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Artist Management for
the Music Business
Anyone managing an artist’s career needs to be well versed and have a savvy
understanding of the moving parts of the music business. You’ll learn how and
why those moving parts “move,” as well as how to manage and navigate a music-
based career.
Artist Management for the Music Business gives you a comprehensive view
of how to generate income through music and how to strategically plan for future
growth. The book is full of valuable practical insights. It includes interviews and
case studies with examples of real-world management issues and outcomes.
Updates to this new edition include the importance of online streaming to music
careers, how anyone can effectively network, tools for successful negotiation, ways
to identify and manage income sources, and guidance on the ever-changing social
media landscape of the music business.
This book gives you access to resources about artist management and the music
business at its companion website, http://www.artistmanagementonline.com. There
is no login, and the resources are updated regularly.
Paul Allen
Fourth edition published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
The right of Paul Allen to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Legal disclaimer: This book is not a substitute for legal advice. Information
presented in this book is intended to be general guidance for the reader, and
is not a substitute for advice and counsel from an attorney.
An Event Plan................................................................................95
When and Where.......................................................................95
Invitations..................................................................................96
Food and Beverage....................................................................97
The Performance.......................................................................97
Promotion..................................................................................98
A Sample Budget..........................................................................98
Planning Tools.............................................................................100
Merchandise................................................................................130
International Touring...................................................................133
College Tours..............................................................................134
xiv
Introduction
This book is intended to be the definitive guide to the student of management of
artists in the music business, those artists who choose to manage their own careers,
as well as to those seeking to become professional artist managers. Some of the tools
developed for this book are found nowhere else, and active artist managers will find
them to be helpful planning and organization tools. The companion website for this
book, www.artistmanagementonline.com, is a continuing resource for both the artist
manager and artists. The site includes a free directory of artist management firms,
advice, and links to help the manager be a more effective manager in the music
business. And most importantly, the website is the portal to an online course on art-
ist management based upon this book. Music business veteran and professor at the
Frost School of Music at the University of Miami Christopher Palmer developed the
course with assistance from videographer Jon Grimson. It is an interactive multime-
dia experience with you as a student. You learn at your own pace. Visit the website
for more information.
Information from this book has been drawn from the experiences of many who
work or who have worked as artist managers, as well as from the author’s career
managing people, assets, companies, organizations, projects, performers, and per-
formances. My wish is that the words that follow will be your guide to a successful
experience and career in the music business.
xv
CHAPTER
Professional Artist
Management and Its
Principles
1
1
2 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles
sales significantly reduced the need for a distribution system designed to deliver
pallets of boxed physical product to warehouses. As traditional labels see their roles
revived, they share a partnership with the artist manager with the goal of success
for the artist in all aspects of their career. A career in artist management requires a
continuing—almost daily—education by paying attention to what is happening in
the music business and other industries and events that affect it, and what that means
to the artists they manage.
Artists in the music business are sometimes managed by attorneys. But there
is a reason why professional managers are the best choice for artists to manage
their careers. A top entertainment attorney once said over lunch that attorneys are
not necessarily the best choices to provide career management to artists, primarily
because of their conservative nature as practicing professionals. Lawyers are dis-
posed to advise their clients on ways to conduct business without creating conflict.
Today’s artist manager, in order to stand as the strongest advocate possible for
an artist in a highly competitive industry, must be able to push that advocacy to
the limit—without overstepping the boundary of business ethics. Attorneys have
become effective managers, but doing so generally requires that they step away
from practicing law.
licensing, recording, songwriting, and the full exploitation of all of their talents.
Some artist management companies combine all of these functions for the artist
under one umbrella.
As we look at management principles, it is important to understand that the work
of an artist manager in the music business is somewhat different from other kinds
of managers. The traditional relationship a manager has with an employer is one
that has a reporting hierarchy, and by definition is very structured and “corporate”
in nature. For example, a copy writer reports to a creative services manager, who
reports to the director of marketing, who reports to the VP of sales, who reports
to the president; an artist manager only reports to the artist. Traditional managers
use the resources of owners of a company to ultimately sell their goods or provide
services for a profit, and, in many ways, that is what the artist manager does.
Much of the work of an artist manager is product development, sales and promo-
tion, planning, and managing the work of the team around the artist. The relationship
between the artist (employer) and the manager (employee) is considerably closer
than that of typical managers in business, and is much more like a partnership. The
level of trust and the strength of the relationship between the two are often compared
to those found in successful marriages. This kind of association of a manager with
an employer can also be found in politics but is rarely found in the business world.
However, there are times when an artist manager takes on most of the traditional
roles of management as he or she oversees the management of the artist as a brand,
with the artist being a creator of art and entertainment experiences.
FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT
Nearly every text, research paper, and discussion on the topic of management
embraces four classic functions: planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.
These functions all apply to the work of the artist manager in the music business.
Planning
The difference between success and failure in any endeavor can often be tied to
planning. Luck by itself can sometimes deliver success, but coupling it with a well-
designed plan can put the manager in a position to take advantage of opportunities
when they present themselves. It is very satisfying when opportunity opens a door to
implement an active plan to take advantage of it. For example, a young Josh Groban
was asked by award-winning producer David Foster to replace an ailing Andrea
Bocelli in the 1999 Grammy television rehearsals with Celine Dion. His performance
at the rehearsal was powerful enough to help launch his multiplatinum recording
career as an artist. Groban’s planning and preparation for a career as an artist put him
in a position to benefit from the lucky timing of Foster’s telephone call. Eight years
later, he had the top-selling album in the US, and by 2017 the U.S. career sales of his
recorded music were well over a quarter-billion dollars (SoundScan 2017).
CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles 5
When a leader or manager identifies worthy goals, he or she often collaborates with
stakeholders (those who stand to profit or lose from an endeavor) to develop a set of
logical steps to achieve them. Those steps, or plans, become the framework for success-
fully meeting goals. I credit Dr. Carter McNamara with saying, “Planning is identifying
where you want to go, why you want to go there, how you will get there, what you need
in order to get there, and how you will know if you’re there or not” (McNamara 2014).
His ideas on planning in this simple sentence are the best guides you will find. His cur-
rent website is a treasure trove about planning and is listed at the end of this chapter.
It is easy to see why planning is often viewed as a road map that helps define
the route to success. A career plan results from collaboration between the manager
and the artist, which provides direction and milestones to reach goals. This book
frequently addresses career planning essentials.
Organizing
Organizing the manager’s work is closely tied to the planning function. Organizing
is assembling the necessary resources to carry out a plan and to put those resources
into a logical order. It also involves defining the responsibilities of the artist’s team,
hiring those people, and managing everyone’s time for efficiency—especially the
artist’s. The manager allocates the amount of time necessary to follow each step of a
plan to get the intended results.
The manager of any enterprise also seeks the funding or financing necessary to
pay for the plan. The grandest example—long before the great recession—is Chrysler
Chairman Lee Iacocca’s successful plan to pursue hundreds of millions of dollars in
loans from the U.S. government in the late 1970s to save his ailing company from
bankruptcy. It was a never-before solution he negotiated to save the company. The
same creative initiative is often necessary for the artist manager on behalf of artists.
For the artist manager, financing and funding the plan for a new artist’s career could
include a combination of an accelerated touring schedule, finding sponsors, relying
on assistance from fans who offer financial help, asking for help from friends and
family, and helping the artist secure loans. Managers also recruit and employ labor
and expertise to put the plan into operation and to see it through to its success.
The manager of an artist in the music business forecasts the need for members of
the artist’s team, and plans for the time when their services will become an expense
to the operating budget for the artist. The manager also draws any other necessary
resources together, creates a logical structure for the organization of those resources,
develops a career plan, and executes it. An artist looks to the manager to take the
chaos of a prospective career and organize it into the prospect for success.
The work of a manager in directing activities is to take the resources needed to reach
goals and use them efficiently to achieve success. For example, an artist manager
often hires a company or an employee to oversee the successful application of digital
media strategies to the promotional plan for the artist’s career. (Promotion and mar-
keting are elements of the overall career plan.) This means the manager coordinates
the energies of the professional team members working toward the artist’s career
goals, monitors income and the expenditure of funds, and plans and manages time.
All of this work requires that the artist manager keeps everyone directed toward
achieving the career plan objectives.
Some of the team members chosen for the artist are on the active payroll and
others are used to support the plan on an “as needed” basis. The term “team” as
applied to the group of professionals who support the artist is indeed a group with
a common goal: a successful career for the artist. However, it is rare that the team
as a group will assemble for a meeting about the artist. Instead, the artist manager
provides each with continuous communication about the activities of the artist, and
draws expertise or assistance from each member of the artist’s support team as their
help is needed. Members of the team communicate with each other as necessary. For
example, the artist’s booking agent forwards budgets and performance offers from
promoters to the artist’s manager, business manager, and perhaps accountant, and
then waits for feedback.
Controlling
Any manager who has created a plan follows its implementation by controlling all
of the resources required to achieve the goals of the plan. When the resources (time,
people, equipment, financing) have been assembled and the plan is underway, the
manager monitors how effectively the plan is being carried out and makes any neces-
sary adjustments in order to be efficient with the use of resources and to be effective
in advancing the plan.
