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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Record Your Own Music-Your Team Members Roles!

So, I have decided to post a series of the process of the business side on making your own music for your band or solo artist. Yesterday I posted information on team members and the people you need to succeed in the industry of music making. This post I will explain the roles of your team members. The personal manager is the single most important person in your professional life. A good or great personal manager can and should expand your career to its maximum potential. When the job is done properly, a personal manager is basically the general manager and chef operating officer of your enterprise. Yes, a enterprise, a business. There are some artists without managers, but they are very much the exception, and they usually have one or more others on the team filling this role. The most important aspects of the manager's job are:

1. Helping you with major business decisions, such as deciding which record company to sign with, whether to make a publishing deal, how much front money to ask for, this kind of thing.

2. Helping you with the creative process, such as selecting a producer, deciding which songs to record, hiring band members, selecting photographers, publicist, etc.

3. Promoting your career by hyping you to everyone the manager meets, helping you coordinate a publicity campaign, etc.

4. Assembling and heading your professional team by introducing you to lawyers, business managers, and agents, and overseeing these people's work.

5. Coordinating your concert tours by working with your agent to make the best deals with promoters, routing your tour, working with your business manager to develop a budget, assembling your road crew, supervising the road and tour managers to make sure that everything runs a smooth as butter.

6. Pounding your record company to maximize the advertising and marketing campaigns for your records, making sure your records are treated as priorities, screaming at them when they are wrong and praising them when they do right.

7. Generally, being a buffer between you and the outside world, such as fielding inquires for commercial endorsements, personal appearances, charitable requests, taking the rap for the tough decisions that you make but don't want anyone to think you did, etc.

This is just a fraction of the managers role. On my next post I will discuss how to negotiate a contract deal with your manager. This is my second post of a major series I am posting daily on life in the music making business. Click here to record your own music.