Ready for Prime Time?
Pros and Cons of Hiring a Manager
by Billie Fredholm

How did you become an artist manager?
That's a question I was asked on a regular basis when I was managing and touring with my first client, a widely respected acoustic guitarist. My response would be something like: "It's my nephew's fault. In 2003 he invited me to my first Winfield." Winfield is the term commonly applied to The Walnut Valley Festival, held the third week of each September in Winfield, Kansas. (http://www.wvfest.com)

My nephew Jeremiah knows me well. A singer/songwriter himself (http://www.myspace.com/jeremiahjohnsen), he grew up listening to me playing guitar and singing for hours and hours, sitting on the front porch swing at the family home in Wichita. He knew I'd love Winfield, even though I didn't think I would.

Winfield is billed as a "bluegrass festival." At the time, I didn't like "bluegrass" music, or what I thought was bluegrass music. As it turns out, Winfield is an acoustic music-fest of cosmic proportions. My acoustic roots were fed by James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, Crosby, Stills and Nash, etc., so if I wasn't going to hear a singer/songwriter with something profound to say, I simply wasn't interested. Silly gal!

Nonetheless, I took Jeremiah up on his offer to save a tent space next to his in the Pecan Grove campground. Being an old Camp Fire Girl I figured if nothing else, it would be a great time camping and jamming with people I love. When I got settled in and had my festival program in hand, Jeremiah said, "There are three players you have to go see," and he circled them in my program schedule. I had never heard of any of them, so I smiled and nodded, and went off to do what I was told. The totality of that all-acoustic experience changed the course of my life.

Depending on the crowd of CD purchasers at a concert or the interest of the person who asked the question, I would recount either the short or long version of my experience as a novice manager. For you, the important part of the story is not how it happened in the first place, but what happened after first getting my feet wet as an artist's manager.

What were my responsibilities? What was I paid? What did I learn? Who should have a manager? Who should be a manager?
This is probably a good time for my disclaimer: If you are looking for a textbook definition or examples of what an artist manager is and does, you won't find them here. Before my first managerial experience, I had never considered management as a career possibility. I have bachelor and master's degrees in vocal/choral music, and had spent twenty years in the page layout field. Thankfully, I had been in business before and was familiar with sales, marketing, management, and a little promotion.

Managing was simply one of those opportunities that came along and I took advantage of it, so all I have to offer you is real-life experience. My goal in this article is to share my perspective with the hope that you benefit from my experience. This path has been, and continues to be a wild ride, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you aspire to a career in music, how do you know if you need a manager?
Simply stated, look for a manager only when you have done everything you're able to do for yourself and find you still need help. No one knows your music like you do. No one but you shares your vision of success. Write songs, get into the studio, and make a CD. If you have a CD, put the CD on CD Baby or CandyRat, which will eventually get your music onto iTunes. Sell through Amazon, make yourself a Myspace page, and sell individual tracks through their site. Upload video to YouTube. Start an email list. Make a PodCast. Start a Blog. Get out into your community and play open mic nights, or volunteer to play for fundraisers, or charitable organizations. Knock yourself out for yourself! Once you run out of expertise and/or time, then you should look for help.

Real life example: The first artist I managed had handled his career for almost thirty years before he brought me in to help. He had been creating music for so long that he didn't have time to keep up with the demands of the fan base he had built. By the time of our agreement, he had already written nearly 150 tunes and made more than a dozen albums which he had been selling at concerts and festivals worldwide for years. He did his own booking, created his own mailing list of 1600 names, and maintained his own website.

When he was able, he practiced six hours/day and wrote constantly. If he didn't bring in someone to help, he was going to have to cut down on creativity just to have time to mail out CDs. I happened to be at the right place at the right time, with the right set of skills and job experience. As far as the artist was able to tell, I was his biggest fan, and I was able to articulate that in a way he appreciated and thought would resonate with venues and hosts nationwide.

When I suggested to my husband that I wanted to give up the security of a salaried position with a corporation to spend from sunup 'til way after sundown, seven days/week working on getting an artist's music out to every person on the planet- my husband said, "Go for it!"

My client then put in writing what he had offered verbally; he would pay me $X bi-weekly to be his full-time "assistant" for one year, later changing my title to "manager". We would figure out as we went along, what my responsibilities would be. I have talked to several artists in the guitar world about this contract, and they have said the equivalent of "Wow!" Let's just say that what my first client offered was way outside the norm and very generous, but then, he knew exactly the degree of effort that would be required to sustain and further his career.

In a conversation with Pete Huttlinger, I asked what the industry standard is for payment of a booking agent or manager, and he said 15-20%, the average being 17%. Fifteen percent of what? Everything? Usually not. Some artists pay their managers a percentage of both ticket and CD sales, but that depends on whether the manager has had a role in getting the CDs to market. So, what my client did was commit himself to paying me an above-average wage with the expectation that we would be successful in our endeavors.

It took some time, but I figured out that working six months in advance is the norm, that venues and hosts like constant communication, and there are some fans who will give their all for an artist they love.

Here's where I should add a huge note of caution to artists: be very, very careful when considering adding someone to the list of people you are going to trust with your career; My client placed a huge amount of trust in me. I set up his CDBaby and Amazon accounts, which meant I had to log and verify bank account numbers. I was also trusted with credit card numbers so I could book flight and hotel reservations and purchase supplies, and he sent me a significant portion of his inventory so I could take care of CD orders!

