of their game.

What I Wanted To Know

To begin this project I started with asking myself a question: What is the life of a

manager like? With such a broad question like this, I broke my research and my interviews into

different categories. I also broke these down by weeks. My first interview was going to

specifically question my mentor on how he got into his profession and why he personally loves

management. In the second week, I focused on how he furthered his career and the necessary

steps needed to get to his spot. And in the third, concentrate on how often he worked with the

artists and how often he was travelling.

When looking deeper into management skills, I realized that I have the natural skills

needed, but I knew I needed to add more. I also wanted to figure out how often a manager

actually works in the studio, because of my love for music I would still like to be involved in the

process. Another topic I want to dive into is whether or not this is a good profession for me,

figuring out the schedule from sunup to sun down, 7 days a week. Next, I want to know how

often a manager will be on the road, because that can be a huge effect on the way I am living. I

know I am a good people person, but I am also bad with finishing deals and sounding

professional, which are both essential to management.

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What I Learned

Going into this, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had heard about it first when I was a

freshman, so I knew it was a pretty big deal. Now finishing this, I can say it 100% lives up to

expectations. My mentor was very nice and helped me find my love for music again, my research

made me realize I don’t have to be a musician to be in music and succeed, and ultimately this

helped solidify for me that this is the right profession. I understood the general idea of a

manager, but after finishing this project I now know more than I thought there was to know

about management. The deeper I looked into management, the more and more interesting it

became. I learned about the necessary skills so far, which, to me, come down to “communication

and interpersonal skills, public relations skills, marketing and advertising skills, negotiation

skills, leadership skills and basic computer skills”(Sampler Resume) as well as being able to

multitask, stay organized, and remain on your feet at all times. One of the many things I was

taught during this is how “circumstantial”(Ciancia) this business can be.

I was worried about not being able to find a mentor, but reaching out to my now mentor,

Larry Ciancia, was a breeze. I copied and pasted my letter into Gmail, and a couple hours later,

sure enough, he responded. I have talked to him once before about music management, and we

have kept a purely professional relationship I'm sure we will build on. The nice thing about my

mentor is that we have worked together before once or twice, so we have a general

understanding about each other.

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In the second week, I began to figure out and finalize my interview topics. I believe as I

conduct these interviews the knowledge my mentor will give me will be incomparable to the

research I've done this week. I had a relative idea of how managing works but I did learn a few

new things while doing my research. For example, I learned about the logistic side of music

management. Also, I learned "with [most] high level entertainers, there are various roles that are

managed" (Wimp). When a musician reaches a certain level of fame, the constant running around

causes the need for multiple managers. There are managers for the road, for touring, for music

production, and production managers. For smaller artists though, all of these roles are usually

condensed into one role, which I found very interesting. One question I have for my mentor is

what happens when a manager and their client gain more and more fame? Another is when is the

time to really start branching out into a team? These are the types of questions I've come up with

so far. I am hoping to begin interviewing next week. The topics I have are the roles I wrote about

above. I am curious to find out how much the average manager actually works with the artist on

a song, on the actual music. I also want to dive deeper into the difference between a manager and

a management team; what and where is the cut off for when an artist needs a team.

For this week, I decided to focus my research on my mentor. We are going to have our

first meeting next week on Tuesday Feb 16th. I wanted to learn about him before I actually met

with him, to try to increase my ethos. I decided to do some more research on the record label he

is a part of "Iris Records... an independent label designed to serve a new breed of artist who

wants to be more active in their careers"(Ciancia). Also, for my first interview with him I really

just wanted to figure out the ways people get into music management, I'm thinking this interview
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is going to be around 1 hour long. I am also going to set up the information he gives me by Q

and A type research. For example in my research page the interviews will look like this:

Interview One

Q. So let’s just get the basics down, when did you figure out you had a passion for music?

A.

