Are You Ready for a Manager?
Episode 009 of The Indie Musician Secrets Podcast
TRANSCRIPT
(INTRO): There are no secrets to success, just things you haven’t learned yet. And once you learn them, it’s up to you to apply them. I’m Jamaal, aka Boss Eagle, Billboard charting hip hop artist, and music business coach. Join me as we talk digital marketing, social media, technology and more. And share interviews with industry professionals to help you unlock the “secrets” and take control of your music career. Because we are the new music business and this is The Indie Musician Secrets Podcast.
What’s up? What’s up? What’s up everyone and welcome to The Indie Musician Secrets Podcast. I am your host, Jamaal aka Boss Eagle, Billboard-charting Hip-Hop artist and music business coach here at Business Minded Musicians. I want to welcome you to today’s episode where we’re going to be talking about: Are you ready for a manager? Before we dive in to the topic today, I just want to remind you that you can subscribe, rate and review to this podcast on all of your favorite platforms — I would appreciate that. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, all that good stuff. And like I said, please remember to rate and review, subscribe, download — all of that good stuff, if you like information about helping you, or someone that you support, to grow their independent music business. So without further ado, let’s jump in!
We’re going to be talking about are you ready for a manager or do you need a manager? And this is something that has come up several times. When I have promoted my Artist Resource Guide, there was a survey that was attached to that as well. And so I got a lot of survey responses and this is one that actually came up often. People will ask, “How do I get a manager? How do I find a manager?” I wanted to address this topic because there may be some of you out there listening to this episode asking the same question, wondering the same thing.
So the first thing that I would say is to ask yourself: Why do you think you need a manager? What is it that is bringing that to the forefront of your mind? What is it that is making you making you think that? I think sometimes artists [think] that having a manager will add some type of prestige or validation to them as an artist, which isn’t always necessarily the case. You know what I mean? Don’t shortchange yourself, just because you don’t have a manager. So you want to ask yourself why do you think you need a manager [and] kind of sit back and kind of chew on that. See what you come up with. Write some things down and see if those things really do kind of align with where a person would be that actually does have a manager. [Then] ask yourself, “What does a manager do?”
What does a manager actually do for a musician? You can obviously go online and do some research — Google and all that good stuff. But I just wanted to share a couple of thoughts that I have on that.
One of the main things that a manager does is run the business.
So with that said, there has to be some business to run. If you think about McDonald’s, Best Buy, banks or any grocery store — anything like that, there has to be business to manage. The manager is going to execute oversight over the business [and] kind of run the ship. If it’s a electronic store, the manager is going to oversee the shifts for the employees, the opening & the closing [and] deliveries or shipments. They’re going to oversee the stocking — all those things that make the business run.
So if there is no business, then there’s no ship and really, you don’t need a manager.
So you want to ask yourself, and you want to be honest in asking yourself this question: Do you even have a business right now? And I don’t mean just having a couple of songs out on Spotify. I mean, [music] business actually a business? Is it actually set up? Do you have merchandise? Are you doing shows? Is your social media killing it? Do you have all these things happening that someone can come in and oversee, even if that means they bring in other people to take on certain parts?
I think a lot of independent musicians kind of fall into this trap of thinking, ‘Well, you know, the manager is gonna come in and create this for me. The manager’s gonna come in and do X, Y and Z,’ and a manager is not going to come in and create your business for you. They may leverage some of their relationships and networks and partnerships to further your music business and your music career. Again, if you can’t even stay on top of your social media because it’s poppin’, you can’t stay on top of your merch, you’re booking so many shows that it’s becoming a stress and a strain and a stretch for you to handle it all, a manager is going to come in and oversee that. And then once those things are in place, then they’re going to be able to take it to the next level and add more. You don’t have to focus on those things. They’ll have either themselves or someone else that’s focusing on that — maybe it’s someone in their office, that’s focusing on a particular thing like booking shows or festivals. So a manager is is going to come in and add to your business not create it. They’re not going to come in and just be a secretary. That’s not their job — just to be your admin person. So think about that. Ask yourself: Do you have a business that someone could come in and run? And again, be honest if you’re just looking for someone to come in to create that business for you?
It goes back to what we talk about here on this podcast: There are no secrets to success, just things you haven’t learned yet. And I think that maybe this is one of those learning opportunities for some of you out there. In in changing your mindset, having a paradigm shift in your mind, as to what maybe you thought about management before. Because these people are looking for partnerships. They’re looking for business partners. They’re looking for someone that that they can align with and help that person take their career to the next level. These people are professionals. This is what they do. This is what they’ve been doing. And this is what they know how to do.
And it’s just like a record label. They have a lot of their relationships and networks and stuff already built in. They can leverage those. But again, it’s a it’s a business partnership. Record deals are being signed every day. But record labels primarily are looking for people who have an established business and established machine — the wheels are turning. They’re doing shows constantly, they’re doing tours (whether that’s local, regional or national), they have all this stuff going on and then the record label comes in and says, “Let’s take that to the next level.” So I think again, that’s something to consider, too. Look at, and kind of audit, your business and see where you are with that.
