The interview

Initially when given the assignment to interview someone, I planned

to take a trip to meet somebody in my field.

Before I was able to follow through with that idea, I found just what

I needed where I least expected it.

While discussing my insurance with a State Farm agent, it was brought

to my attention that in addition to insurance, they also provided

services for those with financial needs. Who would have thought? I

began inquiring, but realizing that her time was valuable, I wanted to

be considerate and I requested to arrange a time to discuss just these

things in more detail. She acceded and scheduled an appointment for me

the very next day.

When I arrived, I was warmly greeted and offered something to drink.

Once situated, I knew that I needed to use the next hour very wisely

as I had so many questions.

J: Tell me a little about yourself and what started you in the banking field?

SF: I started here as an insurance agent, but almost immediately I

became bank certified. After seeing how much the additional products

and services could benefit my customers, I jumped right in.

J: So exactly what kinds of products are you referring to?

SF: Beginning with multiple different credit cards, we also service

checking and savings accounts. Those are some of the more common

products anyways. I am also able to conduct loans for vehicles either

off the lot or a private party sale, refinances, and even personally

secured loans using a vehicle as collateral.

J: What kind of rates do you have and what does it take to get approved?

SF: Starting with the credit cards, anywhere between 11.24-20.24%. Our

Interest Checking accounts earn different amounts weighing in on the

amount in the account at any one given time. The possibility of earned

interest is up to 74%. With the savings account, again it depends on

your average balance, but the range is 12-81%. For an auto loan,

depending on the type of vehicle, year, amount financed, and term in

which the loan would be paid off. Starting at 3.49% and up, there are

various other facts that could determine your rate. Whats even better

though, is that we don't charge any application or origination fees.

J: Interesting. What else?

SF: Well, if you are into investing, we offer things such as CD's and IRA's.

J: What exactly is a CD?

SF: A CD is another form of investment vehicle. Money in different

increments is placed with the company where it earns interest for a

specified term. You choose the term that you are most comfortable

with. This can be as short as 3 months and as long as 60. Again,

depending on how long you leave the money with the company is how much

interest you will earn. It goes as high as 2.35%. I must say though,

if your looking for a larger return, planning a retirement for

example, I would recommend an IRA.

J: What is an IRA?

SF: An Individual Retirement Account. There are two different types-

traditional and Roth. Depending on if you prefer to pay your taxes on

the money when you place it in the account, or when you go to draw

from it is how you decide which one is right for you.

J: Why not just put money into a savings account?

SF: State Farm has partnered with some very well known and very

successful investment firms such as Blackrock who invest your money in

different stocks and bonds. This gives you a better return which is

typically much higher than what a savings account could offer.

J: But isn't investing in stocks dangerous? Couldn't you lose money?

SF: It's possible. The market rises and falls quite frequently,

however we take the trust you have given us very seriously. We are a

very conservative company, never making a move that is too risky no

matter what the gain might be. If your not comfortable with investing

this way, believe it or not, a whole life insurance policy might be in

your best interest.

J: Life insurance? What good would that do me if I'm dead?

SF: Good question. A whole life insurance policy not only provides a

death benefit, but it also incurs interest. There is a guaranteed

interest rate, but sometimes you can earn up to 6% interest which is

much more than that of a traditional savings account. You can borrow

against the cash value or interest of the policy as you choose. There

is also the possibility of receiving a dividend.

J: Can you explain to me what a dividend is?

SF: Of course! The rate you pay on your policy is calculated based on

the amount the company needs to conduct business servicing the policy

as well as paying out its claims. Sometimes the amount needed is over

estimated, or there are less claims, thus the money is given back to

the policy holder. This money can either be accepted as cash, or

applied to the cash value of your policy.

J: Thank you for your time and information. I really learned a lot!

Concluding the interview I felt like I had an abundance of

information. Useful information at that. I had no idea there were so

many options when it comes to investments and banking. I guess there's

an option out there for just about anybody depending on how much they

are willing to risk. A simple appointment with your banker and the

right questions is more beneficial than I ever thought possible.

