A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of
artists
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, the ...
in the
entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee the day-to-day
business
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...
affairs of an artist; advise and counsel talent concerning professional matters, long-term plans and personal decisions which may affect their career.
[MusicBizAdvice Q&A](_blank)
January 2008
An artist manager is also a person responsible for hiring and managing the employees in a company.
The roles and responsibilities of a talent manager vary slightly from industry to industry, as do the
commissions to which the manager is entitled. For example, a music manager's duties differ from those managers who advise
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
s,
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
s, or
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
s. A manager can also help artists find an agent, or help them decide when to leave their current agent and identify whom to select as a new agent.
[Garrison, Larry. ''Breaking Into Acting for Dummies'', Wiley Publishing Inc., 2002, p. 34.] Talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, and other professionals in various entertainment or sp ...
s have the authority to make deals for their clients while managers usually can only informally establish connections with producers and studios but do not have the ability to negotiate contracts.
History
Modern talents managers are associated with all artistic fields, sports, as well as various fields in business.
Talent agents have at times been covered in the music or art press almost as intently as artists themselves, for example the various talent agents who spearheaded the British Invasion of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
and
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat, rock and pop group formed in 1964 in Manchester, originally called Herman and His Hermits and featuring lead singer Peter Noone. Produced by Mickie Most, the Hermits charted with number ones in the UK a ...
in the 1960s such as
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was a British music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967.
Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him i ...
,
Allan Williams
Allan Richard Williams (21 February 1930 – 30 December 2016) was a British businessman and promoter who was the original booking agent and first manager of the Beatles. He personally drove the van to take the young band to Hamburg, Germany, in ...
,
Harvey Lisberg
Harvey Brian Lisberg (born 2 March 1940) is an English talent manager and impresario, best known for discovering Herman's Hermits in 1963. In 1965, he signed songwriter Graham Gouldman, a founder member of 10cc, who Lisberg also managed, along w ...
. Infamous examples in the music press include
Allen Klein
Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits ...
, manager of both The Beatles and
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
.
The industry of talent management has been unionized or organized in several forms throughout history. In the United States, a notable early example was the
Association of Talent Agents
The Association of Talent Agents (ATA) is a non-profit trade association representing talent agencies in the United States entertainment industry. ATA agencies represent the vast majority of artists working in the field, including actors, direc ...
, which was formed in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in 1937. The ATA comes out of the
Wagner Act
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...
upheld by the Supreme Court which established many of the unions and guilds that regulate people who work in the entertainment industry such as the
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...
,
Directors Guild of America
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...
, and
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers:
* The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO
* The Writers Gu ...
.
[Association of Talent Agents](_blank)
/ref>
Music managers
A music manager (or band manager) may handle career areas for bands, singers
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
, and DJs. A music manager may be hired by a musician or band, or the manager may discover the band, and the relationship is usually contractually bound with mutual assurances, warranties, performances guarantees, and so forth. The manager's main job is to help with determining decisions related to career moves, bookings, promotion, business deals, recording contracts, etc. The role of music managers can be extensive and may include similar duties to that of a press agent, promoter, booking agent, business manager
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company".
Compare manager.
Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to oper ...
(who are usually certified public accountants
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...
), tour managers, and sometimes even a personal assistant
A personal assistant, also referred to as personal aide (PA) or personal secretary (PS), is a job title describing a person who assists a specific person with their daily business or personal task,. it is a sub-specialty of secretarial duties ...
.
Manager's contracts, however, cannot license those responsibilities unto the manager in the same way a state license would empower the agent to do so. Therefore, conflicting areas of interest may arise unless those are clarified in the contract. That said, a manager should be able to read and understand and explain a contract
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...
and study up on the long-term implications of contractual agreements that they, the bands, and the people they do business with, enter into. Before the manager enters into an agreement with the band, their relationship may be regarded as competing for interest; after a good contract is signed, their interests, obligations and incentives are aligned, and the interest in success is shared.
Responsibilities of a music manager are often divided among many who manage various aspects of a musical career. With an unsigned act, music managers may assume multiple roles: graphic designer, publicist
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists who ...
, promoter, and handling money and finances. As an artist's career develops, responsibilities may grow, and because of their percentage agreement with the band, the manager's income may grow as well.
A music manager becomes important to managing the many different pieces that make up a career in music. The manager can assist singers, songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...
s, and instrumentalists in molding a career, finding music producers
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
, and developing relationships with record companies
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...
, publishers, agents, and the music-loving public. They should carefully consider when certain contributions have been made which would also entitle them to cowriting credits, Executive Producer credit, or Producer credit should they become involved in songwriting, financing works, or actually producing demos and recordings, and should carefully know these jobs and these fees should be considered either as separate from the contract, in addition to the contract, or as free to the musician as clarified in emails and the contract.
The duties of an active music manager may include supporting the band's development of a reputation for the musician(s) and building a fan base, which may include mastering and launching a demo CD, developing and releasing press kits, planning promotional activities, creating social network identities for bands, and booking shows. A music manager may be present during recording sessions and should support the artist during the creative process while not interfering between the artist and the producer, but musicians may also find valuable feedback in the extra pair of ears and this should be carefully considered as well. The manager may gain access to a recording studio, photographers, and promotions. He or she will see that CD labels, posters, and promotional materials appropriately represent the band or artist, and that press kits are released in a timely manner to appropriate media. Launching a CD with complementary venues and dates is also a music manager's responsibility.
