Artist Manager (aka Jack-of-all-Trades)

Behind every great artist, there is a great manager. Everyone knows that in the entertainment industry, talent is simply not enough. To make it big in saturated markets, such as the music industry, artists need to portray a unique image, have access to the right contacts, and have a great support system. It’s the artist manager who provides those elements that complement the artist’s craft, and enable him/her to reach stardom. 

After signing with an artist manager, the artist becomes a company, and the manager, its CEO. It’s the artist manager who oversees all aspects of the artist’s career and makes sure that the artist’s vision is articulated properly across all channels. Of course, like in all businesses, CEOs can’t do it all by themselves. While he is truly the personal representative of the artist, the artist manager has to assemble and manage a team of professionals that will help him achieve the artist’s career goals. It’s common knowledge that the artist needs a good lawyer, to protect his career against restrictive contracts or dangerous lawsuits, and an experienced accountant to manage the financial aspects. Traditionally, the manager will also bring a publicist and a booking agent on board. Yet, it has come to my attention that there’s an emerging trend, especially in the Puerto Rican market, where managers also act as the client’s publicists and booking agents.

This “jack-of-all-trades” management approach has certainly surprised me, due to the time consuming nature of Public Relations. It’s difficult for me to conceive that a manager can put in the necessary time and dedication to develop and execute an effective PR campaign, while dealing with all the other duties that artist management involves.

To further explain my apprehension to this management approach, I feel it’s important to explain the role of a PR professional in the development and progression of an artist’s career. Whether the artist is a veteran or relatively new to the music scene, hiring a publicist can prove to be beneficial because he/she can help the artist build an image, and help convey it to the right audience, through the right media channels. Essentially, the role of a publicist is to be the liaison between the media and the artist.

 A good publicist will find the right angle to make a story newsworthy for media channels. It’s the publicist who is responsible for generating awareness, buzz and excitement for the artist’s milestones, and for generating crisis management strategies to protect the artist’s reputation and credibility. These media relations tactics, along with the press kit, personal appearance talking points and other communication pieces, reflect upon the artist’s image. In this sense, publicists safeguard the artist’s image, and assure message consistency in all markets and media channels.  

Now, more than ever, the Internet and specifically social media, has become an invaluable promotion tool for artists. It helps foster a fan base and opens the door to two-way communication between the artists and their followers. A good publicist has to ensure that even on the artist’s personal Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms, the message remains consistent. And although communicating with fans over the Internet seems to be the norm nowadays, we can’t undermine the power and credibility value of traditional media. Therefore, a good PR effort in the 21^st century has to be effective in all media channels, traditional and non-traditional.

Just by taking a look at some of the PR duties mentioned before, it’s safe to say that they require extreme attention to detail, excellent communication skills, and specific educational requirements, among other skills. Even if the manager possesses the experience and educational background to practice Public Relations, it seems that trying to handle PR, management, and booking for an artist is a little bit too much. A manager that tries to take on the responsibilities of a publicist and a booking agent, will never deliver the same results as someone who is completely dedicated to that aspect of the business.

The reasons for the sudden popularity of this trend remain unknown. Maybe the managers are trying to secure a bigger profit or they’re trying to save their clients some money. Yet, I don’t think this is an effective way the way of achieving this. Saving pennies by sacrificing key members of the artist’s development team, will take its toll on the artist’s career in the long run.