Money After the Deal

As an artist manager it is important to keep your income after your management deal in mind when negotiating, to compensate for having no job security after your term. This is called Earnings After the Term. Every manager contract says what the manager gets paid on earnings after the term. If you are not aware of what you are entitled to the artist will try not to pay you. This negotiating point can make all the difference, helping you survive when you are out of work until you find your next gig or band. As long as those earnings are generated under ‘‘contracts entered into or substantially negotiated during the term.’’ The statement above means two things. As to records made during the term of the management deal, the manager gets a commission from sales of these records occurring after the end of the manger deal; and the manager is paid on records made after the term of your management deal, if the records are recorded under a contract signed during the term. Some strategies that the artist may use to prevent Earnings after the term are Sunset Clauses. These are clauses you want to watch out for because they end the day for commission. It’s great for an artist but not so great for the artist manager. Another important aspect of you management deal is called a key man clause. It’s more helpful to the artists but can be beneficial for a manager also. Although you may have a good relationship with an artist, the artist contract might be with a corporation or partnership if you work for one. You can be fired or leave the company and not be obligated to adhere to those terms. Leaving the artist to the next manager on the company roster. The key man clause protects the artists and says the person with whom you have a relationship must personally act as your manager, and if not, you can terminate the deal. The reason why it is beneficial to the manager is because if you do work for a corporation or partnership and have a great artist with a good relationship you would want that clause inserted into the artist’s contracts to keep representing your artist.

Source:

Passman, D., (2009). All you need to know about the music business. New York: Free Press.

Artist Management Income

You get what you pay for. The role of a personal manager can make or break an artist career. The most important aspects of a manager’s job are helping artists with major business decisions, helping the artist with the creative process, promoting the artist career by hyping them to everyone the manager meets, coordinating the artist concert tours by working with their agent to make the best deals promoters, pounding the artist record company to maximize the advertising, marketing campaigns for the artist record and generally being a buffer between them and the outside world. The income for personal managers is really arbitrary. The financial aspect depends on the deal negotiated with the artist he or she plans to represent. Commission for managers are typically from 15% to 20% of an artist earnings, with the majority getting 15%. These percentages are generally applied to the artist gross earnings, before deducting any expenses. For compensation managers that represent a new band or an unknown artist should aim and negotiate for 20%. The leverage in that negotiation or argument is that the risk is greater and it may be years-if-ever-before the manager gets paid. If the manager and artist cant come to an agreement on the 20%. It can be implemented in the deal that the manager gets 15% but it escalates to 20% when the artist earns a certain dollar amount. The term is another key element of a manager’s income. It simply means the management agreement and the period of time that a manager will work for an artist. Typically a management agreement is three to five years. It’s in the manager’s best interest to have the agreement as long as possible for job security reasons. If you are a manager your worst nightmare and the last thing you want to happen is work for an artist three years and get dropped because of the length of your term while the artist is about to finally see success.    

Source:

Passman, D., (2009). All you need to know about the music business. New York: Free Press.

TED TALK INSPIRATION

I was looking for some inspiration on Brand Marketing on the website Ted talk and after viewing several speakers I came across one that caught my attention. The presentation was called The Greatest Ted Talk Ever Sold. A small filmmaker named Morgan Spurlock gave it. His delivery approach of his content was humorous, funny, honest and explained in the simplest form. His speech on ted was about brand marketing to make a completely sponsored film about sponsorship. So he wanted to sell the concept of brand recognition naming rights of his speech on ebay and he posted ads on Facebook and Twitter. He talked about how when he did projects he always but his self into bad situations. With the whole goal being to examine societal issues to find out what makes them engaging, interesting, entertaining. Breaking them down to be accessible to an audience. For instance he went to prison, worked at a coal mine, filmed in a war zone and ate fast food for 30 days to see the results actually happen to his body directly. After pitching his idea to over 500 plus companies about getting their brand to the masses they all turned his offer down. He later argued that isn’t that the whole objective of Brand Marketing was to get your brand the attention of millions and to the masses.  So he set out to Pittsburgh to a company called Olson Zaltman Associates to find the problem with his idea and to study his internal brand personality.  An after the study was conducted they explained to him the characteristics of his brand which happens to be an up brand. Some of the elements associated with an up brand are playful, fresh/novel, edgy/daring, adventurous, inspiring, contemporary and adventurous. He realized the problem with his pitch was transparency.  The companies turned his offer down because ultimately they had no control over the outcome of the product and it was not sure to be a successful one. So he kept moving onto other companies that were interested and received the sponsors for to make the movie about sponsorship and sold his ted talk for $7100 dollars on ebay. His final thought and words of wisdom for his audience was to encourage an embrace risk, fear, transparency and within that opportunities will come.   