And what I would suggest for a lot of you out there, honestly, is that instead of a manager, I think what a lot of independent artists actually need, and would benefit from, is having an employee that can take some of this admin stuff, or some of the task stuff, off of your hands so that you can focus on the creative aspects and continuing to build that business. Because a lot of times what a manager might do anyway, is have staff people work on certain aspects of that artist’s music business.. It’s not going to necessarily be the manager who’s going to be handling your social media or doing customer service on your online store. They’re going to probably have other people in their office doing that. So why not start doing that right now by yourself and not having to pay a manager 10, 15 20%, right? Just start doing that by yourself. Go find an assistant, go find a VA — maybe a friend, a spouse, a cousin.
I’ve said before — some of you don’t need a manager, you need a teenager!
That’s what you need. You need your 16-17 year old niece, nephew, cousin or whomever, who can come in and handle some of those things. [Someone] who can take over your Instagram [or] TikTok, who can do some of your editing and video stuff, help you on the booking side, etc. And you pay them hourly. I think some of you artists out there would actually benefit more, right now at least, from having an employee or some employees. And there are lots of ways that you can do that — lots of systems out there that that’ll help you with payroll and management. That’s what I would look at.
Now, one caveat to that, in terms of management, and this is something I have seen, is when the friend, or the cousin, or brother or someone who has been around the band for a while, [who’s] maybe they’re trying to cut their teeth. Maybe they’re trying to get into this profession. And so they will become the pseudo manager. And I’ve seen this before where they were like, “I was on the road with them. I was sleeping on the floor in the hotel rooms, etc., etc.” They were almost kind of like part of the band. Maybe you somebody says, “Hey, I would love to try my hand at this.” And then that’s kind of a gentleman’s agreement, or maybe it’s a written contract as well. But it’s different from pursuing a professional manager that’s from a reputable agency or something like that.
So, again, just to kind of recap, I would start by asking yourself, “Why do you think you need a manager?” Start to look at what does a manager do and [that] they’re going to basically be overseeing a business. Need to ask yourself, “Do you actually have a business right now to run?” Would it be more beneficial for you to have employees right now versus a manager? Someone that can help you, or a couple of people that can help you, with various aspects of your music business? And then remember, because this is a business, we have to have that mindset of being business minded musicians. Some of you probably are still in that place where you’re still just needing to grow your business, and that’s fine too. And you can even still hire a virtual assistant while you’re growing your business. There’s no one that says you can’t do that.
If that’s something that you want to do; you want to find ways to continue to beef that up — whether it’s with shows or this or that, there’s an awesome resource called the Ultimate Indie Bundle. It’s actually three separate three documents, and it helps you to find those people and those those services and those resources that will help you grow your business. So the Ultimate Indie Bundle includes the Indie Bible, which is it’s an awesome resource that helps you market your music. There’s the Indie Bible Online Database, which is this expansive database of contacts in the music industry, from all types of genres: everything from music promotion to management services to radio shows. I mean, there’s a ton in there, and it’s worldwide. And then it also includes the Indie Venue Bible, which has over 30,000 venues in the US and Canada. Plus, you get some some bonus things too!
Get The Ultimate Indie Bundle Here
And there’s a very small cost. Right now, at the time of making this episode, it’s only $59.95. But to have someone curating all of that stuff for you and putting that in your hands...you could then take something like that and hire a VA or have your spouse, fiancee, boyfriend or girlfriend, auntie or uncle. Say, “Hey, I’d love to focus on this,” (whether that’s booking shows) and you hand them the Indie Venue Bible, and they start going through that and start booking you for festivals and different places. Maybe you want to look at PR, bloggers, etc., so you have that person, log into that [Indie Bible] Online Database and start making those connections.
So what you’re doing is building that business; you’re showing that is something that you’re committed to that you’re building, you’re growing. And then when that starts getting good and growing, and you start adding more pieces to the puzzle [and] more tools to the arsenal, and you start to see that music business start to form, then you get to that point where you’re like, ‘okay, I need to make a change now so I can focus on the creative stuff.’ Maybe that’s the point at which you start looking at finding a manager. And one of the things I’ll say about management too, is use a resource like that Ultimate Indie Bundle Online Database, and go start to look at some of the management companies websites. Start to look at some of the artists that they represent, and then go to those artists pages, Spotify and Instagram and all that stuff. Start to ask yourself [if] you think you stack up with where they are? Because they have management now. So are you at that level. If they have five albums and you’re only on your second single (that doesn’t necessarily mean anything), but you can kind of almost gauge yourself to see at level they’re looking at starting to represent people. So that’s just another little side note.
But again, that Ultimate Indie Bundle will be great to help you continue to grow and build that business with marketing your music, contacting and connecting with music industry folks, and then also continuing to build [with] shows. There’ll be a link in the description, or the show notes, wherever you’re listening or watching this episode. You can grab a copy of that.
I hope this video served you, I hope this was helpful for you. If you have any questions or if there’s something you’d like to have covered, you can email me at questions[at]IndieMusicianSecrets.com Don’t forget to rate and review the episode and as always, please, please, please share this episode, and any of the other episodes, with any other artists or artists support people that you think this would be beneficial for. So I hope you have a great day. Keep rockin’. Keep shining. God bless and I’ll see you when I see you. Peace.
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