The business of managing an artist in the competitive world of the music business
means developing plans and an implementation strategy in an effort to control as much
of the artist’s developing career as possible. The manager must be realistic in what he
or she feels able to control, but it also means that he or she must be flexible enough in
encounters with reality to adjust to the circumstances. For example, a manager should
anticipate that a new and promising artist will not be able to give a powerful performance
at each audition, and should be prepared to put the most positive “spin” on the result.
You can’t get phone calls or messages returned. People simply are not connecting
with you, your career, or your management company. To build a network, a manager
must be willing to become involved in both the business and the social sides of the
music industry. An Austin, Texas restaurant posted this message on their outdoor
sign: “I’m a social vegan. I avoid meet” (El Arroyo 2017). That amusing message
resonates with more than half of those who read this chapter as well as many stu-
dents of the music business. The thought of entering a business-social gathering and
making new contacts is on par with a visit to your dentist.
But, whether you consider yourself and introvert or an extrovert, you will learn
specific strategies in this section to develop the skills needed to build yourself a
useful network as an artist manager or band manager.
Long-lasting business relationships are built on face time, not Facebook, and
a few of those will turn into genuine friendships over time. There is nothing that
replaces building meaningful relationships like eye contact and conversation do. It
becomes very personal on that level, and if there is a meaningful reason to include
that person in your network’s contact list, it can become a lasting relationship. Seek
out those opportunities to network at that level. Social media sites work well when
the objective is to generally keep up with contacts and let them know about what
you’re doing, but they are no substitute for meetings and phone calls that build a
business bond based on personal chemistry.
From your author’s perspective, my personal network has opened career oppor-
tunities in political management, the music business, academia, and becoming an
author. Each of these opportunities came as a result from someone in my network
contacting me about an opportunity. I’ve learned, and you will too, that networking
is hard work. It doesn’t just happen. But . . . it could be the most important element
of your own career development.
Some career networking opportunities can actually become what Rachel Ginder
refers to as “shallow socializing” and small talk (Ginder 2017). This is why you
should be planning your networking time to be in the company of music industry
people who you can bring into your network. Where are they? Among the first
sources I suggest is a book that details over 100 U.S. colleges and universities that
host courses and degrees in the music business, and likely one is near you. They
often have networking events and conferences for students that you (perhaps as a
potential student) could attend for networking. The Directory of Music Business
Degrees by Dr. Richard Barnet on Amazon.com lists those degree programs.
Conventions and seminars have price tags in the US$400–700 range, but have some
of the best opportunities to network. They include the Conclave in Minneapolis;
the Music Biz conference for all genres in Nashville; the Billboard Latin Music
and Touring Conferences; the two annual National Association of Music Merchants
(NAMM) conventions; local songwriter associations in New York, LA, London,
and Nashville; Canadian Music Week; the Canadian Urban Music Conference;
the Canadian Country Music Association convention and awards; and the Country
Radio Seminar in Nashville.
8 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles
As you begin your personal venture into music business networking, a good part
of your development has to do with your mind-set—the way you are looking at the
idea of networking. This means, how are you planning to approach events and meet-
ing people you should know? One of the first things to do is to truly believe that
business networking is an opportunity for personal and professional growth. There is
no risk, just opportunity. It’s an effective way of viewing networking. I’ve found that
being social in the business world is very much like playing a role, and that role in
that meeting, for that moment, is merely a business tool. You look around the room
and everyone else is doing the same thing even though they try to make it look like
they’re having fun. It is work and it is part of the job of networking, bottom line.
Not every artist or band manager enjoys social settings, but being a part of them and
looking the part are the requirements of the job.
Amy Cuddy offers her often-quoted take on business networking: “Don’t fake
it till you make it, fake it till you become it” (Cuddy 2015). She is saying to fool
yourself (not others) in small increments to be in that moment, and grow your com-
fort level with networking with each subsequent opportunity until it becomes part of
your nature. By taking small steps, you actually grow into a comfortable place with
music business networking. I was hired to become the producer for a 2,000-person
annual music business seminar/convention for nearly ten years, and seeing my first
year’s crowd of 2,000 guests at a cocktail reception gave me pause. I welcomed
small groups gathered in parts of the room, but began greeting attendees who were
standing by themselves. I introduced myself to a radio personality named John from
a western state, who I had never met. He told me about his hassles at the airport
Transport Security Administration screening because of the metal pins in his leg
that resulted from an accident. We chatted briefly and I thanked him for being at
the event. He attended the convention for several years, and I thanked him for his
attendance each time I saw him. He once said, “The reason I come to your events is
because you made me feel welcome the first time you introduced yourself.” Over
the years I had often “faked it,” but it was a nice feeling to know that also I had
“become it.”
