Before seeking out and hiring a personal manager, it’s important to understand the various types of management options that are available to you. The most common choices, depending on how far along you are in your career, are self-management, start-up management (by an individual attempting to break into the music business), and established professional management. In part three, let’s check out established professional management.

Established Professional Management
If you’re ambitious and able to develop your career on your own to the point at which you’re creating a buzz in your hometown clubs, in the press, and on college radio, and perhaps record companies are even beginning to ask about you, or if you’ve gone as far as signing a record deal, then your management options are going to open up considerably. At this point in your career, things are going to begin moving fast for you and you’ll need an experienced pro to take the reins. Keep in mind that managers are in business to make money just like anyone else, and now that you’re in a position to potentially make them money, they have a bigger incentive to work with you. You’ve come a long way on your own, and unless your ego starts to expand drastically or you decide to start shooting drugs (hey, it’s been known to happen), you’ve already proved you have what it takes to go the long haul. The term “established professional management” covers a broad spectrum of types, but for the sake of clarity, we’ll divide them into two distinct categories: “mid-level managers” and “big league managers.”

Mid-level Managers.  Mid-level managers are those who have a great deal of experience in the industry but have not quite broken a band into super-stardom. Maybe they have one client on their roster who was able to sell a respectable couple hundred thousand records, but still don’t have a gold or platinum record hanging on the walls—and that’s what they’re shooting for! These are the guys who are typically very well liked in the industry for their enthusiasm and well-connected enough to open some doors for you. They may be exactly what you need to get the record companies from just being interested in you to actually closing a deal. Mid-level managers usually have a great understanding of the business and perhaps were even A&R representatives or marketing managers at a label before getting involved in the management business. They enjoy the entrepeneurial spirit and freedom provided by managing bands. The problem here is that they are not as powerful as someone like a big league manager and therefore it may take them longer to get things done.

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There are a dozen or so experienced, professional, established managers out there of which any one of them are capable of doing the job. The important thing is picking the one that really WANTS to do it, not the one with the biggest star on the roster. Your manager must possess a genuine enthusiasm for your music, and a commitment to going the long haul through thick and thin.<END TIP JAR>

Big-League Managers.  Big-league managers are, needless to say, very well connected in the industry. The relationships they’ve formed, the respect they’ve earned, and the favors they can trade, give them the power to make things happen for you with just a few phone calls. These guys have been around for years and have lots of gold and platinum records hanging on their walls. They may even run a large firm and have a number of managers working under them. The clients these managers represent provide a number of touring opportunities for your band. In addition, these managers have established strong relationships with record companies over the years representing other clients, and the labels are happy to have them representing you. If a big-league manager is truly dedicated towards making you a huge success, then it’s a pretty good bet that things are going to start moving fast for you. Everyone from your peers to people in the press are in awe that you’ve signed with such a powerful management company and you’re already planning your getaway house in the Nevada desert. It’s very possible that you’re going to become a huge star! 

But take note: The danger with a major-league manager is that you may not always get the attention you deserve. Maybe you were taken on just so someone else couldn’t sign you. Perhaps you were taken on as a favor to someone else in the industry? Maybe you’re going to be turned over to a less experienced manager of the firm? Either way, when push comes to shove, you can bet that your manager is going to prioritize his or her more successful clients before you. After all, this is how the mortgage on that summer home in Hawaii is paid. One group, signed to Atlantic Records and managed by one of the most successful rock management firms in the world, was actually told that it should not even think about going on the road until it had three singles released to radio and three videos in rotation at MTV. (At the time, most bands were lucky to have one single in rotation!) Needless to say, the band bit the dust. Were the managers unhappy with the record the band delivered and wanted to see if the album “had legs” on its own with minimal effort? Or was it just not worth their time to send the band out in a passenger van and slowly build a buzz over the next two years? Who knows really. But one thing is for sure—a manager who’s been involved with a band from the very beginning has much more invested emotionally than someone who comes aboard later. These are typically the guys that will go down with the sinking ship before giving up. In the long run, this may be exactly what you may need.

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It’s become a trend recently for management companies to merge together under one management umbrella. Though it may appear that the bigger a firm is, the better it is, sometimes the priority of many of these larger firms changes from quality to quantity. In other words, the more bands they sign, the better their chances of one of those bands hitting it big. In fact, the firm may never have any intention of getting behind your band and giving you the full-court support you deserve over the long haul.<END TIP JAR>

Hope this quick tip helps. That’s it for our three part series. Peace and best wishes for a successful career!

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