Personal Manager (not personal at all)

beyoncevalbrun
May 19, 2022
4 min read

Updated: May 20, 2022

Personal Manager

“Do you have a thing for helping talent people reach success. Are you personable, punctual, professional, and just a damn good team player. Do you like to see artists grow. Well, then this may be the job for you.”

What you'll be doing:

Artist Development

The manager may assist with the development of an artist’s career via the following activities:

Encouraging You to Get Your Brand Together: Inspiring you to polish up your brand—from your artist name and logo, to what you wear and say in public, to the charities and other organizations and brands with whom you associate.

Assisting with Your Sound and Songs: Inspiring you to polish up your compositions and musical sound. If needed, the manager may even help set you up with songwriting consultants and co-writers, and help you find complete songs to record and perform.

Helping You Improve Performances and Merch: Inspiring you to perfect the quality of your live performances (set list flow, presence, etc.) and merchandising designs (T-shirts, hats, stickers, etc.)

Helping You Build Your Fan Base: Encouraging you to strengthen your connections with fans, including building a database, improving upon your Internet presence, and finding ways to get fans’ assistance with promoting your career.

Contracts and Income Streams

Your manager may also help initiate various business deals by doing the following:

Setting Up Meetings: Setting up showcases and meetings with potential record companies, music publishers, merchandisers, sponsors, and more.

Researching the Right Deals: Researching what companies and representatives are best suited to your talents and musical style, based not only on a company’s past signings or successes, but also on its financial stability and understanding of your vision.

Recommending You Find Legal Counsel: Providing recommendations for legal counsel to help shop your music to various companies and review important contract terms. And finally…

Working Collaboratively with Your Attorney: Communicating with your attorney about important contract deal points, but knowing when to step aside and let the attorney work.

Project Management

When, and if, an artist signs a recording agreement, a manager may also assist by doing this:

Getting Everyone at the Label Excited About Your Career: Lighting the fire under the label’s ass and trying to make sure that you will be a top priority.

Monitoring Pre-Release and Post-Release Activities: Providing marketing ideas regarding the branding, price, place, and promotion of your record, and fighting tactfully for what is best for your career. And finally . . .

Meeting with Departments: Meeting with the various departments at the record label, (radio promotion, new media, licensing, press, sales, and marketing) to make sure that everyone is talking and working in concert to further your professional career.

Hybrid Services: Merch, Publishing, and More

As if the above tasks were not enough, some management companies operating under newer business models may even assist your career by doing the following:

Providing Label Services: Handling all matters concerning the funding, recording, manufacturing, distributing, and monitoring of a record, in addition to all other management services. Said another way, the management company is a label, or the label is a management company—however you see it.

Providing Publishing Services: Seeking creative uses of your songs in film, TV and games, issuing licenses to music users for the use of your songs, and collecting all income generated by these uses. And finally . . .

Merchandising: Helping design and manufacture effective merch that sells, helping the group sell merch on the road and via retail outlets, and seeking sublicenses to expand the product line.

Live Engagements and Touring

Moving on to another role, a personal manager may also assist with the following:

Securing a Talent Agent: Helping you to find a licensed talent agent who specifically works on procuring live performances. Your manager will work together with this agent to determine what tours are best for you, to make sure that you’re getting the best offers from concert promoters, and even to help direct your performances from city to city.

Working with Your Business Manager: Helping you find a business manager who specializes in the music business, and working together with him or her to ensure that your tours are properly budgeted. Hotel accommodations, transportation, stage crews, and other expenses will be closely examined in effort to minimize expenses and ensure that you turn a profit (or at least cover expenses). And finally . . .

Hiring a Tour Manager: Hiring a tour manager who is responsible for keeping a watchful eye on all business matters from city to city, night after night. This could mean checking you in to hotels, “advancing” the shows (making sure that each venue has the proper accommodations in place for you), “settling” money with promoters at the end of each night, babysitting, and bailing you out of jail—seriously!

Physical and Mental Health Issues

Finally, once an artist is successful, a great manager can assist the artist in the following ways:

Monitoring Physical and Mental Health: Looking out for the artist’s health and well-being, and knowing when to say no to that extra morning radio show, public appearance, or leg of the tour.

Checking In with the Artist: Checking in with the artist and simply asking him or her, “How are you doing?” Said another way, the manager checks the goose that is hatching the golden eggs, rather than just focusing on the golden eggs. This is important. Artists are known to break down when they’re pushed too hard. Elvis Presley is a classic example of this.

All in all, In general, job duties involve strategizing and creating marketing plans for album releases and tours, managing social media, merchandising, even doing some work that is typically considered the work of an A&R Coordinator, such as putting together records with Producers and finding artwork. Managers also help their clients with career direction, artist representation, tour management, and attaining corporate sponsorships.You also work as a music marketing company and record label. “When you’re a Manager, you just have to do anything” to get the client out there. You works with a “full plate of different people,” including “Producers, Promoters, Booking Agents, record distributors, Lawyers, Business Managers, tech companies, record label reps, marketing people, brand management people and overseas Agents and labels.”