During week four, instead of continuing my research I decided to finalize my interview

questions because I was getting ready for my interview with my mentor. Last week I talked about

that though, so today I am going to talk about the interview itself. Going into it, I knew that my

mentor and I would have good conversation flow, because we've met in the past and when me

and him start talking about music it will last over an hour, especially if it is an interview. My

interviews are all going to have similar questions, as I am trying to break the interviews into

different avenues within music management itself. For the first interview I just wanted to ask

anything about the beginning of his career.

The first thing I learned about Mr. Ciancia is what he actually does. He is the manager for

a record label, and under his wing are 30+ clients who all have management teams. Mr. Ciancia,

working for the label, is responsible for working with all of these clients and orchestrating deals

with different teams. A management team can be “as little as 4 people and as many as

30”(Ciancia), and all of these people report to him. He is responsible for making sure all of the
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management teams are doing their jobs, as well as meeting with other labels, other companies, or

other artists. He has a spreadsheet “just filled with musicians,”(Ciancia) which connects back to

organization being one of the driving skills in management.

Once I realized what he actually does, this was the first time I had ever heard of that.

Obviously I knew about management teams but I wasn’t aware of a person they all report to.

This made me more intrigued and I actually had to come up with some questions on the fly. A lot

of these questions ended up coming naturally during his explanation of the job.

One of the biggest questions I have about music is "is it even worth it to go to college for

music?" During our interview, college came up naturally which led me to the question "Did you

go to college for any of this and if so what did you study? And did it help? This question led to a

longer conversation about college and music. Music can be hard to figure out if college is worth

it or not because "life experience [can] be better than school experience."(Ciancia) In this case,

Mr. Ciancia believes that his life experiences compared to the knowledge he learned in school

are more beneficial. But, ultimately "there are pros and cons to both."(Ciancia)

For this week, I really dove deeper into what it takes to become a manager. The necessary

skills and traits needed to become a successful manager. From questions about the top three skills

needed to questions about if being a morning or night person helps, this week was all focused on

what is needed to be the most successful at this career. One of the biggest factors I look for when

trying to find reliable sources is to see if different articles bring the same general idea. With my

mentor and the sources I found this week, that was the case. The thing I love about this project is

that it is helping me find my love for music again and helping me realize why I need to pursue

this as a career.
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In the next week, I continued my research and the interviewing questions. For this

meeting, I started off the interview with recapping last week and then began the questioning with

"What are the top three skills needed for music management?" This took him a little to think

about, but ultimately he said it came down to being able to "find the right people for the right job

and solve problems, be able to look on the marketing side of things, and be a therapist"(Ciancia).

I believe that all of these also boil down to the "most important aspect ... [being]

trust."(MasterClass). Your clients need to be able to trust you to do the right job 100% of the

time, and sometimes that means you either do it or "find someone who can do it for

you"(Ciancia). To be able to do this right and be able to work with everyone you must "know

how to engage in conversation appropriate for the situation ... and how to make them

productive"(Allen 28-30).

To finish up the interviewing, I really wanted to see how much the manager actually

works with the artist. I also finished up my research with that same topic as well. Obviously due

to COVID-19, my mentor hasn't been out with an artist or band in quite some time. But when

there isn't a pandemic ripping through the world, he is out on the road "probably over 200 days a

year(Ciancia)." Whether it is going to a show for a band or working deals with brands and labels,

a manager "requires and determination(Elkabas, 2013)," meaning that it takes hard work to be

successful. That hard work means being out on the road for weeks on end. Another reason a

manger will go on the road is if it is in "a big city with opportunities to network and

expand(Ciancia)."

I wanted to figure out how much a manager actually works with his clients. As the

manager for a band/artist, you are “a public [representation] of [the] artist”(Pastukof). Actually

being in the studio and working in the studio with a band or artist is a tricky thing. You need to
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make sure you aren't "taking too much attention away from the bands" or "putting too much

attention on yourself(Ciancia)," rather than the band. There is a fine line you can very easily

cross in the studio, and that needs to be avoided at all costs. Also the manager can be required to

pay for studio time, which could be included in a deal. Deals could include "payment for studio

time, producers, side musicians, and mixing(Gordan 2014)."

