What Does A Manager Do?

Vivek J. Tiwary

This is an excellent question, and one that many managers even have a hard time answering. The reason it’s so hard to qualify what a good artist manager does is that it’s a complex, encompassing job with no definite boundaries of scope and scale. It also varies by artist, as some need more help in certain aspects of their career than others. A simple way of looking at it is that the musicians write and/or make the music, the manager does (or coordinates) everything else. This can include explaining business developments to the artist, putting together the rest of the business team (the attorney, booking agent, etc.), designing and executing a marketing plan, assisting in the record production process, dealing with record labels and getting the band signed to one, liaising between radio stations and press outlets, handling PR issues, dealing with the band’s legal and financial matters (with the help of appropriate experts like music attorneys), dealing with the-day-to-day administrative tasks and troubleshooting, and so on ad infinitum and ad nauseum. A good manager should also provide objectivity and guidance, putting things in perspective and thereby helping to shape your entire project. Often managers get involved with the development of your “look” and image, your live show, song selection, and recordings.

Press And Publicity

Vivek J. Tiwary

Press can be integral to exposing a new artist a good review can directly translate into more CD sales at a retail account or more ticket sales at an upcoming show. In fact, publicity is such a powerful marketing tool in America that even a bad review is better than no review at all. It’s worth noting, however, that this is not the case in some other parts of the world. In the U.K. for example, press (for whatever reason) reigns supreme, and a bad review can be devastating for a artist’s career. But in the U.S. any review good or bad should be viewed as free advertising and, accordingly, a good thing. So you should promote your act in all press, newsletters, newspapers, and fanzines that cater to your target audience. Especially in your early days, quantity is more important than quality when it comes to press and publicity.

Marketing Overview

Vivek J. Tiwary

As soon as you exist somewhat in the public eye e.g. once you’ve started to play live shows or have released a CD it’s time to start marketing your act to draw attention to yourself, your music, and your career. Or, from a more specific business standpoint, to help you sell CDs, draw people to your concerts, encourage radio stations to play your singles, get a press account to review your album, etc. A carefully designed and effectively executed marketing plan is essential for a developing artist, because successful marketing has two separate but connected results, both critical to career development:

1. Broadening your fanbase by exposing your music to more people

2. Generating excitement about you within the entertainment industry

In a less de__scriptive but often-used word, marketing creates a “buzz” around an artist. And once there is a buzz in place, it will be easier to open the doors and make the contacts required to pursue increasingly sophisticated aspects of your career (e.g. going on a national tour, getting a publishing deal, signing to a record label, etc.). At any given moment in your career, there should be a clearly defined marketing plan in place, even if this means shifting your marketing strategies often. Remember that “anti-marketing” or deciding to abandon one or more aspects of the marketing mix (like when Pearl Jam decided to stop making music videos and temporarily abandoned touring), is itself an important marketing decision.

Retail Marketing

Vivek J. Tiwary

All aspects of music marketing are integral to developing your act, and the more you market yourself, the more you will realize that radio, press, retail, tour, lifestyle, Internet, and other forms of music marketing are all inextricably connected, each having an effect on the other. Don’t be fooled into thinking you can completely ignore one aspect of music marketing, though of course certain areas will be of more relevance depending on the nature of your act (e.g. if you’re a jam band, touring and tour support may be of primary importance).

All that being said, let’s assume you actually want to make money from your music (don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone). If that’s the case, you will want to sell records. And sales obviously take place at record stores, both online and offline. Internet retail is covered in its own section, and the following will focus on offline “brick-and-mortar” record retail stores. So before we begin, here’s a marketing rule of thumb: While no one element of the marketing mix is more important than the other, tie as much of your marketing efforts into retail as possible.

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