Artist Management Associations

As a result of artist managers and self-managed artist not being well educated in the music business The Indie Managers Association (IMA) was started. Formerly the independent Music Managers Association (IMMA). It was formed in August of 2002 as a private company with the headquarters being based out in the nations capitol Washington D.C. With intentions to educate and promote independent artist managers and self –managed artist they plan to offer a solid understanding/ foundation of knowledge about the music business in an overall sense. So a more efficient business can operate smoother and achieve better results for their clients and/or themselves.

The Indie Manager Association offers information and resources such as link to other relative web sites that are valuable to artist managers and self-managed artist. The IMA also provides a directory with a list of managers for artist seeking representation. The option to buy an e-book called Artist Management Manual for $19.95 is available. The Artist Management Manual covers third-party licensing, merchandising, sponsorships, endorsements, national and international touring, international licensing, international sub-publishing, paid digital downloads, creative regional and national distribution, and more. This book is suppose to advise, address questions and problems that come about on a daily in a artist managers and self-managed artist. The roles of music managers and responsibilities are clarified so that they’re no confusion between the titles for people who don’t exactly know which role they want but wish to be in the field of Music Managers.

There is an international organization called The Association of Artist Managers (AAM) based out of Australia. The AAM work along side with other organizations in Australia in the areas of education and mentoring. By partnering with other organizations in Australia The AMM hope to strengthen the management industry in Australia for the benefit of all Australian artist.  

Becoming a Artist Manager and finding talent

Becoming a manager and finding talent both can be a challenge, there isn’t a particular order for the two. It’s just professional and makes more since to start the manger process first so that the talent will take you serious. To represent an artist, there are a couple of different routes. Some people start off by being interns at an entertainment company or a management company. Some people may meet the talent and the talent will bond with them because of similar interest. They both might believe in each other and see the potential for success. So sometimes that’s how the relationship forms. Sometimes it’s the talent, they might be the smartest person the talent knows. So the talent may approach the person like ‘‘you’ve always been business savvy,’’ or ‘‘you’re great with the things that I’m not so I want you to represent me.’’ Finding the talent is the tricky part. First thing you want to do is find that talent that makes good music. I’m referring to the essence of the music. The product must be solid and have meaning if you want to have a successful term. That’s also something to take into consideration because if you’re the manager you are like the spokesman for the product. So try and find an artist that has star potential. Try and find that artist that has a special niche about them. Whether it is through their music, wardrobe or live performance. That special niche is going to make your job easier and separate your artist from the competition. Once you have a talent with the ability and a special niche the presence is there. With a little polishing the battle is half way won. Next thing to look for in a talent is do they have the drive or desire to excel. Everything isn’t always going to go according to plan. Having a talent with desire outweighs a talent with intelligence. Having a talent with drive will take you far and be able to handle obstacles better.  

Customer Satisfaction

To be a good artist manager and satisfy your customers the first thing you need to do is educate yourself about the music industry. You can accomplish this by reading industry professional books, doing intern work, attending seminars, music conferences and conduct research utilizing the Internet and other study materials. As an artist manager you are responsible for the business side of an artist’s career. You must thoroughly know your field inside out in order to convey the business aspects to your client who may only have a music background. It’s the same for communicating from your client to a label. Being intelligent, having good communication and charisma are ways that can benefit you and your client. Representing a client in a professional manner can also lead to customer satisfaction. Planning skills and being able to predict an outcome of a situation is critical. Efficient budgeting is also vital to customer’s satisfaction because planning smart can save your client money and cut down on their expenses. Time management is important because time is money. Knowing how to create a schedule and prioritize the sensitivity of appointments for your client puts they’re mind at ease allowing them to focus on just making good music. So from a business-to-business (manager to artist) standpoint above are some things you can do to make your customer satisfied. From a business to consumers (artist/label to fans) standpoint, it’s still connected with a manager when dealing with customer satisfaction. If a manager doesn’t do their job then an artist can’t do theirs, which is to make good music. A manager works for an artist and is suppose to provide their client with a sense of security. When an artist has a troubled mind and personal issues its affects the quality of projects. Thus creating unsatisfied consumers and fans. Customer satisfaction starts with having a good artist manager.