How to build an effective artist team
While making music is, of course, the most important aspect of being a musician, there are many more vital elements that need an equal amount of focus in order to provoke the quickest growth in popularity and success. When starting out, many of these individual aspects will all be managed by you, the artist, but as your persona grows, so will the workload, which makes it vital that you hire the right team in order to ease the strain and enable you to focus on music. Your growth and success as an artist rests on choosing the right team to represent you and your brand and to complete organizational and publicity tasks on your behalf. Choosing the right people may seem impossible, but as your career progresses it will undoubtedly become clear whether or not you made the right decision. We’ve separated the process into segments, in order to help you decide who is the right fit for each individual role in your team.
Manager
Perhaps the most important choice of all is deciding on a manager. Responsible for more than anyone else in your team, it is absolutely vital that you have a good relationship with your manager, and that they have the right mindset for the job. Your manager will be the first person you hire, and particularly at the early stages of your career, they will help you out with a number of aspects including PR, A&R and all organizational aspects behind the scenes. Choosing a manager is such an important process, and not a decision to be taken lightly, so it may be a viable option for you to conduct a trial with a potential manager before officially signing them into a contract. It is important to remember that when you are starting out you may not be able to hire the manager of your dreams, and may have to hire somebody with less experience. You should still look for certain characteristics when deciding whether they are the right fit. Your manager should be highly passionate about you, your music, and your career, without this passion, they may lack the right motivation. That being said, you should avoid people who don’t respond with honest opinions, the last thing you need is someone who agrees with everything you say rather than challenging your ideas in order to come to collaborative decisions. Money-wise, it is normal for managers to charge 10-20% of your earnings; anything over this should not be accepted. Most importantly of all, you should hire a manager that you can get along with, the two of you will spend a lot of time together and work closely on all projects, so it is vital that you can keep a good relationship.
Agent
When starting out as an artist you will be booking your own shows, but as soon as you have a good track record of successful events, you will be able to hire a booking agent. When hiring your first agent, you should look for somebody who represents artists who produce music in the same genre as you. However, if a bigger agency does approach you, it is definitely worth pursuing them instead, as they may be able to open more doors for you. An agent should be looking to take between 10-15% of your show earnings, so it is definitely vital to choose the right agent when starting out. Your agent must also have a good relationship with your manager, as they will need to work together on forthcoming shows and tours.
PR
Having a high-quality PR firm behind your releases is a huge necessity, as it will bring more attention to your music and your brand as a whole. A publicist’s responsibility is to advertise you, to connect with bloggers and influencers, and to market your music. These are all activities that you will find yourself doing at the earliest stages of your career, but once you have a PR firm on board, you should find that they can be much more thorough and give your releases the publicity they deserve. The cost of hiring a PR firm varies, and firms who charge more will usually be better connected and so better able to get your releases into the sight of the most influential people in the industry. Your choice of who to hire should depend on budget and where you are at in your career. Watch out for firms who make big promises. There are absolutely no guarantees with PR, all of the publicity in the world may not always amount to sales/streams. If you are signed to a label, they may cover your PR themselves, but this coverage is not free, and it forms part of your contract.
Label
When you sign to a label you will usually have one main contact who will be there to guide you. They will help you to link up with writers, producers, and engineers, and will set you up to meet with executives. They will keep you updated on the stats and marketing data regarding your releases and will help you to keep on top of your deadlines. An artist’s relationship with their label is highly important, as it can go south very quickly if the line of communication breaks. It is important for an artist to have creative freedom and flexibility, a label that allows you to flourish as a producer is key.
While the focus will always remain on artists, it is the team behind the scenes who can really make or break the career of the individual they represent. Having a good team behind you is invaluable, and can make your journey to the top that much easier. It is vital to put a great deal of thought into hiring the right people, but if your situation changes down the line, you shouldn’t be afraid to make a change and hire somebody new. Making sure to hire individuals with the right qualities and dedication to their role is one of the most important processes as an artist.