Every artist in the music industry needs someone who will always stand in for them, from studio sessions to booking shows, getting endorsements, etc, there will always be someone who represents musical artists in every aspect of his career.
Ever since the emergence of the music industry, there has always been the need for people to pursue a career in music management and hence become music managers.
Though there are certain skills you need to have in music management to become a music manager, it is however not necessary to be talented in music – either be able to compose, sing or play any musical instrument. This goes to say that being musically talented is not a skill to enter music management.
Long as you are a lover of music and have the ability to negotiate and have interpersonal skills, you can enter music management and become a music manager.
In this article, therefore, we are going to explore a list of steps for how to enter music management as well as become a music manager.
What is music management?
Music management is simply the art of taking charge of every business aspect that concerns a musical artist. This task often ranges from booking shows to scheduling tours, negotiating endorsement deals, organizing promotional events like public appearances, or signing record deals.
Music management often involves either working individually or with a group of persons but with the sole aim of representing an artist anytime any day.
There are scores of music management companies, whether physical or online existing at the moment and all are working tirelessly to ensure every artists that works with them becomes successful.
What does music management do?
Below are some typical jobs associated with music management:
- Establishing a business relationship with artists.
- Arranging public performances like gigs and tours.
- Going out in search of record deals for an upcoming artist.
- Booking studio sessions for musical recordings of an artists
- Devising positive means to promote the artist they represent.
- Building a fanbase for a musical artist as well as growing such.
How to get into music management.
Below are the steps you have to follow if you want to get into music management.
- Get a degree in business management.
- Develop the skills of a music manager
- Gain professional experience.
- Keep up with music industry trends.
- Scout for upcoming talents you can work with.
- Apply for music management jobs.
1. Get a degree in business management.
I know that getting a degree in business management is not a prerequisite to becoming a music manager, but getting one is going to equip you with high-level knowledge and concepts like business practices and negotiating tactics, that will put you in a better condition of managing musical artists.
Remember, your main aim of being a music manager is to represent the business interests of your clients who most times will lack business knowledge. That is why you need to acquire an in-depth education about business management and apply it to the music industry.
2. Develop the skills of a music manager.
Being a music manager will require you to possess some skills that will help you go along well with your clients and those you will connect with their musical success.
Some of the skills you need to develop as a music manager are:
- Financial literacy.
- Tech-know-how of the music industry.
- Interpersonal skills
- Organizational skills
- Communication skills etc.
3. Gain professional experience.
Even after getting a degree and developing the skills you need as a music manager, you also need to give yourself some time to put all your knowledge to work until you become an expert.
Becoming an expert will then give you the opportunity to gain professional experience that will help you improve as you continue to work with more and more artists.
And while waiting to gain your own professional experience, you can also get close to and establish a relationship with established professionals who will share their experience with you.
Another great advantage of connecting with other professionals on the job is that they will help you to find new clients and projects when they have much work and clients at hand.
You can easily find these professionals by searching online or reaching out to music management companies you know around.
4. Keep up with music industry trends.
You can never become a good music manager if you do not know what is trending in the music industry.
The best and easiest platform you can learn about what is trending in the music industry is the internet where you can read blog posts, news media, articles, and updates about the music industry.
Another important thing you need to do is to sign up on every social media platform that has lots of music features and there you will get to understand how people are reacting to the latest genre of music you can focus more on.
5. Scout for upcoming talents you can work with.
At this point, you’ve got a degree developed the skills of a music manager, have some professional feel as well as know what’s trending in the music industry.
The next step you have to take now is to look for upcoming talents you can work with.
The best way to do this is to go on social media and look for artists who are dropping dope songs, covers, freestyle videos, etc, and reach out to them for music management.
You can also attend gigs and other music events and scout for upcoming talents you can work with as a music manager.
Keep in mind that most of these upcoming artists do not understand what is music management, so you will have to invest some time into helping them understand what music management is and how it can really impact their success in the Nigerian music industry.
6. Apply for music management jobs.
While scouting for upcoming artists you can work with as a music manager, you can start applying for jobs as a music manager in record labels and public relations firms where you can represent artists that the company identifies as having musical potential.
