ARTIST MANAGEMENT 101: How Do I Manage…

for ARTIST and MANAGERS

Artist Management in the music industry is a really big deal. As an artist, choosing a manager is serious business. A manager to an artist is like gas to an engine in a car. Without the gas, the car will not be able to get very far. Pushing or pulling can move the car, but it will only take it so far before it loses momentum.  Gas in a car is the difference between a car that is moving up and down the highway and a car that is sitting somewhere stranded on the side of the road. This is how a manager should work for an artist. A manager should help fuel an artist’s career. A manager should help an artist get further in their career. It should be farther than they would if they were pushing or pulling their career by themselves. A manager should be the difference between an artist sitting idled or stagnant and an artist whose career is moving forward. As an artist, the choice you make in a manager is as serious as the choice you made to purse your career. You will not learn everything about managers from watching television. Although TV can and will give you some valid information, it’s not all true and it’s not all facts. It’s always a good practice to talk to someone who has the experience you seek. A couple of people I suggest you look up are Michael Blue Williams and MarcOswald who both can give you some valid information about artist management.  Another good person to listen to is Professor PaulAllen. You should also do your own research. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. However, daunting of a task it may seem, research can save you a great deal of time and money. Here, I would like to discuss three things concerning artist management: the relationship, the roles, and the results.

The relationship between an artist and the manager is like a marriage. The manager spends a lot of time with the individual they manage. There is a certain level of intimacy between the artist and the manager. The artist has to share a lot of personal information with their manager. Trust has to be established within the relationship as well. Both the manager and the artist have to trust each other and know that they both have each other’s best interest in mind. The manager represents the artist, but the artist represents the manager as well. For example, the manager may give their word that their artist has the potential to meet a set number of objectives when negotiating a deal for the artist. The artist then has the responsibility to fulfill those expectations, otherwise smearing the reputation of both the artist and the manager for future enlistments. Thus, trust is important along with integrity. Following through and doing what you say you’re going to do is important as well as doing what is right 100% of the time. Lastly, within the relationship communication is vital. Either party can’t afford to assume anything. The proper use of all communication has to be used via the telephone, cell phone, email, text, etc. All communications should be confirmed and followed up as well as followed through. The vision of the manager should be the vision of the artist. Wherever you have two visions, division is not far behind. It’s so important to stay on the same page and be in agreement even if it means you will have times when you will agree to disagree.

The roles between an artist and a manager are more like responsibilities. Understanding each other’s role helps keep everything moving forward in the right direction. As an artist you should try doing everything you can to be better than just good at what you do. You should work at being better than the rest and finding out what makes you different from everyone else. You should also have a vision for your career. You should have an idea of where you want your career to go. As for the role of a manager, there are very specific roles he or she must play in order to effectively orchestrate your career. Sometimes the various roles are all wrapped up in one person. Other times, these roles are spread out amongst several individuals. These roles include, but are not limited to the personal manager, the business manager and the road manager. Each role that is executed by the manager requires different responsibilities. As an artist, you should be aware of each role and understand each responsibility.

The results are what you should measure a manager by. What he or she says is not as important as what he or she does. It should be clear what things a manager has done to help improve and move your career forward. You should establish a plan with your manager. It’s even better if you have a written plan. This plan should include set goals and objectives. It should also have a proposed way to execute those goals and objectives along with a timeline. This way, you both have a checklist of the things you accomplished over a set period of time and the things you still need to work towards. This leaves less room for grey areas and you can also know for sure whether or not your manager did an adequate job as your manager. How a manager does what they do should also be equally important. You want a manager who operates with integrity. The music industry thrives on relationships. There is not a lot of room for burning bridges and doing people wrong. So, you definitely want someone who will help you build strong solid relationships that will help sustain you in your career.

The main thing is that you do your homework and make sure you don’t take this area of your career for granted. You also want to make sure you don’t make an emotional decision, but a wise one. A manager can either be a meaningful step or a meaningless stumbling block in your career. So make a wise choice. Get the help you need. Get your career moving forward. This is how you will manage to have a successful career!!!

-The Mike Sears

Let’s Make A Deal…The Art of Negotiation

Are you familiar with the game show that used to come on TV called Let’s Make A Deal? What about a more current show called Deal Or NoDeal? In both of these shows there are a series of negotiations that take place between the host and the contestants whereby each contestant is given the option to keep what they have or trade it in for a bigger or better prize. If the contestant chooses wrong, they could lose everything. That sounds pretty serious doesn’t it? Well if you have never viewed either one of those shows, maybe you saw the movie The Negotiator with Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey. In this film, they are both highly trained hostage negotiators working in law enforcement. They are forced into a position where they have to negotiate against one another where hostages are involved in an effort to reveal the truth about a series of life and death situations. Ok, well hopefully now I at least have your attention and I can get you to see after reading a few short paragraphs that understanding how to negotiate in the entertainment business can be a very serious matter. With everything from contracts to copyrights to compensation to anything concerning making a deal, your negotiation strategies can make or break you.

