Your Favorite Rapper is Poor: Do I Really Need a Manager? Posted by Andrew Lewis on 07/26/11 | Filed under Top Stories, Features, Your Favorite Rapper Is Poor

I know you've been dying to read some new "Your Favorite Rapper is Poor" articles, but when dealing with subjects this important I wanted to make sure we did the series right. That's why I'm happy to say that the enormously knowledgeable Andrew Lewis of MyMusicExec.com will be picking up the series, starting with a question I've been asked time and time again by new artists: "Do I need a manager, and how do I pick one?" Enjoy....

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Recently, over the weekend I was in a studio session with a new good friend of mine out in Los Angeles. Amongst the creative energy and good vibes circling the room we began to talk about the arms and legs of the music industry, the business side but specifically Personal Management. She expressed her feelings on certain details that are currently happening in her career with those who are interested (Managers, Publishers ) while the “pros” were great they did not seem to weight out the “cons”. While advising her (like I do all my clients) that the most important relationship to establish first as a young artist, songwriter or producer should not be in a Manager, but in an Entertainment Lawyer. For what specific reason? They should be obvious, no? The contracts! Entertainment lawyers are essentially what I like to call "Deal Makers". You heard of the saying "right place, right time", think of it in those terms, a good attorney will aid in the process of securing you any / every deal under the sun that you are pressing (if your music holds weight). After a solid discussion regarding the intentions of the interested “managers” not only could you see a sense of relief as her initial gut feeling was confirmed, but a sense of self confidence that possibly these potential managers weren’t exactly for her.

As I made my way back from Los Angeles, I started to think how many talented young artists out there have made the wrong decision when it came to their personal manager? How many of them had an attorney present when signing their management deals? How many of them involved a sunset clause? How did the contract say the manager was paid? Gross revenue stream or would the manager be dipping into "restricted areas"?

Okay, so now your ruffling through your desk trying to find that contract you once signed. Here is something else to consider that could be jaw dropping. Let's review what the required schooling and licenses needed to become a personal manager are? -- Wait, that’s right, there are none. Notice "Eric" from HBO series Entourage, he was twirling pizzas before becoming Vincent Chase's "Manager" despite the fact that he played a big role in Vince's success, the point here is that he was twirling pizza before, follow me? . Managers come in all shapes and sizes, there are educated managers and uneducated managers; experienced graduates and public relation disasters; business managers and tour managers, manager who manage and mangers who watch others manage; managers who execute decisions for the best interest of the team and managers who know only one interest, their interest.

So, your probably asking yourself “Alright, How do I choose a manager?”. --My question to you is first, where are you in your career? and second what do you mean "manager", there are number managers for every field. Booking manager? tour manager? business manager? personal manager?. I'll briefly lay out the first one for you, There are 5 stages where you could need a manager of a different caliber.

? Stage 1 involves the beginning stage, when your career is starting to develop,
? Stage 2 is the marketing stage, you may be the opening act for an established artist.
? Stage 3 your career has arrived and you are establishing yourself as a brand.
? Stage 4 your finally the star, living the dream.
? Stage 5 your career is in a sense over but your legacy lives through your copyrights, albums.

Think about it. Each stage requires different roles to be played by the manager. Now, before you consider any of those steps my friend – you must understand what a manager is. Managers are the primary contact person of all your business affairs, and should be able to act in your place and on your behalf with the best intentions of you as an artist to ensure that maximum success is obtained. Now, how do you choose a manager? Slowly - and - carefully. Overtime in the music industry you’ll begin to develop a sense of perspective, you’ll learn to audition those who are auditioning you, ( interview those who are interviewing you ). You’ll develop a sense of instinct and be able to weed out those who lack in the willingness to help and level of understanding your music. You need to ask yourself what areas of services are needed from a manager, what are your short term and long term goals in the music industry.

Here are a couple things to consider when choosing your manager:

Does your manager have other clients? And if so, how many and in what genre?

