Finding Your First Management Partnership: A Guide for Indie Artists

Navigating the music industry’s complex terrain needs a reliable artist manager, a critical ally for emerging artists. This article addresses the common query — “how do I find and connect with the right artist manager?” We’ll explore conventional approaches like Linkedin and contemporary ones, including consultancy platforms like ‘The Team Around You ’.

The manager’s role extends beyond mere representation. They can help sharpen your artist proposition with an ability an artist might not have to step back and put eyes on what makes you unique.

They will also act as a conduit to industry networks, ensuring your project reaches desired platforms and audiences, including A&R, radio pluggers, label partners, etc. By channeling your energies strategically, a manager optimizes the reach of your creative output. Moreover, sharing the industry’s inevitable challenges with a manager can provide crucial moral support.

Let’s get stuck in…

First to Consultancy, as offered by platforms like The Team Around You *. This option serves as a pragmatic step towards a permanent managerial relationship. It lets you glean insights from experienced managers, ensuring you’re engaging with vetted professionals who foster artistic talents. Sometimes, the consultant manager is a person you use as a sounding board for questions like, should I be investing in creating high-quality video assets or a Transit van so me and the band can go on tour? Asks of this kind require experienced insight but also someone who has a deeper understanding of your artist-proposition. This is different to the sort of scaled support you see in articles like this, marketing platforms or distribution partners who are well placed to help you on best practices but might struggle with hyper-focused advice. Other times you would use this consultant to help you build a killer release schedule. You might be planning to release five tracks over eight months and have all sorts of ideas around marketing strategies and live gigs, fan competitions, and merch; running the strategy past someone who’s been across potentially tens or even hundreds of campaigns, even if your relationship with them isn’t yet a long-term one, is hugely valuable.

Now to the more traditional approach of finding an artist manager — identifying the right one necessitates a thorough exploration. Resources like the ‘Record of the Day’ newsletter can be instrumental, providing insights into managers associated with various artist projects, thus aiding in finding a manager whose vision aligns with yours. You can look at releases that have been prioritized in the record of the day mailer and, scanning the details find the artist manager associated with the project.

Another great way to find artist managers for projects is to simply try and get in touch with the artist. Nine times out of Ten, contact forms for artists from their website or channels will go to the manager.

It’s worth noting a lot of the exciting acts you’re excited about and feel are being looked after by management companies or talent agencies. These companies and organizations approach things and loads of different ways. I’ve worked with lots of them and at their core does tend to be the same level of fierce passion for artists. they’re just as eager to find new Talent as managers and the only limitation for them working with artistic projects they love is their time. reaching out to them is not terribly different to reaching out to independent artist managers in my experience.

So we have a starting point, think of 20 artists who you feel are in a similar swim Lane to you maybe a little further on in their journey and then locate the artist managers. this can go on the back of a napkin or in a spreadsheet depending on how you like to work. you now have a list of people you’d like to reach out to.

Reaching out to potential managers, especially on platforms like LinkedIn, requires a blend of personalization and professionalism. Tailored messages, a compelling portfolio, and a clear articulation of where you’re at can pave the way for promising relationships. A good rule of thumb when reaching out to people you don’t know anywhere in the music industry, or for that matter outside of it, needs to start from a place of honesty. If you find a curator of a playlist where every track they put on the playlist you absolutely love, there’s quite a good chance you could connect over music and building a relationship with them along those lines would be enjoyable. Simply connecting with a playlist editor because their list has a large number of followers, and you want to leverage that connection to grow your audience is a less cool route to take. It’s the same when connecting with an artist manager. If you find an artist manager whose approach you love, who works with artists that you resonate with, and you reach out to them genuinely to connect and see if maybe they’re looking for someone new to partner with, you’re on to a winner. You DM them on LinkedIn along those lines; there might be an opportunity to get together and have a coffee after you’ve shared a few details and tracks. Don’t use this exact approach, but connect with someone along these lines…

“Hey John, I believe you’re managing The New Summer Bleaks. I’m a big fan and the last single campaign was super buttoned up great record! I’m a songwriter in a similar space (on Spotify ) and would be grateful for some advice. Might you be OK if I buy you a coffee and we have a quick chat?“

You might work together — they might suggest someone else you could talk to — you might just stay connected or they might suggest you hit-up The Team Around You. It’s all good.

Transitioning a friend to a managerial role is viable, provided a foundation of professionalism exists. Key attributes for a successful manager include consistent effort, robust problem-solving skills, and the ability to nurture essential industry relationships. I have worked with hundreds of artist managers early in their career development. They’re as varied as any group of people you might work with but the creative problem-solving distinguishes the successful ones as this is a dynamic industry with consistently changing platforms, social channels, and situations for an artist to navigate or, ideally, take advantage of.

Establishing a professional agreement with your manager is prudent, setting clear terms for roles, responsibilities, and expectations. This agreement also lays the groundwork for a culture of mutual respect, clear communication, and defined goals. It’s important to do a little research before you enter into any agreements. Nowadays, you can lean on tools like chat GPT for a little bit of support on that side of things. You could ask it for a standard artist-to-manager agreement and use that as a starting point. Certainly, don’t be turned off by a manager asking for an agreement to be set up. I find that a little reassuring, though certainly, it should be equitable for both parties.

While you’re still looking for the right manager, it’s smart to look for support online for your questions. As we all know, googling subjects is increasingly pointless as every business and pen-happy industry peep (me included) is sharing ideas on this stuff and they’re served to you based on unhelpful, paid-for algorithms to often. You’ll find some people with great insights online, and my preference -TikTok- can serve as a super useful platform for managerial insights, but, obviously, discernment is crucial. I have seen a handful of “managers” on the platform spouting dubious, though rarely obviously wrong, information. More of the insights I’ve seen have actually been pretty helpful, and I strongly recommend you follow Atlanta — lots of useful insights.

In conclusion, the journey to finding and synergizing with a manager is a strategic endeavor with many paths…

• Explore platforms like ‘The Team Around You’, that offer a structured pathway to connect with managers who can amplify your musical narrative on a consultancy basis.
• Look for managers who are supporting contemporaries that are up your street and reach out to build connections directly
• Consider options close to home — mates — who might be ambitious and energetic about learning with you, how to crack on in the industry.
• Lean on platforms like TikTok to connect with insightful experts to help power creative ideas and insights for building your career.

Your aim is to find a collaborator who not only understands your artistic ethos but is skilled in navigating the industry’s weird dynamics. Building a team around the project is part of growing the industry. Don’t let it stop you from moving forward, but don’t be afraid to reach out and connect with others. In this industry, we’ve got things in common, and finding your tribe takes trial and error.

*The Team Around You - This platform is set up by (me) the author as a hobby to connect artists and managers. I take no commission on these interactions.