Caleb Foster is someone who is highly respected and holds a very intricate position within the entertainment industry. Caleb holds to his credits a nomination for Gospel Announcer of the year at the 2010 Stellar Awards and was nominated for and won the Black Essence Award in 2010. With a host of other awards, accolades, and accomplishments he has earned over the years, he knows how to make the right deals and get the job done. Although he does not make the type of deals that could cause him to lose everything nor does he have to negotiate through a life or death hostage situation, he takes his role very serious. Throughout his daily routine as the station manager for the 1440 WDJR radio station in Detroit, Michigan he has learned how to master the art of negotiation. I was recently able to catch up with Caleb and ask him a few questions in an interview about his negotiation skills and here is what he had to say:

Q) How do you separate the people from the problem when you are negotiating? What tips do you have for new negotiators who are trying to do this?

A) In order to separate the problem from people you have to realize that the negotiation is business and not personal. The medical field is a difficult industry to communicate between people because they have to tell individuals information that might be uncomfortable. A doctor can give negative information to a patient and go on with his/her day because their delivery is not personal. A new negotiator should learn how to maximize the potential of the deal without losing morals or integrity. My solution in doing that is to always attempt to be beneficial on both sides. When that is not an option, realize that practices makes perfect. Every deal will not always go the way you want or expect so, make sure to gather all the pros and cons from each negotiation to compiles your data for future deals.

How do you handle positional bargaining tactics?

Q) Can you give me an example of how you worked toward mutual benefit when you were negotiating a deal?

A) Most recently, I had a client who wanted more advertising airtime for less money than would normally be charged. He requested an hour and a half of airtime once a week for $200 per month. Our normal rate for what he asked for is $500 per month. I told him I would try to meet him somewhere along the way and knock his price down to $450 per month. He countered my deal with saying $300. I told him that isn’t possible but I would charge him $400 for the first three months and then $450 for the fourth month to give him time to get acclimated to a new system. He agreed!  

In the negotiation process, what do you see as the major difference between dealing with the specific interest of the involved parties vs. the positions? Interest vs. Positions

Have you ever had to deal with anyone who attempted to use dirty tricks when negotiating or have you yourself ever used any dirty tricks.

Have you ever had to prepare a (BATNA)? If so what was your process for preparing that (BATNA) Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement

Q) Do you consider yourself a good negotiator? If so what do you feel is your greatest attribute as a negotiator?

A) Yes, I consider myself a good negotiator. One of my greatest attributes I consider to be is the fact that I always try to make sure both parties benefit from the deal being negotiated. In a lot of cases the negotiating party wants to benefit themselves.

-The Mike Sears

What do you know about Music Industry Trade Associations?

It’s not enough just to have information about the music industry although it is important to be very knowledgeable. What’s most important about the information and the knowledge that you acquire about the music industry is that it is current as well as accurate. The music industry is constantly evolving from various formats to different standards and from what’s hot to what’s not. It’s important in the music industry to know who the decision makers are as well as the leaders in a particular segment of the industry. Trade and profession associations provide individuals with pertinent information that can prove to be vital to the growth as well as the sustainability of ones organization, business, or career within the music industry.

As someone who operates in the music industry in various capacities the Recording Industry Association of America is a good association to become familiar with. They provide important industry research including data on the industry as well as its consumers. They provide updates and important news reports about the industry. Lastly, they provide information on copyright basics, licensing & royalties, anti-piracy, audio technologies, gold & platinum album status, and current issues. However, because I work more closely to the Christian/Gospel Music genre, I would like to talk briefly about the Christian Music Trade Association, The Gospel Music Association, and The Gospel Industry Round Up Publication.

The Christian Music Trade Association was established in 1993, as a non-profit organization that exists to build community and cooperation among Christian & Gospel music industry leadership in order to address mutual issues and to maximize Christian/Gospel music's impact on culture. Their board of directors is comprised of  high-level executives from major record labels. They provide information about Sound Scan, music piracy, and give valid news up dates. They are also partners to and affiliated with industry leaders and decision makers like EMI (EMI Christian Music Group), Warner Music Group (Word Entertainment), Sony Music (Provident Music Group), and Universal Music Group (Universal Christian) just to name a few.

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) is a non-profit organization , founded in 1964, whose purpose is to educate, encourage, and promote the development of all forms of gospel music. As an umbrella organization, the GMA provides an atmosphere in which artists, industry leaders, retail stores, radio stations, concert promoters and local churches can coordinate and centralize their efforts for the purpose of facilitating their respective needs and interests. The GMA is also the host to the Dove Awards and they provide various conferences throughout the year to bring many of these industry leaders, radio stations, and artists together for networking and educational purposes. I’ve actually had the opportunity to attend one of their conferences and it was a great opportunity to network and gather some great information to help me build my business and career.

