How To Tell If You Need A Manager

There are many different thoughts and opinions about when it is pertinent for one to secure the services of a manager, but understanding that situation can make all the difference in the world between making major moves and wasting time.

First of all, it's important to understand exactly what it is that a manager is supposed to do for you.  In a nutshell managers are the wonderfully driven people who make it possible for you to be the "artist", while they are out handling the business end of your career and pounding the pavement trying to convince the masses that you are a star.

The next step of this journey would be to assess exactly what it is that you feel you have that needs to be managed.  Here are two very important points that should taken into consideration:

1. Your family and friends telling you that you are the next "big thing" isn't enough to warrant the need for a manager.
2.  Being talented enough to produce a halfway decent song that manages to score a few spins on your local radio station is also not enough to warrant the need for a manager.

While both of those are a great start and awesome confidence builders...it's not enough.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, now we can move on to the basic things that actually merit the need for a manager:

1. You have gone the distance and actually taken the time to perfect your craft to point where you have been able to build a respectable following of people who support your music or product.
2. You have established a solid web presence (i.e. a professional web site, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages) that showcases your brand in a professional manner.
3. You've done enough ground work and research to understand exactly what it is that you would want or need a manger to do for you.
4. You possess the "go-hard" mentality needed to keep up with the time requirements that a good manger will expect in order to keep you working and relevant. 

Please note that all of these things go hand-in-hand, because at the end of the day you want your manager promoting you to labels, getting you paid gigs and trying to secure other lucrative opportunities that can help get your product and brand out to the masses.  But in order for them to be able to do that...you have to give them something to work with.

Contrary to popular fledgling belief, managers don't typically work for free and pay all of your expenses. Now once in a while, one may have the good fortune to stumble into a situation where they come into contact with someone who believes in them and their talent whole-heartedly and they are willing to represent them and work on the assumption that "one day" all of their hard work will payoff.  In those cases, it is very important to have the terms and conditions of such an agreement ironed out and put in writing.

But for those of you who don't have the luxury of living in that world, customarily managers are paid a percentage of what the artist, or client, earns and that percentage can range anywhere from 15-20%.  Then in some cases, managers are paid on a monthly basis and that amount can vary based on the individual's level experience, amount of industry connections, track record and the amount of grunt work involved on the manager's end to actually get everything going.

And there you have it...the nuts and bolts of the artist/manager dynamic. So now with that being said, it's up to you to figure out whether or not you have reached that point in your career.  If you're not sure, give us a call! 

Black/Smith Consulting 313-451-4272 or email us a blacksmithconsultingllc@gmail.com.