When you meet someone for the first time, it’s always comfortable to put the bur-
den on them to open the conversation with standard things like, “How are you enjoying
the (event)?” or “Tell me about the best part of your week so far,” or “What are your
takeaways from this event?” Putting them in the position of replying to an open-ended
question gives you the opening to know what’s important to them at the moment.
Likewise, Kio Stark spoke at a TED conference, and gave some good networking
advice on what she refers to as “Triangulation.” She says,
those important people who need to be a part of your network. Drawing from the
networking resources of an established management company is a convenient
springboard for your own independent career.
Leadership
Leadership is an important skill, or trait, of an artist manager at the beginning of
an artist’s career or at the beginning of the relationship. The influence of an artist
manager on the early planning and development of an artist’s career is what helps
the artist to develop a focus and an organized purpose. At this point, we are merely
acknowledging the importance of leadership skills to help direct an artist’s career,
but we take a deeper look into both leadership and coaching and how they apply to a
career in artist management in Chapter 14.
Coaching
Coaching skills for the artist manager are closely related to those of leadership.
Leadership seeks to guide the broader, long-term goals of the artist’s career, but
coaching involves short-term work toward an outcome that improves the artistry of
the artist. For example, the manager-coach helps the artist improve a competency
such as being able to develop more animation in his or her stage presence. Acquiring
the skills of a coach requires that the artist manager study others who coach (regard-
less of the sport or profession), and draw from observed styles and techniques.
Certainly, most managers will be unable to coach an artist in all of the creative and
technical areas necessary, so it is important that the manager has a good network
of specialists who might include vocal coaches, physical trainers, stage direction
coaches, interview coaches, and more.
Communication
Having good communication skills means the manager knows how to continuously
connect using the other person’s favorite methods, which are likely a combination
of the written letter, email, tweets, instant and text messaging, telephone, fax, social
networks, and every wireless device that will ever be invented. The manager will be
interacting with all parts of the music business and must understand and be prepared
to use those various communication tools. As an example of an industry sector that
favors certain communication tools, radio promotion people who work for record
labels or management companies depend on wireless devices to continuously com-
municate with their office and the radio stations in their region. Managers must also
be advisors to their artists on which forms of communication they should use, and
how, when, and with whom they should use them.
Each form of communication has its own protocol when used in the business
setting, and the artist manager should be sensitive about when and how to use each.
12 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles
The late Sony music executive Jack Lameier, for example, championed a universal
voice mail courtesy that urges callers to office phones to leave their telephone num-
ber twice to prevent having to play a long message more than once to retrieve the
number. Wireless phones display telephone numbers, but many office systems do
not. If you don’t know which type of device you are calling, leave your name and
phone number twice. Email is another communication tool that sometimes takes
on the loosely written style of a text message, but it is important to understand that
email is a semiformal medium of business communication that doesn’t require smi-
ley faces. As author of this book, I receive frequent emails from aspiring artists, and
it is easy to tell from their email style which ones are prepared for the business of
music and which are not.
Other Skills
Artist managers spend much of their time planning and organizing on behalf of their
artists. Later chapters in this book describe in great detail the ways these skills are
applied to the manager’s work.
The best managers also work creatively. The hugely competitive nature of the
music business requires that managers must push their own creative skills to their
limits in order to advocate on behalf of their clients. Simply doing what every other
manager does is not enough to gain recognition for an artist’s talents and potential.
An example of using creativity on behalf of artists is a bold idea by Big Machine
Records CEO Scott Borchetta. Early in his career, his idea to attract attention for one
of the artists he was promoting at an industry convention was to hire an entire high
school band to march into Nashville’s Wild Horse Saloon. He and his artist received
considerable attention and left much of his competition saying, “Why didn’t I think
of that?” Fast forward to today: his creative skills now guide the career of one of the
biggest stars on the planet, Taylor Swift.
Artist managers are persistent. Persistence in this environment is defined as a
quiet determination without being pushy. Remember that to be effective, the manager
must navigate around gatekeepers, and an overly aggressive style can be offensive
to some of those whose help is needed on behalf of the manager’s artists. However,
the manager who quietly waits for an email or for the telephone to ring has clients
whose careers will never ignite.
The best managers understand salesmanship and use those skills to create the
interest of others in the music business in the manager’s clients. Specifically, they
are the chief advocates, promoters, and cheerleaders in the music business for
their artists. Through salesmanship, they use persuasion to influence and motivate
industry gatekeepers on behalf of their artists.
Artist managers have a good sense of business, and are good at budgeting the
two resources that are not unlimited: time and money. Effective and efficient use of
time can keep goals, strategies, and tactics on track. Planning the financial aspects
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