Artist management - for and against

I make my living as a manager. Mostly songwriters and producers these days, but I've managed artists too for a long time.

These two articles on Hypebot therefore really caught my eye.

This one - the case against artist managers.

And, this one - the case for artist managers.

There's a piece about how to approach a manager on the main site. Given the view in that piece and the fact that it is what we do, I think it's clear we feel that a good manager is essential to an artist's success.

I think what matters today is that bands learn how to get themselves started, build a decent fanbase and understand the shifting landscape of the business. Then, if they can find a manager who gets that latter point (and it's true that very many don't!), then that person will be worth their weight in gold.

Put simply, a band working hard to build a global audience will not have the time to do it all themselves - that's why the manager won't disappear.