Let’s start at the very beginning – do you have anything to manage? I know – sounds like a stupid question, but is it? I’m not asking you if you have lots of work that you could use help with, nor am I making light of the pure volume of work that is the creation of both recorded and live music. What I am asking you is do you have something ready to bring to market that needs managing or are you still building out your product? There is no shame (I’ll repeat it again) NO SHAME in being in the developmental phases of your career. We live in an instant gratification kind of world, which is why when I write articles like this I know statistically that a majority of people won’t have made it this far because they were looking for a “get famous now” button. Take your time and develop your product – this will help you rise above the MILLIONS of other people who went out to guitar center purchased their first instrument and recording gear and had the first song they ever wrote up on MySpace the next day hoping for some kind of miracle won’t ever come.
Back to management – let’s talk about what you should have together before even considering approaching someone to invest in your career. *** Notice I said invest because whether or not they spend a dime on you management is an enormous expenditure of someone’s time*** Before approaching anyone to manage you- have most of these together:
- No apology recordings of your music
- Professional looking photos of you or your group
- A basic – findable website (custom URL) you can update yourself
- A Mailing list and a place where people can sign up on said list
- A social network presence (twitter, facebook, myspace, youtube)
- Live performance footage (preferably in front of a crowd)
- A well written bio highlighting your accomplishments
These are the building blocks and the marketing materials you will use over and over and over again. There are no words, no email sales pitch and probably not even naked photos of an executive in compromising positions that will get you taken more seriously than having the items above in place. Many of these items can get pricey so do your homework and shop around if you feel that any of these items are best done by work for hire. Having these materials will get your more gigs, will get you taken more seriously by your peers and potential fans and ultimately (if you have a product people want) will help you build a business in music.
“Okay – wait – isn’t this super basic? Does he think we are Idiots?” No, absolutely not. All I can tell you is that if you buy into Google querries as a representative sample of the population (I do) it would seem that aspiring musicians are searching for the wrong things to get ahead. Check out what people search for online for music related terms according to a Google AdWords querry in June 2010:
Term: “Get My Music Heard Online” Global Monthly Searches: less than 10
Term: “Get more people to my shows” Global Monthly Searches: less than 10
Term: “Make a Living In Music” Global Monthly Searches: 46
Term: “Marketing My Music” Global Monthly Searches: 110
Term: “Get a Music Manager” Global Monthly Searches: 590
Term: “How to Get A Record Deal” Global Monthly Searches: 18,100
Draw your own conclusions but I think too many people are looking for a shortcut to fame that barring an act of God or Justin Bieber just doesn’t exist.
