Okay guys. I'm seeking some opinions/information/pros-and-cons from those of you who have had a band manager. This is a long one, I apologize in advance.
Recently, my band has been in talks with a couple medium sized labels about a record deal. In two of those conversations, the AR guy from each of these two labels thought our band should have a manager. One believed it was a must, the other thought it was a good idea. Neither are saying that having manager is part of the record deal, just came up in the discussion about the bands future. One of my band-mates is now insisting that we need a manager going forward; the others are on the fence or don't care.
My question to them is: whats not getting done?
Here is the setup. Myself and one of our guitar players "co-manage" the band business at this point.
I handle merchandise: procuring art, hiring printers, inventory, ordering, shipping, etc. I also handle the finances. This essentially means that I stop them from spending too much, pay the practice space rent, make sure we're getting paid from our gigs, making sure we can and do pay our bills, I organize our financials for taxes\coordinate with the accountant, pay the taxes, etc. I'm in charge of all things van and trailer related including insurance, maintenance, and repairs (some of which I do myself). I'm the contact person for our booking agent too so I coordinate show/tour offers and ideas with the band and then talk it out with him. If we're flying into a show, I also coordinate back-line when necessary. Lastly, I usually plan our tours (not book them). I figure out distances, mileage, destinations in between venues if have days off, coordinate hotels or crash spots, how much gas/food/lodging will cost, and even plan where we will get our oil changes (I'm a big spread sheet guy).
The other guy handles social media. He does much of our graphic work too, mostly for merchandise mock-ups, so he can put them on our socials. He is generally good at hunting deals on the inter-webs so I've happily handed off the duty of booking hotels, cars, and flights to him. He typically advances our shows and tends to be the contact person for venues\promoters\stage managers when were on the road or even doing a local show. He also is the contact person for any endorsements we may have as well as the go-to for a couple of the labels we are talking to. Oh, though we all do some interview stuff, he does the lions share and writes most out most of the responses to written interviews. Along those lines, he's our resident extrovert too. He's happy to schmooze and talk and have drinks with whoever
Its actually very valuable to have in our band, the rest of us actively dislike schmoozing.
We have a booking agent. He works for a pretty big firm and they have a large roster. We signed up with this agent and his firm knowing we'd be the little fish in a big pond but thought it was a worthy sacrifice to be associated with their roster. The thought being if they were looking for a tour partner for one of their bands, they'd look internally when possible. Its worked out fine so far.
The other guys in the band don't do anything unless they are asked.
I should add two more things:
We play metal, and not like radio friendly or mainstream metal like korn or avenged seven fold. Underground metal, I guess is the best way to describe it. The point is, we're not going to get TV appearances, or sell our songs to commercials or TV shows. Maybe a video game if we're lucky.
We aren't really a touring band. We can dedicate 4ish weeks a year to a van tour, and the rest of the time we can dedicate about 1 weekend a month to one-off events like festivals or whatever. We get tour offers on occasion and rarely accept them, not that they haven't been great\cool\exciting, just the timing or the duration haven't worked for our collective schedules. We're professionals with more or less serious careers, and most of us have families (or at least a spouse). So more tour offers or better positioning on on a tour, isn't a thing that we need.
To summarize, I really feel like we have most of the bases covered and I just dont believe a manager would take any of our current responsibilities off our plates? And, If they aren't going to do any of the stuff we currently do, and they aren't going to get us shows (our agent does that), what is it exactly that they will do?
Other more specific questions:
1. I have heard a manager takes 15-20% of all bands earnings. I have also heard they only take 15-20% of revenue they bring in? Big difference.
2. Are contracts usually involved and if so, how long?
Again, sorry for the long post, just thought there would be a couple folks here interested on the topic and, more importantly, possess helpful insight/experience?
Recently, my band has been in talks with a couple medium sized labels about a record deal. In two of those conversations, the AR guy from each of these two labels thought our band should have a manager. One believed it was a must, the other thought it was a good idea. Neither are saying that having manager is part of the record deal, just came up in the discussion about the bands future. One of my band-mates is now insisting that we need a manager going forward; the others are on the fence or don't care.
My question to them is: whats not getting done?
Here is the setup. Myself and one of our guitar players "co-manage" the band business at this point.
I handle merchandise: procuring art, hiring printers, inventory, ordering, shipping, etc. I also handle the finances. This essentially means that I stop them from spending too much, pay the practice space rent, make sure we're getting paid from our gigs, making sure we can and do pay our bills, I organize our financials for taxes\coordinate with the accountant, pay the taxes, etc. I'm in charge of all things van and trailer related including insurance, maintenance, and repairs (some of which I do myself). I'm the contact person for our booking agent too so I coordinate show/tour offers and ideas with the band and then talk it out with him. If we're flying into a show, I also coordinate back-line when necessary. Lastly, I usually plan our tours (not book them). I figure out distances, mileage, destinations in between venues if have days off, coordinate hotels or crash spots, how much gas/food/lodging will cost, and even plan where we will get our oil changes (I'm a big spread sheet guy).
The other guy handles social media. He does much of our graphic work too, mostly for merchandise mock-ups, so he can put them on our socials. He is generally good at hunting deals on the inter-webs so I've happily handed off the duty of booking hotels, cars, and flights to him. He typically advances our shows and tends to be the contact person for venues\promoters\stage managers when were on the road or even doing a local show. He also is the contact person for any endorsements we may have as well as the go-to for a couple of the labels we are talking to. Oh, though we all do some interview stuff, he does the lions share and writes most out most of the responses to written interviews. Along those lines, he's our resident extrovert too. He's happy to schmooze and talk and have drinks with whoever
Its actually very valuable to have in our band, the rest of us actively dislike schmoozing.We have a booking agent. He works for a pretty big firm and they have a large roster. We signed up with this agent and his firm knowing we'd be the little fish in a big pond but thought it was a worthy sacrifice to be associated with their roster. The thought being if they were looking for a tour partner for one of their bands, they'd look internally when possible. Its worked out fine so far.
The other guys in the band don't do anything unless they are asked.
I should add two more things:
We play metal, and not like radio friendly or mainstream metal like korn or avenged seven fold. Underground metal, I guess is the best way to describe it. The point is, we're not going to get TV appearances, or sell our songs to commercials or TV shows. Maybe a video game if we're lucky.
We aren't really a touring band. We can dedicate 4ish weeks a year to a van tour, and the rest of the time we can dedicate about 1 weekend a month to one-off events like festivals or whatever. We get tour offers on occasion and rarely accept them, not that they haven't been great\cool\exciting, just the timing or the duration haven't worked for our collective schedules. We're professionals with more or less serious careers, and most of us have families (or at least a spouse). So more tour offers or better positioning on on a tour, isn't a thing that we need.
To summarize, I really feel like we have most of the bases covered and I just dont believe a manager would take any of our current responsibilities off our plates? And, If they aren't going to do any of the stuff we currently do, and they aren't going to get us shows (our agent does that), what is it exactly that they will do?
Other more specific questions:
1. I have heard a manager takes 15-20% of all bands earnings. I have also heard they only take 15-20% of revenue they bring in? Big difference.
2. Are contracts usually involved and if so, how long?
Again, sorry for the long post, just thought there would be a couple folks here interested on the topic and, more importantly, possess helpful insight/experience?
Both labels are going to make offers for the record contract regardless of whether or not a manager is in place... and we don't need a manager to negotiate the terms or solicit offers. We have a terrific lawyer and we've been through the record contract stuff before. (i wrote construction contracts as part of my job for 6 years or so, so I'm no stranger to legalese.)
