Starting out as a music manager has lots of challenges and one of such is how to find an artist you will start working with.
Here in Nigeria, lots of upcoming artists do not understand the need to get a music manager or why artists need music managers, and as such it will take you a considerable time and effort to convince an artist to allow you to work with him as a music manager.
And helping the artists to be acquainted with the benefits of getting a music manager is one of the ways to convince an artist to get a music manager and once you are able to do so, there is nothing that will stop them from giving you a chance.
But before you do so, there are a few calculated steps you need to take in order to find artists that will allow you to work with them as a music manager, and am going to show you those steps by answering the question below: how do music managers find artists?
After answering that question, I will also help you to discover what a music manager should look for in an artist so that you won’t end up working with the wrong artists that will take your career as a music manager nowhere.
And I will also aim to wrap up this article by showing you how much you should take from an artist as a music manager so that you won’t end up extorting from him or her.
How do music managers find artists?
Music managers find their artists by following a few calculated steps I will show you below:
- Establish your presence online.
- Connect with other music managers to learn from their experience.
- Attend musical events and concerts.
- Scout for talented artists online.
Establish your presence online.
Good enough, this digital age has given us all the opportunity to own a space online that will help us show people what we are capable of doing.
And there are so many ways to establish your presence online as a music manager and below are some of them:
- Build your own official website: This type of website should be a portfolio that will help you add a blog where you will write about your little experiences in the hope that it convinces an artist that you really know what you are into.
- Join social media platforms and build your profile: LinkedIn is a very important social platform that will help you to establish your credibility and have the opportunity of connecting with artists. You can also start a YouTube channel and create tutorials that will help you to convince artists about the need to get a music manager and in so doing showcase yourself as one.
- Join music forums that will give you the opportunity of meeting artists who are faced with several problems bordering the music industry. And once you are able to show them the way, it will give you a great opportunity of becoming their music manager.
2. Connect with other music managers to learn from their experience.
Connecting with other music managers, especially the established ones, is another way of finding an artist that will allow you to work with him as a music manager.
And in case you might ask where to find other music managers, they are everywhere, both online and offline; and you just have to go searching to find them. And when you finally do so, establish the kind of connection that will allow them to feel you in on their own experience in finding and working with artists.
Use that experience as a guide to present yourself as a music manager who has already been on that road.
3. Attend musical events and concerts.
The best places to physically find and connect with talented artists are at musical events and concerts. And the good thing here is that you will get to physically find artists putting their talents on full display.
So all you have to do is patiently wait for the event or concert to end and approach the artist who picked your interest and discuss how you can get to work with him as a music manager.
4. Scout for talented artists online.
It’s undeniable that artists are everywhere online, be it on social media platforms or forums, and some of them even have their official websites that include a contact page you can use to reach out to them.
o all you have to do is carefully study their profiles to see the kind of music they are making and the number of streams they have, how many followers and engagements they are getting on their content and post etc.
Once you find the artist who satisfies your requirements, you can then reach out to him and offer to work as a music manager.
What a music manager should look for in an artist.
The only thing a music manager should look for in an artist is talent, that is to say, a music manager must ensure that the artist he wants to work with is musically talented, or else all the labor he is going to put into giving him the needed exposure is going to be in vain.
Once you are certain the artist you want to work with is musically talented, you can then use legal measures to keep him in check.
How much you should take as a music manager?
Typically, music managers charge artists between 15% to 20% of every earnings that come from the businesses and deals they helped the artist secure. However, this is going to work in line with the agreement they signed and sealed before beginning to work together.
