Interviews with managers

During my time at University I have had the opportunity to interview a couple successful music managers. I asked them a few questions about their life and role within the music industry. I also asked them how they worked with their artists/clients and how they set and prioritised tasks. It was really interesting to find out how different people work in the industry and how they measure success.

During our Management Principles lectures, we were taught what makes a good personal manager. They must be dedicated to the artist; hard-working; have good personable skills and much more. These skills allow the manager and their artist to communicate well and get along together. We were showed an interview between an experienced personal manager who had managed some very well-known bands and a lesser experienced manager. They both had slightly different views on how they managed their artists. The more experienced manager believed you should keep everything strictly business with your artists, rather than having a relationship with them, whereas the newer manager believed you should keep an artist up to date with everything that’s going on in the business side of their career, allowing them to have to an opinion and option of what they want to do and what’s best for them.

When interviewing the local manager, I asked him if he kept everything strictly business with his artists or does he connect with them on a friendship level. He told me that he is very much friends with all his bands, but there is a certain line, because sometimes you do have to be strict with them and being too friendly would mean they may not take you seriously. He also explains that some bands need more guidance than others. He says he has to ‘father’ certain bands, as they don’t quite know how to achieve things for themselves, unlike more experienced bands. I think this shows dedication as a manager and he understands the balance between friendship and business.

The second manager I interviewed was the Manager Director of Warner. As manager, he has a lot of duties within the industry. He is the person all managers report to. In our lectures we were taught how each section was split and how they worked with the managing director. Smith will most likely have to work with: Director of Promotions, Marketing Director, Director of A&R, Director of Business Affairs, Head of Press and Sales Director. I asked Smith how he prioritised roles and if he had anyone to cover tasks. He explained how being Managing Director he worked with many people and had several people helping him throughout the business. He has to deal with a lot of managers on a day to day basis. Being as experienced as Smith, I think it helps very much when working in the music industry because they are a lot of inexperienced managers out there who just have a passion for music.

The interviews showed me that managers in the music industry have a lot of responsibilities. From being a personal manager to a managing director, there are many principles and duties that they must carry out to satisfy their artists. During this interview, I found out how passionate the managing director of Warner was about music even after years of experience. He clearly knows his way around the business and what needs skills/principles/responsibilities he needs to work efficiently. As well as this, it was clear that the personal manager had a passion for managing and was grateful for the skills he had been taught along the way. My last question to him was what I must do as an aspiring manager. He told me that contacts were the best way to gain experience and put myself out there in the industry. I think this is great advice, because I will learn new skills from experienced managers and others in the industry, as well as becoming more confident.

I'm so grateful I was able to interviews these two experienced managers, as I learned a lot from them both and inspired me to keep pursuing my dream.

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