Single-artist businesses do not sleep. They do not have opening hours. They are a constant thrum of creative development and operational need and, for someone like myself, this makes them incredibly edifying to work on.

I believe the principle duty of an artist manager is twofold - firstly, to push the artist to deliver their very best creative output, and secondly, to turn the single-artist business into a sustainable financial institution.

Sometimes these two objectives will be at odds with one another, and that’s okay, because the decision-making required to balance the creative with the practical is what ties the whole thing together and, ultimately, keeps the wheels turning.

If you’re thinking of getting into artist management - these are the skills you will require*.

*And if you’re thinking of hiring me - these are the skills that I have:

Stakeholder Management & Engagement

Depending on the artist, you might have dozens of relevant stakeholders. Your job is to direct these people to help carry out a strategy of your own design. And while on the surface they might all want the same thing: the artist to ‘do well’, in practice, everyone’s agenda is slightly different. For example, your live agent wants to maximise their commission - they can do this by increasing the artists’ fee, or by booking lots of shows - just because you can play lots of shows, doesn’t mean you should - but for the live agent it achieves their goal. Keep in mind what everyone’s motivation is and sell it back to them, but never take your eye off the bigger picture.

Negotiation

Anything and everything that comes through the inbox, no matter what it is, it is your responsibility to assess the value of it. You need to learn what every kind of deal looks like and figure out where you can squeeze some extra juice. Don’t assume anything and get expert advice wherever you can. There’s no shame in not knowing what’s industry standard when dealing in unfamiliar territory.

Not every deal needs to be negotiated to the death. Having enthusiastic stakeholders that don’t feel like they’ve been taken to the cleaners before you’ve started working together is valuable, and will often provide more value over the long term than that extra percentage point.

Building Relationships

Opportunities come from people. The more they like you, the more you’ll get. The more people you know, the better your odds of something across your desk. Treat people right and try to build lasting relationships where both parties feel equally fulfilled. Follow through on your commitments so they come back to you next time. Remember people’s names and say it in conversation with them.

Prioritisation

There are deadlines every day of the week from now until the end of time, the most important thing is to calmly assess the importance and implications of each. You won’t hit them all, nobody does. Understanding that prioritisation should be fluid, and that certain deadlines are hard, and certain deadlines are soft, will prevent you from going insane. When assessing your priorities think about the outcomes of the task itself, the person you’re doing it for, where the deadline came from, and what happens if it shifts one hour, one day, one week, etc. A very successful artist manager once said: “You my friend? You signed up to spin plates”.

Project Management

Is really the intersection of prioritisation and stakeholder management. A lot of being an artist manager is making sure other people do their jobs and one of the main challenges is getting them to feel as passionate about the project as you do. Sometimes this requires chewing people out, mostly it requires giving your stakeholders the tools they need to do their best work.

There is an avalanche of ever-updating information around an artist, and reporting this frequently and enthusiastically to your entire team will enable them to go and pitch, negotiate, persuade and influence to the best of their ability. Remember, in most cases only YOU will have a view of the really big picture - you need to convey that to your stakeholders and bring them along for the ride.

Strategic Thinking

Be open-minded. Know what the incumbent strategies but do not be subservient to them. Sometimes everyone does it the same way for a good reason, sometimes people are just too lazy to think of a better way. Think in terms of 3, 6, 12 months blocks and remember that strategy is the amalgamation of a number of different inputs, coalescing to deliver a specific outcome. Your control over these inputs is the way that you execute strategy.