When I was checking sources for articles on Artist Management, I came across a video from The Center for Music & Arts Entrepreneurship, New Orleans Music, Entertainment and Educational Consortium from Loyola University, New Orleans.
This video was a conversation John Snyder had with Wayne Forte and his career as an Artist Manager and Agent (13 Oct. 2008).
Forte began his conversation talking about deciding how deep did he really want to get into that business, as it is a 24/7 obligation. That left no room for personal time or much of a family life. He said there were two things important in this business: you have to earn money and research and development.
The music business is show business. No matter how great your records are, it is a business built on live shows. He also related attitude to an artists’ success: they must be committed to every aspect of their business; both recording and performing live shows.
I found it interesting that Forte said that managers do not earn as much as they did several years ago. Before, they earned a higher percentage from an artist contract where now, it usually ranges from 10-20%. When you stop to consider that a manager takes care of the day-to-day personal business of the artist and is usually available 24/7, that may be a poor return on your time versus income.
Agents are the “employment agent” for the music artist. They book the dates and venues. I liked how Forte compared the agent’s real job title as career planners, builders and maintainers for the artist. The agent is responsible for envisioning where the artist wants to go career wise and how to strategically get them there. The way they do that is by focusing their booking dates around (1) the area where the artist has a strong fan base and (2) major markets. Something Forte also reminded his audience was as the artist ages, so does your audience; so it is important to keep an eye on the types of venues you book to increase your profit margin.
I highly recommend this site for learning more about what agents and managers do.
http://www.cfmae.org/mis-forum-wayne-forte-artist-management/
Here is a great article from Billboard about about Ticketfly using their service to monitor statistics to let clients know how their programs are performing which actually goes along with the information that managers and agents need to know to help their clients get to the next level:
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