Crossing Over to the Other Side
By Edna Landau
To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.
Dear Edna:
I read your blog regularly and am happy that you welcome questions from people of all ages and all corners of the arts world. I have worked in the orchestra sector, in the area of arts administration, for the past seven years. I enjoy the work that I do in securing guest artists for our orchestra, working closely with our music director, and planning their visits. However, I have recently begun to think that I might be happier working more closely with the artists themselves as an artist manager. Can you please tell me whether it would be logical for me to move to the artist management side and what sort of preparation I might need. Thank you very much. —a curious arts administrator
Dear curious arts administrator:
Your contemplated move from arts administrator to artist manager is certainly not illogical. Others have made that move, although not frequently. The biggest challenge in making such a move is going from a buying mentality to a selling mentality. In your current position, your goal is to secure guest artists for your orchestra at the most reasonable price possible. As an artist manager, you will need to fight for the fee that you know your artist is expecting and there may not be any flexibility in the negotiation. In your current position, you need to perform various tasks which are pretty straightforward: engage a certain artist on dates that work for the orchestra, with a conductor or music director who wants to work with them, in repertoire that will work in the particular season, at a fee that falls within the orchestra’s budget. As a manager, you will be taking direction from the artist, who may or may not be flexible about all of these things. The confidence and apparent power you may have displayed in making an offer to an artist, knowing that others could just as well fit the bill, will not sit well with an artist client who wants the engagement but relies on you to negotiate slightly different terms than those on offer. This could range from a higher fee to different repertoire, to a modified rehearsal schedule or media clause. An artist manager actually finds himself or herself trying to please two clients – the artist and the presenter, with whom they hope to book many artists in the future. Ultimately, it is the artist who must remain your top priority. The agility that is required in this balancing act is best learned by observing how the finest managers work and asking for their counsel.
In thinking further about this possible career move, ask yourself whether you are a good listener, consider yourself to be very flexible, have the patience to tackle each challenge that could come with getting all the conditions right, and the humility to accept a non-compromising established artist’s point of view. Do you have the sense of protectiveness, perseverance and long-term vision that are required to build an emerging artist’s career? Can you derive the same satisfaction from turning down an engagement that you and your artist thought was unwise at a given time as going to contract for a date that seemed just right? If you are not sure, try to speak in confidence to a few managers whom you might meet at conferences or who accompany their artists to engagements with your orchestra. Ask them to describe their day to day responsibilities – both the joys and the challenges. This is really the best preparation you can do. The technical things should already be familiar to you, such as contracts, tech riders and broadcast riders. You might also sound out some of the artists who visit your orchestra as to the nature of their relationship with their manager and what aspects of it are most important to them.
As you have seen me write before, the rewards of a career in artist management are immense and are newly experienced each time one’s artist walks out on stage and delivers a captivating performance. Helping to arrange an artist’s debut in a major city or working with an artist to commission a new piece of music generates a great deal of satisfaction for a manager who can justifiably feel that they are a part of the artist’s ongoing successful career. It is this type of satisfaction that fuels the energy that is needed to develop and help maintain an artist’s career at the highest level. There is also a special joy that comes from working closely with an artist over an extended period of time and becoming part of their lives. This is very different from the brief time you get to spend with artists in your current position. Since there is a real need for new talent on the artist management side, I personally hope that you will decide to cross over the divide. I am happy to answer any future questions you may have!
To ask a question, please write Ask Edna.
© Edna Landau 2011
Tags: artist management, artist manager, arts administration, askedna, edna, Edna Landau, Landau
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Tags: artist management, artist manager, arts administration, askedna, edna, Edna Landau, Landau
September 27th, 2011 at 10:42 am
Dear Curious,
This is a fantastic topic–and I agree 100% with Edna, who has first hand experience in this arena. There are a few points which you must ponder in addition to the wise suggestions about soul searching and reality in this maneuver which Edna brings to the forefront. You would not necessarily be changing hats, per se, rather, akin to real estate, you would be considered a buyer’s broker, rather than just a salesperson or broker who represents the seller or the buyer (depending on which state you practice). In this case, you are a co-broker of sorts, needing to have primary duties for your artist, but also juggling your level of respect for the presenters so they will take your calls and reply to your emails. You don’t want to be too ‘hard to get’ for your artists, but as economic tides shift, you need to be savvy in knowing just how hard the economy has hit the presenters’ budgets, and how much wiggle room you have for your artists’ fees. You also need to decide which level of artists you want to sell. It is selling as a bottom line, and you need to establish the kind of agency you want from the get-go. Thirdly, and most importantly, how well do you know all of the orchestra managements, the conductors, and are you privy to the musical chairs in the business? They go from place to place, and you need to be on top of that 24/7. The more you know the people in the business who book the artists for the orchestras, the better. Are you a salesperson that knows how to timely follow up on your contacts and incoming inquiries? Do you have a lawyer to help set up your business and help with contracting engagements? Each artist, depending on their level in the business, may have different needs and requests. Are you thinking of conductors only, or attractions, or soloists, classical only, or pop, or classical with crossover (that’s me~) etc? These are important points to think about, and if I were you, I would take blank paper and answer all of these questions and then close my eyes, and pause a bit and feel if this is a decision that gels with your passion and direction. An artist manager MUST have and maintain the passion necessary to wake up everyday and feel that they are conduits for their artists who have something to give their audiences, and as a legacy to the world of music. Without this, it is a moot case. You also might think, ‘I have the passion’, but perhaps in three or four years, after it is apparent that the economy has made it difficult to sell my artists, I fear burn out. The last thing an artist wants is for that to happen, because artists put their faith into the relationship and need to feel that they are in good hands for a longer period, and that the relationship is based on honesty and good judgement.
Having said all of this, I have been personally very busy, and have done everything I describe above myself. I am actually thinking that it is high time to find a good sales agent to take over because with all my projects, time is not on my side to self promote, and I am getting too old to do that LOL! So I wish you luck in this wonderful decision, and hope the answers you give to yourself are all positive and a new chapter in your life will bring you and your artists success for the world of music.
My best wishes,
Jeffrey
September 27th, 2011 at 10:46 am
PS: I only referred to orchestras–you must also memorize Musical America, at least for North America and the important places in Europe and Australasia–I have a friend who went from Australia to France–musical chairs…and, recital presenters you need to know. Also, you might have artists in chamber groups, which will give you further selling power–and, if the artists are on your roster as soloists, you have it all if they are also in chamber groups.