Singer/songwriter Antsy McClain (http://www.antsy.net), creator of The Trailer Park Troubadours (http://www.unhitched.com), spoke about the qualities a manager should have and the qualities an artist should seek when choosing a manager.

"An artist's dilemma is to find someone with business savvy and knowledge, combined with a natural hawk sense to be an intense advocate for the artist."

Antsy also listed two qualities a manager must have:

Integrity- An artist must be able to trust his/her manager. I want someone I would trust to baby sit my kids, someone who can be trusted with bank and credit card information. It's a huge risk.

Compatibility- My manager has to be someone I genuinely like/get along with. I realize I may differ from other artists in this. Some can let an anonymous entity handle their bookings and business arrangements. I want someone I can be friends with, someone who 'gets' me.

So, what did I try to accomplish on my first client's behalf? I made the following list as I was contemplating what I might be able to accomplish for other artists.

• Bookings: Found venues, researched and contacted possible hosts, arranged house concerts, planned multi-city tours, researched new areas, arranged workshops.
• Touring: Traveled with inventory, drove to anchor cities when possible, provided transport, product set-up with cash and credit card point of sale, post-concert data entry.
• Augmented and maintained a 2000-person mailing list, managed email sign-up on tour, entered new email address info in database.
• Maintained website calendar.
• Set up CDBaby account, added all CDs.
• Set up Amazon.com sales, including submission of CD cover art.
• CD order fulfillment - customers, CD Baby, Amazon, resellers, including invoicing when necessary.
• Created electronic newsletter with distribution through http://www.maildogmanager.com.
• Sought out CD reviews, published when received.
• T-shirt design, production, sales.
• Set up and maintained SonicBids account; entered music in selected markets.
• Set up of Myspace page.
• Set up of AirPlay Direct; created Electronic Press Kit.
• Set up client's music on Pandora web radio site http://www.pandora.com/ .
• Concert promotion - Created venue-specific poster and flier files, emailed to Kinkos near venue host, had finished product delivered and emailed press releases.
• Design, layout and submission of a CD cover; took photo, did Photoshop and Quark work, submitted layout to CD manufacturing company.
• Responded to fan queries and requests.
• Served as vocal coach.
• No, you probably won't have to master every task on this list to consider becoming an artist's representative. The term "manager" is applied to a wide variety of people with a broad spectrum of talents.

Erin Morris had never been a manager before running into Pete Huttlinger. She was a huge Pete Huttlinger fan who happened to be an experienced PR person. One thing led to another, and Erin began providing PR for Pete. After continued success, Pete asked Erin if she would consider being his manager and at first, she turned him down. Thankfully for both of them, she eventually decided to take on the challenge. Pete is a successful solo artist, largely because of the combination of his talent and Erin's business savvy.

Consider too that not every artist will need help in completing all the tasks I listed. I'm currently booking concerts for guitarist, Andy McKee, which is pretty easy; not only has he completed all the prep work involved, a YouTube video he uploaded of himself playing his tune, "Drifting" has received over two million hits since December! As a result, he was invited to appear on Late Night with Carson Daly, so getting him gigs is not that difficult!

Then too, some of the items on my list just happened because of the random craziness of life, or due to the good fortune of being at the right place at the right time. My becoming my client's vocal coach transpired because I happen to be a voice teacher and I was able to give him helpful pointers. I was delighted to be of assistance!

If you are considering engaging the help of an artist manager or assistant, my advice is to take it slowly. Do what you can yourself and work out a written agreement that is affordable for both parties. Many artists don't work this way and many artist/manager relationships are built solely on trust and the spoken word. That works for much of the time, but if you want the best for both parties, it would be wise to state the understanding clearly in writing; that way, there is no question about responsibilities or compensation.

While my first client and I are no longer working together, I have developed booking relationships with Andy McKee (http://www.andymckee.com), Dan LaVoie (http://www.danlavoie.com), Jaquie Gipson (http://www.jaquiegipson.com), and a singer/songwriter duo called Fistful of Nickels (http://www.fistfulofnickels.com) featuring Joe Worrell and my nephew Jeremiah Johnson.

It's a great privilege to work with artists who get what music is and does. I hope to be managing artists for a long time to come, assisting them in attaining success beyond their expectations.

Billie Fredholm

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About the Author

Billie Fredholm began a Bachelor's of Music Education degree at Wichita State University in 1976 and completed it at Gordon College in Wenham, MA in 1994. She also holds a Master's degree in Vocal Music Performance and Choral Conducting from Wichita State University and conducted the Wichita Choral Society in its 2000/2001 season. She also taught Music Appreciation, Voice, and Women's Choir at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, KS.

Billie is the founder of a tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation called People Who GET It, Inc. with the stated mission: "to foster and promote choral and acoustic music in North America, and to strengthen and advance organizational and individual initiatives in music through education, networking, advocacy, and professional and field development."

Billie has also worked in the page layout field for approximately twenty years including contributions to The Serendipity Study Bible for Zondervan Publishing House, Appleseed's women's clothing catalog, and the Wichita Business Journal.

For more information about the creative world of Billie Fredholm please visit:
http://www.myspace.com/pwgi