One of the biggest thing I learned this week is that most of the time, being on the road is

"circumstantial(Ciancia)." So, another trait you need to become a manager is flexibility.

Flexibility of time, flexibility of power, flexibility of workload, and flexibility of scheduling. I

also learned that you have to go on call quite frequently and whenever somebody needs you, you

have to be there or send somebody to help you.

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Why This Is Important To Me/Reflection

Coming into this project, I had lost the love in things I used to enjoy. Music was one of

those things. I was worried that I wouldn’t find a career in time, or the career I found I would just

fake it. But, I forced myself to go back to music, because I used to love it so much. This was

probably one of the best decisions I have ever made, as this project helped me fall in love with

my passion once again. As soon as I began researching, I began quickly remembering the

reasons I fell in love with music. You are free to do just about anything you want(up to a certain

extent!!). This freedom can be compared to owning your own business. It is a lot of hard work

and you must stay on top of your game, but ultimately you are self made and you can pick your

schedule. Another thing I came to realize once again is how many avenues a person can take in

music. If performing doesn’t work out, become a manager, if management doesn’t work out, you

can produce, if producing doesn’t work out, you can manage tours, and so many more. I owe it to

this project for helping me find my passion again, and for that, I am grateful.

Working with Mr. Ciancia was a blast. I was so excited every time we got on a call

because it was never an interview, it was more like a conversation with questions. We would just

go back and forth with a seemingly never ending conversation on music. I also saw a lot of

myself in him. He was a natural born leader, someone who knows how to get the job done, even

if that means finding somebody more capable than you. Seeing a lot of myself in him also helped

solidify this was my destiny, no matter what I do. Mr. Ciancia and I also agreed to continue
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working together, which will be a huge help to my career in music. During the beginning of thus

project, I felt lost mentally, and thanks to Mr. Ciancia, I know exactly what to do with my future.
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Cites

Wimp, Ed. “Management In Music: The Different Roles.” Dotted Music, 9 Dec. 2014,

dottedmusic.com/2014/music-business/management-in-music/.

Ciancia, Larry. “About.” Ciamgmt, 21 Sept. 2020, www.ciamgmt.com/about/.

Iris Records. Iris Records, 6 Nov. 2020, irisrecords.com/.

MasterClass, MasterClass. “How to Become a Music Manager: Learn What a Music Manager

Does and 2 Ways to Become a Music Manager - 2021.” MasterClass, MasterClass, 8

Nov. 2020,

www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-become-a-music-manager#what-is-a-music-manag

er

Artist Management for the Music Business, by Paul Allen, Routledge, 2018, pp. 28–30.

Elkabas, David. “So What Does a Music Manager Do, Exactly?” The Guardian, Guardian News

and Media, 26 Apr. 2013, www.theguardian.com/careers/what-does-a-music-manager-do.

Gordon, Steve. “What Is a Music Manager? Here's Everything You Need to Know.” Digital

Music News, 28 Aug. 2014,

www.digitalmusicnews.com/2014/08/28/now-know-everything-music-managers/.

“Artist Manager Job Description.” Great Sample Resume,

www.greatsampleresume.com/job-description/examples/arts/artist-manager#:~:text=The

y%20possess%20excellent%20communication%20and,as%20part%20of%20a%20team

.
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Baker, Nate. “Tour Managers: Your Key to Life on the Road – Spotify for Artists.” – Spotify for

Artists, 6 Sept. 2018, artists.spotify.com/blog/tour-managers-your-key-to-life-on-the-road.

Pastukhov, Dmitry. “Market Intelligence for the Music Industry.” Soundcharts, 18 Feb. 2019,

soundcharts.com/blog/the-mechanics-of-management.