Among all the business and professional responsibilities that music managers assume; they also become a pseudo parent for the group and help with personal matters usually. This is both for the psyche of the group and to ensure that things are running smoothly.
Early on in an artist's career, the different facets of management and marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
fall upon either the band itself or, if they have one, their manager. Because the band or artist is relatively unknown initially, promotion, booking, and touring are minimal. A new music manager begins by establishing a clear understanding of what the artist(s) want. This can be accomplished through either a written or verbal contract
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...
. A music manager's first task is to solidify all artist development aspects and then concentrate on product development.
Management strategies
Despite the dominant presence of digital media in the music industry, there are many typical strategies that even the most modernized managers must adhere to in order to reach the managerial goals effectively. Most of these trick-of-the-trade strategies are employed to establish and maintain connections with booking agents, promote the activities of the artist, and manage finances in order to optimize the artist's ability to book gigs, establish a fan base, and ultimately bring in revenue from their work, respectively.
Booking gigs
Among the more traditional responsibilities of music managers are booking and promoting gigs for their artist(s). Managers often become known for establishing ongoing relationships with specific venues, booking one artist at the venue regularly, or several artists on their roster. A large number of 'how-to' books have been published on the topic.
Internet strategies
As technology has advanced, the music industry has consequently undergone a drastic change in the way it operates. The internet has made it both easier and harder to attract the attention of fans and the press, as both outreach increase but industry saturation increases. “The sale of pre-recorded music has diminished, but there’s so much more that’s going on. You can’t focus on what’s not working when there are so many other opportunities.”. Social media is a common form of online networking for managers, and platforms such as MySpace, Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
, Beatport
Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be u ...
, Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
, SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...
, Distrokid and YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
have been noted in the press for their use in networking in the music industry. Other fields such as business may use more common websites such as LinkedIn
LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...
or Google+
Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written as Google Plus; sometimes called G+) was a social network owned and operated by Google. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challenge other social networks, linking other Google p ...
, while networking on behalf of a Client.
Not everyone is so optimistic about the role of social media in the music industry. In his article, “Why Music Won’t Be Saved By Social Media”, Wes Davenport suggests that the role of social media in the industry “has been grossly inflated”. In the article, Davenport quotes Jon Ostrow saying, “Social media is a conversation tool – that’s it”, acknowledging that there is potential for sparking conversation and building a fan base, but suggesting that social media does not necessarily live up to the potential for success that people in our modern culture seem to give credit.
Digital case Study: Lady Gaga
In an article titled, “Case study: Making money from music” by Martin Kupp, Jamie Anderson and Joerg Reckhenrich, the effects of technological advances on the music industry are recognized, analyzed, and utilized through an online marketing strategy that led to the incredible success of Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
. Troy Carter of Coalition Media signed Gaga with the intention of making her into a star with the help of some clever marketing. Recognizing that digitalization was the cause of the almost 33% decrease in the music industry’s total revenue between the years 2000 and 2007, Carter decided to find a way to use digitalization to his advantage with his newly signed artist. Coalition Media, with the help of marketing company ThinkTank Digital, invested large amounts of time and money into developing Lady Gaga’s global presence through social media.
They set up many interviews with online bloggers, established a large following on Myspace through “constant news updates, as well as exclusives, interviews
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" r ...
and special features” and Gaga personally handled her Twitter account, building a very personal connection with many of her fans. This strategy demonstrates the massive success that skillful online marketing can produce. The article focuses on Coalition Media and Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
’s utilization of the “Four E’s”: Emotions
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
, Experiences
Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...
, Engaging, and Exclusive. By personalizing her online activity, creating an experience, engaging, and providing exclusivity to her fans through social media marketing, Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
was able to achieve incredible levels of success with her music career.
Compensation
Striking a tentative compensation agreement that can be renegotiated after three or four months is recommended, and the rate of pay is generally based on commissions of 20-80%, or more, of performance and commercial incomes. This amount depends on the level of development the band or artist is at and the experience, networks and resources of the manager. (The less developed the artist and more experienced the manager, the higher the commission.) The artist or band should never agree to circumstances that cannot be terminated or negotiated within a short period of time.Band Manager Info at Media Positive Radio
/ref>
Photography
Managers usually secure the services of a professional photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographers
As in other ...
while the artist is recording. Different 8x10 pictures of the artist can be used for websites, CD labels/jackets, posters, and the press kit
A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials that provide information about a person, company, organization or cause and which is distributed to members of the media for pr ...
. Cost for high quality shoots vary from $500 for a basic shoot to thousands for several looks. Photographers are not expected to cover material cost. It is important that the manager obtains an agreement upfront confirming license to use the images which will cover the uses necessary, in addition to high resolution digital images on CD. Managers are also advised to have photographs taken before CD designs or artwork goes into production. Managers are also responsible for hiring additional staff when necessary.
See also
* Talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, and other professionals in various entertainment or sp ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talent Manager
Arts occupations
Entertainment occupations
.
.