• Why is this important? If your manager has more than one artist in their roster then time - availbilty may become an issue. While on the up-side, managers with multiple clients usually tend to deal with more industry players, meaning they have a broader network which could help you, it also means you could not be a priority. Also, knowing what genre of music your managers clients are involved in. Why? if your a Hip Hop artist and so are all your managers clients, conflict of interest may occur, don’t you think? -- interesting yes?

Is the potential manager related in any way to your publishing or recording company?
• If so, you may have a huge issue. You should be very careful to delineate the responsibilities of your manager, your record company and music publisher so that each separate entity can work on its own. Independent of anyone else’s interest except your own. Think about it people, as an artist you are already the last person to "eat" why would you want to share your scraps? You don't want your manager co-writting & co-publishing a share of your material.

Does your manager understand your short & long term goals?
• This is the most important quality of a manager. Understanding you as a client, your manager must bring something to the tablet help you achieve your goals as an artist in the music business. Be it experience, creativity, money or being hungry enough to get things done for you. Must be a combination of the above.

What kind of reputation does the potential manager have?
• If the reputation is anything else but dedicated, loyal, brutally honest then he / or she may not be for you. (No Yes-Men)

Amongst these vital qualifications as well as organizational and communication skills, their ability to spend money on the right things, how well connected they are in the music industry, there willingness to take calculated risks. Knowing how your manager will be paid is just as important. There are two basic ways a personal manager in the music business can be paid.
1. On the basis of commission of gross or net income
2. A flat fee

Most personal mangers work on a 15% or 20% commission base on the artists overall gross income, anything over 20% and you may as well hand them your account and routing number. Why ask a percentage? Usually because as bad as it sound the issue is a financial one, not an emotional one. I know I know, you want someone who believes in you, right? Well the day I can walk into Quiznos and buy a sandwich with your belief then we can talk, until then thats a negative ghostrider. Now, why a flat fee? This method is used when you are already an established act and in the position to qualify the value you seek. The idea with this method is that anyone can perform the requisite duties if they are well staffed and half-way organized, artists like Jay-z, Diddy, Michael Jackson, Mandonna etc all fall under this category.

Now, Lets enter the "House of Mirrors" : Managers Gross Edition -- You would think an 85 / 15 split sounds manageable, right? Unfortunately for you the managers cut is taken out of the artists gross income. Let's use rising star Kendrick Lamar as an example, not currently but before "Section 80" & "Overly Dedicated".

If Kendrick does a show at the Key Club in Los Angeles and it brings in $1,000, the manager would receive $150.00 dollars (15%), follow me.

Lets also say that the cost to do the show as well as logistics tallied up to $500, how did I get that number? Think about (venue cost, transportation, equipment rental, promo etc) and there are four members in Kendrick's band.

Your booking agent gets $100 (10%) for getting you the gig, Manager gets $150.00 (15%), there is $250 to be split by four people, thats $62.50 each.

Now, lets say that the event was poorly arranged by your manager (ironic) that the cost of the logistics tallied up to $750, Unless your manager likes you more than money after their $150 that leave you with --ready? -- Zero. (Hi, can you please pick up your jaw again, thanks). Now, is this exact scenario likely to happen, probably not. Has it happened in the past? of course. The $62.50 you spilt with four people does not mean you are on a 85/15 spilt, but more as a 25/15 spilt. -- be smart guys! A better way to avoid this kind of problem is to deal with net touring income, not gross! (more on touring income in later issues)

Now hopefully this gives you a brief insight of what to look for when considering a manager, understanding what they must be willing to do, what kind of qualifications they must have and how they intend to be paid. You must also know the terms of the contract and how to terminate the contract if the relationship turns sour.

Remember that the music business is 50% game, 30% business and 20% talent!, for a full understanding of the music business do not hesitate on scheduling your consultation with MyMusicExec.com today!