Personal managers play a vital role for their clients. They have a tremendous responsibility, and their decisions can make or break a career.

To fully understand a manager’s impact, viewing their client as the business owner centered on themselves and the manager as the chief operating officer is helpful. The artist may own the business, but the manager makes it run.

The relationship is symbiotic: the artist contributes a vision and the creative products; the manager contributes the planning necessary to exploit them.

A manager’s duties are wide and varied: responsible for the big picture, content management, marketing, promotion, sales, operations, and communication. However, because managers are like chameleons, constantly changing according to their clients’ needs, no list of duties will be the same for each client.

The Big Picture

When an artist and manager decide to work together, it’s not because the artist has too much work but because they recognize the need to do the right work.

Managers are hired primarily for their ability to focus on the big picture and develop a strategy that, when executed correctly, should result in career success. Doing so means being involved in these items:

  • Coaching / Decision-making
  • Identifying goals and vision
  • Developing and implementing strategy
  • Owning the schedule
  • Assembling and leading a team
  • Setting and executing brand strategy
  • Business development and partnership building
  • Encouraging health and well-being

Managers are not personal assistants; while hiring one may relieve the artist, adding a manager to their team may not immediately lighten the load. In fact, many artists search for management before they are ready, without realizing that a good manager will find them once they are.

Managers work with their clients to identify what is truly important, help them make smart decisions, and keep them focused. None of this is easy for the manager or their client. It’s important to understand that the manager-client relationship is like a marriage, with both partners responsible for success, each contributing to it, and each a party to its intimate details.

Content Management

Whether the medium is songs, recordings, performances, videos, artwork, merch, or even endorsements, it can be difficult for a creator to have perspective on the value of their work. An outside opinion is necessary, as a client’s life and business may be so intertwined that they find it difficult to separate them. Doing so involves:

  • Taking inventory of the client’s creative abilities
  • Developing marketable products
  • Archiving and inventory management

Managers must recognize an artist’s creative abilities, mold those abilities into marketable products, and then present them in ways that capture the revenue generated. While capitalizing on current opportunities is important, a manager never loses sight of the future.

Protecting the artist’s assets—whether their creative abilities or results—is essential to ensure a long-lasting career. Managing these products’ creation, marketing, and release is necessary, but their ultimate success is tied to how they are exploited over time. Ensuring that products are released at precisely the right moment is just as important as keeping them safe for future use (or re-use).

Marketing / Promotion / Sales

Managers advocate for their clients, but not only in contractual or business terms. A manager must always represent their artist in the best light. They are marketer-in-chief, responsible for constantly promoting their client. When it comes to that promotion, managers are responsible for:

  • Marketing planning
  • Developing tools
  • Social media management
  • Campaign management
  • Revenue development and growth
  • Sales
  • Finding alternative revenue sources

Managers are marketers. They develop products, assess the marketplace, target the audience, identify the goals, build the tools, and then run each campaign.

Managers are storytellers, using marketing, promotion, and sales to showcase their clients.

Managers are planners, as revenue development and growth require a thoughtful, long-term approach, especially when fundraising, sponsorships, and grants can play an important role in helping an artist achieve financial stability.

Operations

Record companies and music publishers once handled much of the distribution and publishing administration work. But the availability of new and different solutions means that the artists themselves increasingly take on these tasks.

Finding those solutions remains a management responsibility, but even after these items are handled, an artist manager still has other operational tasks to accomplish:

  • Distribution and fulfillment
  • Publishing administration
  • Structure and organization
  • Budgeting and financial oversight
  • Bookkeeping and accounting
  • Legal & business affairs
  • Tour management / Production Management / Logistics

There may be a business entity to set up, an organization to build out, people to hire, a budget to balance, finances to track, payroll to make, payments to collect, and taxes to pay. Virtually every deal requires a contract, so an attorney needs to be available to handle licensing, clearance, and business affairs. Once a show is developed, getting their client on the road means overseeing tour management, production management, and logistics meant to capitalize on the artist’s appearances.

Not all of these tasks are urgent priorities, but a successful career will still require many of them. And even if they aren’t on today’s checklist, a manager must consider whether they should be on tomorrow’s.

Communication

The music business is a relationship business. To be successful, creators must navigate collaborators, team members, rightsholders (like music publishers and record labels), intermediaries such as distribution and retail, licensing partners, writers and critics, promoters and venues, and ultimately, consumers—whether they are brands or fans.

The importance and value of art can be challenging to convey. Good communication is essential. Managers take part in:

  • Public relations and messaging
  • Relationship building
  • Setting and managing expectations
  • Protecting the client

Savvy creators know they are the product, and standing out in a crowded marketplace means developing a strong personal brand. Managers know this, too, and work to create consistent messaging that makes every interaction special.

Being in the public eye can be difficult, and a manager must also protect their client, whether by blocking out the noise, shielding them from threats, or negotiating with their partners. Sometimes, this means being the bad guy; sometimes, it means doing the dirty work. It can even mean taking the fall. An artist and manager will understand each other and work to keep all relationships healthy and productive.

Final Thoughts

To be effective, a manager must:

  • understand business in general and entertainment in particular
  • be entrepreneurial yet able to navigate rigid systems
  • be organized and creative
  • be sensitive to personal and professional relationships
  • be well-connected but able to network
  • be able to communicate clearly

Ultimately, a manager must remain a student of the business. The list of responsibilities and requirements may be long, but everything in a manager-client relationship comes down to trust. If the parties genuinely trust in one another, then the only list that matters is what to do next.