Lastly, The Gospel Industry Round Up is a publication that comes out annually and it is considered, “The Bible of The Gospel Music Industry”. Lisa Collins who at the time was the gospel editor for Billboard Magazine started it in 1993.  It was formed to fill the void of there not being any publications that looked at the who’s who and the inner workings of the gospel music industry.

The book includes:

•        The Latest industry statistics and sales
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•        “The Hot 100”, Gospel’s hottest artists
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•       Gospel record labels, radio stations, retail outlets and key churches
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•        Top Producers, songwriters, and choirs
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•        Management and Booking Contacts
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•        Key Events
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•         A look at gospel’s power brokers
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•       Insight from top gospel stars
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•       Tips on breaking in

Hopefully you can see the importance of having access to this type of information through the various trade associations and publications. The great thing is that the majority of the legwork and the gathering of information has already been done for you by the trade association. All you have to do is get connected. Once you are connected, you can use the resources that are available to propel your organization, business or career forward in your particular industry. So know that you know, have at it! I wish you all the very best and much success!

-The Mike Sears

Tell Your Story...

Nobody can tell it like you can tell it! Why is that, you might ask? Well, the truth to the matter is that your experience, is your experience. That experience made you feel a certain way and left an impression on you that no one other than you can explain. If we look at what history really is, it is simply someone telling the story of something that has happened before now. Depending on who is telling the story, the chain of events and occurrences can be accredited as her story, their story, or his story; we choose to call it history. I believe your story is just as vital as his story and it needs to be told. I've worked in education for almost 13 years now and I once had an administrator who would always make this statement, "...Everyone has a story...!"

In this video presented on TED.com, I viewed a presentation given by Steve Jobs as he addressed a graduating class at Stanford University during their commencement ceremony. The speech he gave was remarkable. It was remarkable for several reasons, but I would like to point out two. In the video, Mr. Jobs tells three stories. These stories are events and occurrences surrounding his life and he shares how these things contributed to his success. In the first story he talks about why he didn’t finish college. Although it would seem as if not finishing college would contribute to a lack of success in life or in ones career of choice, the results of Mr. Jobs’s life were very contrary to this belief. It wasn’t at all that Mr. Jobs discredited education as a way of bettering oneself and establishing a career, but there was one thing that he attributed to his success that didn’t make clear since to him until he was later able to look back and connect the dots. This one fact was that he followed his heart. I truly believe that when you trust what you believe to be your purpose in life, the path you choose to fulfill that purpose becomes a by-product of what you believe. This became the case for Mr. Jobs and it worked out to his benefit. This is the first of the two reasons why Mr. Jobs’s speech was remarkable.

The second reason came out of the second story he told. He talked about how he and his partner grew a business that they started in his parents garage to become a 2 billion dollar, 4,000 employee company, in the span of 10 years. Mr. Jobs goes on to explain how one decision he made caused him to get fired from the very company he started. Instead of giving up, within 5 years, he started 2 more very successful companies. One company named Pixar became the first company to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. His second company NeXT, would become the gateway that placed him back with Apple as its CEO and advisor. Apple is the same company that he had once founded and was fired from.  He attributed his love for what he did as the driving factor for why he didn’t quit, even after the devastation of being fired. He talked about how in life, pertaining to work and in relationships, to go after what you love and never settle for less. Simply put, you should love what you do and only do what you love!

Steve Jobs told his story. In his story there were two things that I wanted to point out. The first is that if you follow what’s in your heart it will eventually lead you to the door of your purpose. If you choose to open this door it will lead you to a life full of success. The second thing is to find out in life what you love. Life is too short to spend it being miserable or to exhaust it on those things that really don’t matter to you the most. To find love is to find life and then begin loving the way you live.  If I could sum these two stories up with five words, I would say, “Have Purpose, Live For Passion”. I was truly inspired by Mr. Jobs’s speech and I sincerely hope that his story inspires you to live, love, and someday tell your story.

In the music industry, your story is important. It is just as important as the music you make or the specific skill or talent you have. There is a saying that goes, "People don't care how much you know till they know how much you care..." People want to know who you are, what you think, what you believe, and how you feel. They relate those facts about you to themselves and decide whether or not they will support or follow you based on what they discover. This is in addition to your talent. This is what will differentiate you from everyone else. There are so many talented individuals in this world, but people are more concerned with how you make them feel over what you can do for them. The former lasts longer. So in essence you should use your music, time and talent to tell your story. Your story will connect you with your audience and cause them to want and desire you more. Whatever your story is, no matter how small or how great, tell it and see if it adds or takes away from the total results you expect. Before you know it, you will have built a viable brand, which in turn can create longevity for your career.

-The Mike Sears