As a
future mogul in the music business, I’ve learned in this Entertainment Business
from my continually growing love for Hip-Hop & R&B, that an artists’
manager is really important. In some realms of the music industry, especially
on more of the business side, the manager may be the pull for an artist to get
a business relationship/collaboration accomplished. Some of the successful managers
I’ve come to learn about are Tina Davis (Chris Brown), Scooter Braun (Justin
Bieber & Asher Roth), Blue Williams (OutKast), Kevin Liles (Trey Songz
& Big Sean), and Chris Lighty (50 Cent, Soulja Boy, Diggy Simmons). Rap Rehab said in a recent article that “The manager is perhaps the
most important
member of your team.” A manager should always be about enhancing their artists
career without disturbing how the artist is viewed as to their fans, they
shouldn’t do anything that’s not really their style. It’s important to have
some groundwork put down in order to show the hopeful manager that you have
some fans and that musically you’ve been grinding with constant quality music
through mixtapes and/or albums. Plus in today’s world, it helps to have a nice
following on twitter and facebook. The Rap Rehab article states “there
are three characteristics
that a manager must have in order to help your career
effectively—both
before and after you get a record deal. Those characteristics
are passion,
connections, and funding.” This is important because just as much
its important to have what the manager is looing for in artist, it also works
vice versa and in the case of beginning/low level managers who may not have
connections or funding, passion becomes the most important because they have to
be able to truly show they believe in an artists’ talent and they use
everything in their power to make sure the world experiences that talent as
well. The article says when both the artist and manager are both starting off
in the music industry in a business relationship that “This method, while
perhaps being a slower route, is a good one, as it
directly and closely
involves you, the artist, in the process of your career
development.” Overall
the article sums up that
Good managers understand that new and developing
artists are much
like startup businesses. The first couple of years (or
records) typically are
money losers. The hope is that after the painful initial
period has ended,
there will be a financial reward that will recoup all the
early losses and then
some.
I’ve also added some links to an article with Blue
Williams about his management and his recent joint venture with Chris Lighty to
create Primary Violator Mangement. Also, a video of Kevin Liles speaking on his
career, how Trey Songz got him into managing, and how he started managing Big
Sean.
References:
Production
Market Place. 23 Sept. 2010. http://www.pmpworldwide.com/articles.cfm?contentID=3B50A80A-9A1D-C20F-67300F9B66464EF4
“Feature
Video: Make It Happen with Kevin Liles (@KevinLiles1). Al Lindstrom. 26 Oct.
2011. http://allindstrom.com/2011/10/feature-video-make-it-happen-with-kevin-liles-kevinliles1/
“Primary Wave and Violator Merge To
Form Primary Violator Management”. Ed Christman. Billboard.16 Sept. 2011. http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/legal-and-management/primary-wave-and-violator-merge-to-form-1005355762.story
“Primary
Violator”. Primary Wave Music. 16 Sept. 2011. http://www.primarywavemusic.com/news/post/MjczLTI0MjBmYQ
“Finding
The Right Management”. Rap Rehab. 18 Oct. 2011. http://raprehab.com/2011/10/finding-the-right-manager/
