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Pt. 2: Great Managers and How to Find Them: Is experience necessary?
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Part 2 in a series
Is experience necessary in a good manager?
Let's say you're thinking about asking someone who has a track record with other artists to manage you. The fact that this person has been in the music business gives you grounds for doing some research. Danny Goldberg, currently of Gold Mountain Entertainment, founded Gold Mountain Management and counted Nirvana, the Beastie Boys, Bonnie Raitt, and Rickie Lee Jones among his clients. "If someone's dishonest with other people," he warns, "they're going to be that way with you. Bands should also avoid managers who are intimidated by them. A manager needs to love and appreciate the music of an artist and like them, but they also need to be able to tell them the truth, which sometimes includes bad news or advice they don't want to hear."
Sometimes these qualities can compensate for a lack of experience. "Depending on how far along the artist is in their development, the manager should have some skills and expertise in the business," Goldberg continues. "If they don't have direct expertise, they should have a temperament that makes them open-minded and able to learn."
Steve Hutton (former Kid Rock manager) agrees. "People should not look down on managers who haven't had success yet. Everyone has to start somewhere, and frankly, a lot of times a new manager may be better than an experienced one, because you're probably going to be their only act and their most important work. The experienced manager has other acts and more things on their plate."
Beyond honesty and respect for the artist, what qualities are important for the novice -- and veteran -- manager? "Patience and perseverance are the two most essential qualities," says Hutton. "You cannot be tenacious enough. At the same time, you have to be diplomatic, creative, and intelligent."
That's just the beginning, according to Boche Billions, a.k.a. David Viecelli, of Billions Corporation in Chicago, a booking & management firm whose roster includes Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Southern Culture on the Skids, Wire, Calexico, and formerly road dogs and indie success story The Jesus Lizard. "Besides the obvious things, it is about finding someone who understands who the band is, what they want to get out of being a band, and what the realistic expectations for that band are in the marketplace."
'Good managers are worth a great deal to an artist. And bad managers are worth zero." -- Danny Goldberg
Pt. 3: What Exactly Do Managers Do? Coming soon...
Is experience necessary in a good manager?
Let's say you're thinking about asking someone who has a track record with other artists to manage you. The fact that this person has been in the music business gives you grounds for doing some research. Danny Goldberg, currently of Gold Mountain Entertainment, founded Gold Mountain Management and counted Nirvana, the Beastie Boys, Bonnie Raitt, and Rickie Lee Jones among his clients. "If someone's dishonest with other people," he warns, "they're going to be that way with you. Bands should also avoid managers who are intimidated by them. A manager needs to love and appreciate the music of an artist and like them, but they also need to be able to tell them the truth, which sometimes includes bad news or advice they don't want to hear."
Sometimes these qualities can compensate for a lack of experience. "Depending on how far along the artist is in their development, the manager should have some skills and expertise in the business," Goldberg continues. "If they don't have direct expertise, they should have a temperament that makes them open-minded and able to learn."
Steve Hutton (former Kid Rock manager) agrees. "People should not look down on managers who haven't had success yet. Everyone has to start somewhere, and frankly, a lot of times a new manager may be better than an experienced one, because you're probably going to be their only act and their most important work. The experienced manager has other acts and more things on their plate."
Beyond honesty and respect for the artist, what qualities are important for the novice -- and veteran -- manager? "Patience and perseverance are the two most essential qualities," says Hutton. "You cannot be tenacious enough. At the same time, you have to be diplomatic, creative, and intelligent."
That's just the beginning, according to Boche Billions, a.k.a. David Viecelli, of Billions Corporation in Chicago, a booking & management firm whose roster includes Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Southern Culture on the Skids, Wire, Calexico, and formerly road dogs and indie success story The Jesus Lizard. "Besides the obvious things, it is about finding someone who understands who the band is, what they want to get out of being a band, and what the realistic expectations for that band are in the marketplace."
'Good managers are worth a great deal to an artist. And bad managers are worth zero." -- Danny Goldberg
Pt. 3: What Exactly Do Managers Do? Coming soon...
Comments
I am sure that many young people face this catch-22 situation, you need the experience to be hired as an experienced music manager. I think Maureen's articles make the point that sometimes passion, energy, and focus are more important in a band manager than experience.
At present you seem to be at a loss regarding what concrete first steps to take. To make that "break-through" first time impression to resolve the "what comes first [chicken or egg] dilemma", you appear to have with bands, I think you have the blank slate of the Fuzz platform to start to build up your personal portfolio as an energetic, passionate, and innovative advocate for musicians.
I suggest that you can start to fine-tune your Profile, work up your network of contacts, create reviews, search for articles, show your marketing prowess [that "political" picture puzzle is a great example].
In fact, from my observation of your Fuzz pages to date, I think much of this is already being done. It just isn't conveniently organized in one place. [repeating myself] I think if you apply BBcoding in this platform, you can organize and convincingly demonstrate your energy, knowledge, passion, and marketing prowess to get beyond that "blank stare" you are getting from some bands when you tell them you want to be an artist manager.
Just get on the site and prove your mettle. Adopt a band, get tied up with a indie label, whatever. I am sure many artists and music distributors would love to have your energetic participation to support their own specific objectives, and even their broader dreams [realistically much of this has be without compensation at the beginning because everyone is just starting out in this new territory with limited resources - everyone is in search of innovative solutions and you can be there to help].
With BBcoding, your Fuzz Profile will become your resume of who you are and what you can do. I think your focussed effort to create "social capital" in an organized way, will in fact lead to striking concrete relationships with one or more bands, venue operators, other indie labels, persons involved in this dynamic industry, and in due course lead to a music-related job and "tangible capital".
Of course, this is all easier said than done, but the platform is here, the tools are available. Just do it! Cheers, TCC
I went through the manager thing first in the early 1980's. I was the band leader. The guys who wanted to manage the band loved the band's music. But unfortunately, they liked themselves too much to do the band any real justice. The relationship faded away.
After that I was in some teriffic bands in Los Angeles during the middle to late 1980's and early 1990's. All of them at some point had a person step up to the plate and say they wanted to lead things. None of them ever worked out, and for me on a personal level, found it very heartbreaking.
But I did learn some great things about being a manager. So I began to do it myself while still being a band member when I started living in Europe back in the middle 1990's. The result? So many gigs all around the continent. The opportunity to play music with some great musicians from all around the world. And yes, I did grow some more gray hairs dragging bands through airports and customs, and down the roads in busses, cars and vans. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that, although having a manager that loves the artist's music can be and, is a good thing, for some artists to take on that role personally is not particularly a bad thing either. If the artist does decide to take on this role, be prepared for giant trunk of responsibility to take on. I know this from a lot of experience. But nobody will love the band like you do, and things that need to be done will take on another realm of importance as you go along. And I'm sure there are artists out there who take on this role for their own groups, and can also speak from their own experiences.
Thanks again Maureen, for these insights from managers who have experience doing this on higher levels than I have achieved. I continue to learn about this postiton even now, and I do hope other Fuzz members and visitors can learn as well.
BB