Congratulations! Your singing career has finally started getting you some attention. After so many days, weeks and months dedicated to getting those notes “just right”, you are starting to attract a little attention around your town. The “buzz” about you is good and all seems right with the world. But before you settle back too comfortably, you now need to consider the next step in the progression to become a superstar: finding a manager.

A “manager” is one of the most misunderstood terms and occupations in the music industry simply because there is very little that can be said that adequately explains what the person does exactly. Managers have been defined as the individual responsible for directing the course of the artist’s career through plans and strategies that gets the artist from point A to Z in the most efficient and profitable way possible. But what is not defined as easily is what the manager DOES and why or when should one be engaged.

If your career has started to gain the momentum as described above, a manager would be the individual who would take you to the “next level”. The problems now are that most people do not realize they need a manager until it is too late—if at all. They also do not know how to find a one, and they also do not know what qualifications one needs to become one. And, most importantly, they also do not know exactly what the manager can and cannot do as it relates to the artist’s career.

With such vagueness attached to it, no wonder many people began their careers in the music industry as a “manager”; all it takes to become one is to make that pronouncement and—voila!—a “manager” is born.

As an artist, the first thing you need to realize is that the job of a manger is a highly unregulated field. Your little brother Pookie, the one who reads all the star and celebrity magazines and loves the whole “vibe” of showbiz, has about the same qualifications to become a manager as does someone who went to college and majored in business. Why? Because a manager’s main role is to promote the career of his artist. This is accomplished not by knowledge gained in a classroom, but by hard-won skills acquired through face-to-face contact.

Pookie may prosper as a manager simply because he knows how to relate to the key people involved in hiring or selecting the musical acts for a nightclub, movie, record company, or TV show. Pookie may be someone who is warm, affable, likeable, and charming, while the business graduate may be someone who only concerns himself with the bottom line of any business deal. Results count in the music industry, and if Pookie can deliver what his client's contract him for, no degree in the world can match that.

The flip-side to this scenario is the artist who hires a family member to guide their career and the family member is totally inept at the practice.

Another point to consider is timing. There is an ancient proverb that states “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear”. Although this may sound like something Yoda would say, it simply means that when an artist is ready in their career for a manager, one will “appear” because the artist’s awareness of needing someone to guide them is heightened.

When that person is found who becomes the manager, this is only the beginning and these next words should be heeded carefully.

A manager’s job is a very personal one since it involves working in ALL aspects of the artist’s career and life. Contractually, the manager is only responsible for the artistic and commercial growth of the artist. In reality, some managers have ended up playing surrogate parent, counselor, therapist, handyman, chauffeur, loan officer, bail bondsman, tailor, hairstylist, roadie, sound man and may other duties. As an artist starts out on his climb to stardom, so many roles need to be covered. So many duties need to be handled. So many problems need to be corrected.

This is where most managers earn the respect of their clients by seeing to it that the artist has little to worry about other than doing his or her performance. This is also where most managers feel they have been grossly exploited, used and abused.

Managers have the most unstable position in the industry. As an artist advances in their career, some manager’s expertise simply does not keep pace. A manager who is adept at booking his client in a 1,000 seat club may be completely out of his element when it comes to booking 50, 000 seat arenas. If Pookie had earned high praise as someone who delivered when it came to booking the local nightclub, he may earn scorn and ridicule because his lack of experience caused his client to miss out playing that arena gig. For that reason, he may be fired. Unlike other segments of the music business where one simply moves on upon termination, Pookie may get understandably upset when he recounts how he was there when the artist needed him for such things as helping him pay rent, or acting as a roadie, or even being there when the artist had marital problems. In other words, his work beyond what he was contracted for should matter and account for some loyalty by the artist.

But in the music business as in all others, all that ultimately matters is how well that person delivered. Results, not reasons, matter.

Management is not an occupation that everyone should get into, nor should it be something that every artist should give to anybody who requests to handle it. Think carefully about all what has been written here and exercise caution when embarking. After all, it is YOUR career at stake.