Artists 101

“You don’t need a manager until you absolutely can’t do the work on your own. This doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t hire help along the way. If you can afford to pay people to help with the stuff you hate, or the stuff you aren’t good at, or the stuff that wastes your time: do it! One of the benefits of the modern music business is the availability of low-cost solutions to all kinds of problems that creators face. But remember that you are always in charge–manager or not–so learn what it takes to do the job yourself.”

—Mark Tavern, Music Industry Educator

“One rule: Don’t go looking for anything. Management, label, distribution—you wanna get them hot for you. There’s low points in my career where people weren’t reaching out as much and I had to convince people to come rock with me; that’s very unsuccessful most of the time. Stuff gravitates to you. This is a passion business. You need someone excited and passionate about music.”

—Michael Kolar, Engineer

“It really depends on the artist. I have worked with a number of artists, and there are some that are completely capable of handling their business and managing themselves until the workload demands a manager. Then, there are some artists that are extremely talented, but the business is not their strength. Those are people who wanna bring in a manager soon, but also have to understand, what’s in it for the manager?”

—MeLisa Heath, Artist Manager

“As early as possible, but you need to find the right fit. You can survive without one for a period of time, especially if you’re not doing this as your full-time job and you’re not touring. If you ever want to take that next step where you’re playing shows and getting your music out beyond a self-release strategy, then you would wanna make sure you have a team in place—not just a manager.”

—Greg Norman, Major Label Attorney