Become a Band Manager

A band manager is an important piece of the artist or band's home team. He or she is the artist or band's partner. He/She receives between 10-20 percent of all earnings the act brings in. He/She is in charge of directing, motivating, and filtering the business aspects of a music career into workable info for the act.

Steps

  1. Learn the industry. The first step to becoming a manager is becoming knowledgeable on all things "music industry." You will be in charge of publicity, label relations, publishing relations, venue or agent relations, and all other aspect of the acts career. You can have all the drive, passion, and street smarts in the world, without knowledge of the Industry you work in, you and your act won't get far. Check the tips section for some good learning resources.
  2. Create your management company. Come up with a name for your management company and create a business card. Business cards help to give you legitimacy. Create a MySpace page or a website (if you have the funds) for your company and link to it on your business card. Write a Mission Statement and post it on your site.
  3. Find a band or artists to manage. This can be difficult and easy. It all depends on where you are, how hard you search, and where you look. Go to local shows, when you find an act wait till the show is over and give them your card. Don't be pushy or arrogant. Simply offer them your admiration and let them know that you would love to chat. (See First Impressions in the Tips section).
    • Find an act at local clubs or venues. Go and watch as many shows as you can.
    • Find an act online using bandFIND.com's manager ad listings. It specializes is connecting the music industry and the artists.
  4. Make sure the act you represent is the right one. Don't settle for just any musical act because it's the managers passion for the act that drives and propels the artist or band's career. It can take a while to generate income since you only make a cut of what the artist makes. You must believe in the act you represent or you won't get far.
  5. Follow up. After you find the act you want to represent, send them a follow up email or Myspace message. Keep it short and sweet. Don't tell them you want to rep them just yet. Simply, set up a meeting and let them know you'd like to chat about their career and their goals.
  6. Have the meeting. Dress up like a manager would and buy the act lunch. Over lunch ask them questions about their goals and about their current career circumstances. Make sure you have studied up on the industry and on the act, so you can chime in occasionally and let them know how you can help.
  7. Manage your act. So now you're a creative manager. You are now in charge of making sure that the act succeeds. To kick start this process there are a few items that need your immediate attention.
    • Artist/band design branding. Make sure the band's image is expressed in their design work. This image will become the artists brand. It will help to sell them to the Industry and the fans. (Not to be confused with selling out.) You are a "manager" which means that you are a sales man. Every act needs a logo, a few t-shirt designs, and a custom designed Myspace page. A good design can cost a bit, however, it's a crucial part of the band process. IAMwe design is a fairly inexpensive design service that specializes in music design. It's very important to package your act for success and the design process is a crucial piece of that.
    • Photos for the Act. Professional photos go a long way. Photos can make or break any band or artist. You need a few shots. A head shot, personality shot, sexy shot, live shot, and a few others.
    • The Act's Press Kit. A press kit is the Music Industry's standard for an artist or band's Resume. It should contain photos, music samples, press releases, press clippings (Quotes from previous press coverage), Biographies, and any other media you may have. It needs to be in a folder with the bands logo on the outside. Your contact info should be clearly found somewhere in the kit. You also need to copy the info from this kit to an online EPK (Electronic Press Kit). Sonic Bids is the current Industry standard.
    • The Act's web presence. Sign your act up for all of the major web 2.0 music services and promote them. These include Myspace, iLike, reverbnation, bandFIND.com, and Facebook among others. Use them all. They all offer their own services and opportunities.

Tips

  • Learning resource. An entertainment lawyer by the name of Donald Passman wrote a book called All You Need To Know About the Music Business. It's every artist manager's Bible.
  • Less is more. This is true in all aspects. When networking by email keep it to two or three sentences. When meeting people keep it short and sweet. Industry Pros have no time to read long emails and sit around and gab. Plus, if your emails are long it says, "I have a ton of time to kill". The shorter the more professional.
  • First impressions. They say that you have 120 seconds to develop a first impression. They also say that after that it takes two weeks to change that impression. So that being said, pay close attention to how you approach people. Don't be arrogant yet be confident, don't be pushy yet be assertive. Most importantly, less is more. Don't overwhelm people, simply introduce yourself, offer your card, be on your way.

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