Does anyone here use artist management? Do you have a manager or a label that represents you, helps you find shows / DJ gigs, etc? I've been wondering about this myself but Google is not being very helpful.
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The Mountains
You want to know someone's experience, or you're curious what they do?
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BOSTON
in this day and age, 99.999% of 'artist management' either doesn't exist or is a scam. unless you have constant revenue and you can pay them out of net, you WILL have to pay them out of pocket, and they WILL just subcontract to bookers/promoters they know and take a cut. and then they WILL do the most mediocre job possible. (i will be happy to hear from people with another perspective on this)
*super long story short: there is nothing that they can do that you won't be able to do MUCH better and for free.
things to do: email clubs and ask for booker contacts, email newspapers/blogs/etc to promote shows and for EP release and stuff, promote shit on facebook and online. nothing fancy is needed at all! journalists like cool new stuff and magazines need articles. send them mp3s of what you are doing, give them pics from your last show. same goes for radiostation DJs! make them your friends, because they are usually pretty cool people.
things to not do: pretend to be slick or bigger than you are. hyperbole.
and thats my 2 cents NOW GO GET FAMOUS
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
In my experience the best managers, bookers and promoters are fans. I personally do a lot of promoting and booking for shows in Toronto and I believe that I'm more than fair (seeing as how I never take a cut unless I'm also playing the show).
If you can find someone qualified within your fanbase, I would definately recommend trying to recruit a promoter, manager, booker, etc from amongst your listeners.
One thing that you always have to remember, and it's something that most arts management people don't remember, is that you are the talent and they are the support staff. They are making money due to you talent. That doesn't mean they shouldn't get paid if they do a good job, but without you there'd be no money at all.
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Westfield, NJ
Rainbowdragoneyes wrote:
You want to know someone's experience, or you're curious what they do?
I want to know people's experience. Also advice for someone who wants to start out DJing in NYC and Philly. Also things like contacting newspapers and radio stations, I've been able to figure out blogs easily enough but on the rest I'm still stumped.
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New York City
BR1GHT PR1MATE wrote:
in this day and age, 99.999% of 'artist management' either doesn't exist or is a scam.
This is totally NOT true, there are agents that work well and cater for the needs of niche artists like us. And it's more than 0.000000000001%
Netherlands has the ALLES LOS agency which books lots of chipmusic acts and they are AWESOME people and NOT scammers AT ALL.
I'd say if you can find one that you can FULLY trust on, get it. That is the key.
Personally I'd love to have one but haven't found the right one yet. On the other hand I manage a friend of mine.
Last edited by akira^8GB (Sep 8, 2010 12:38 am)
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The Mountains
The thing that a successful manager has is CONNECTIONS. They are on the phone all the time, chattin it up and making deals and etc. They don't really perform any one task that isn't covered by someone else (promoter, journalist, booking agent, etc etc) but rather they are the people that dabble in all areas and get you in touch with these specialty people to get the job done. Nothing that can't be done by anyone's own DIY effort, but they've been in the business long enough and know enough people to easily make things happen. That is my experience.
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Westfield, NJ
Rainbowdragoneyes wrote:
The thing that a successful manager has is CONNECTIONS. They are on the phone all the time, chattin it up and making deals and etc. They don't really perform any one task that isn't covered by someone else (promoter, journalist, booking agent, etc etc) but rather they are the people that dabble in all areas and get you in touch with these specialty people to get the job done. Nothing that can't be done by anyone's own DIY effort, but they've been in the business long enough and know enough people to easily make things happen. That is my experience.
Yeah I'm looking for 1 person to start out, I'm willing to pay, I just need someone with connections that can get me a few gigs, enough that I can have a feel for it.
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North America is a pretty assy place to be a musician, for the most part.
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nɐ˙ɯoɔ˙ʎǝupʎs
BR1GHT PR1MATE wrote:
in this day and age, 99.999% of 'artist management' either doesn't exist or is a scam. unless you have constant revenue and you can pay them out of net, you WILL have to pay them out of pocket, and they WILL just subcontract to bookers/promoters they know and take a cut. and then they WILL do the most mediocre job possible. (i will be happy to hear from people with another perspective on this)
*super long story short: there is nothing that they can do that you won't be able to do MUCH better and for free.
While I can see why you feel that way, this (in Australia at least) isn't as true.
Here there are plenty of venues/night/bookers/etc that happily let one agency book nights at a time.
So, if you are on Agency X, you will probably play a few nights a week with other artists on that agency, just so your agent gets a decent income from you. Obviously, the specifics of this are location/genre/draw of your act, determined.
My girl works for an agency here in Sydney. They literally get given a date and a budget from a venue and book accordingly from the artists on their roster.
Put it this way... If I was someone like Unicorn Kid or David E Sugar, I would have an agency and a manager. That is how you get massive festival spots and international acclaim in "secular society". However, a lot of us don't fit into that hole and have far less need for an agent or manager.
If anyone cares at all about how I operate, or how to get shows in Australia this is how... I am tight with a few venue bookers (mainly warehouses) a few events directors and a few genre-savvy promoters in the cities I tend to play in. That way, I can literally say "hey, I am keen to play somewhere around this date, what can we do?" and something tends to happen.
I am interested to see if there is much of a difference in the way you book shows in the US, EU and JP? Anyone want to tour me? haha.
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Westfield, NJ
10k wrote:
Put it this way... If I was someone like Unicorn Kid or David E Sugar, I would have an agency and a manager. That is how you get massive festival spots and international acclaim in "secular society". However, a lot of us don't fit into that hole and have far less need for an agent or manager.
I want to do really commercial friendly house / electro in both DJing and playing live, so hopefully I can justify the typical route... I am still curious to hear from people in the USA, because so far it sounds like everything is better across the ponds.
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nɐ˙ɯoɔ˙ʎǝupʎs
Decktonic wrote:
10k wrote:Put it this way... If I was someone like Unicorn Kid or David E Sugar, I would have an agency and a manager. That is how you get massive festival spots and international acclaim in "secular society". However, a lot of us don't fit into that hole and have far less need for an agent or manager.
I want to do really commercial friendly house / electro in both DJing and playing live, so hopefully I can justify the typical route... I am still curious to hear from people in the USA, because so far it sounds like everything is better across the ponds.
You said the magic word - DJ.
I know DJs that have tripled their gigs and doubled their fees overnight by getting on board with an agency.
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Westfield, NJ
10k wrote:
You said the magic word - DJ.
I know DJs that have tripled their gigs and doubled their fees overnight by getting on board with an agency.
What if my numbers are currently 0? or wait, I did have 1 gig at a college bar... so now I'll have 3 gigs and I'll make $60 + 4 free drinks at each one?
No, in all seriousness, this is what I need.
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BOSTON
i forget about the rest of the world not being as scam-tastic as the US ;P
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nɐ˙ɯoɔ˙ʎǝupʎs
Decktonic wrote:
10k wrote:You said the magic word - DJ.
I know DJs that have tripled their gigs and doubled their fees overnight by getting on board with an agency.
What if my numbers are currently 0? or wait, I did have 1 gig at a college bar... so now I'll have 3 gigs and I'll make $60 + 4 free drinks at each one?
No, in all seriousness, this is what I need.
If you're actually an alright DJ, you could probably bluff your way into an agency.