Artists House Vault: Band Managers

thefabe, an active music blogger and one of our followers on twitter, asked us recently about when artists should consider getting a manager.

Great question, and a tough issue to weigh for a lot of musicians.

In short the answer is when you can’t do all of the work yourself.

Another thing to consider is what a manager can really offer you. It’s great to find someone that wants to help your career, but they need to have three assets in order to actually help your band in such a capacity:

• passion
• connections
• capital

George Howard talks about it here:

Robert Reynalds is an attorney representing such acts as The Killers and Louis XIV. He had some interesting points about artist management in an interview at Loyola University’s Music Industry Forum:

Blake Bundey of Milestone Music Management makes a very salient point. In most situations, you are ready for a manager when managers start noticing you.

Adam Levy, guitarist and songwriter of Norah Jones’ band, talks about why he personally has chosen to not hire a manager or booking agent:

Finally, Nissan Wasfie, faculty member of Columbia College Chicago, expands on the pros and cons of managing one’s own career.

We hope this answers some of your questions and gives you more confidence moving forward in your career.

And thank you for asking!