The artist manager: the most important person for a successful career.
I will try to answer shortly and clearly to this question, to clarify and define what I really do as an artist manager.
The manager is the professional who flank the artists in music projects and help them develop and grow their career.
More than a representative I would call them business partners, who participates in every aspect of the project.
They create strategies, find and manage all the resources to make things happen and open new doors and business opportunities.
The manager is the first passionate supporter of the project the one who believes in the artists potential more than anyone else.
The manager helps artists understand what they want from their career and which are their medium/long term goals.
It’s the person in charge of day to day duties to let clients focus on art and creative issues.
The manager stands in the center of the entire project and coordinates the team, both internal and external ones like labels, promoters, editors, commercial partners and everyone involved in any activity.
First of all is a planner and must be capable of looking ahead of time, trying to foresee any possible issue or accident. Usually the working schedule is at least on one year planning.
One of their most important roles is creating value for artists and their work and spread it in as many ways as possible.
High value artist have the world at their feet, anyone would collaborate with them.
I will get deeper on this subject matter later on, in another article.
The manager is in charge of a large scale of responsabilities like contracts negotiations, tour management, scheduling, travelling organization, finance and legal management, promotion, media relations, press agency relationship.
The artist and the manager usually have a symbiotic relationship, they are not necessarily alike, in fact I would say they often have opposite characters. But they balance out with incredible synergy.
Communication among them must be extremely honest, flowing and constant.
A good manager has experience, skills and is a trustworthy person, capable of thinking, creating strategies and bringing home an excellent result.
They have economical, digital marketing and financial skills.
The role of managers has changed a lot in the last few years and it has been necessary to improve skills and widen operation areas.
Their job cover almost their entire life as they are 24/7 operative.
Managers invest so much time and energy in their artists. That’s why they must be highly motivated and deeply believe in them, to go on with patience even when the results are not visible yet.
I found out that an essential characteristic is the ability to prioritize without losing sight of the final goal and to understand what is really important.
The manager should have human qualities to better relate to so many different people and build good and long term relationships.
Not less important is their role as motivators and supporters, even psychologically, for their artist.
In such an unstable, competitive, difficult environment, the manager protects the artist from outside voices, critics, closed doors and failures.
They have to be a rock ready to give faith, strengh and courage.
They are the engines who are capable of dragging the entire machine and never let team members quit, even in difficult times.
Last but not least, managers constantly guarantee that the artists have all they needs.
Managers protect their clients from scams and attacks. And try to preserve their psycophysical condition so that they can be at their best even under pressure.