I wrote Music Management for the Rest of Us to help novice artist managers avoid the kinds of mistakes I made when I first started managing acts. I also wrote the book to help musicians understand that it was becoming…
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Music Management
Music Management Skills: Volunteering to Gain Insight
If you’re a friend, a family member, or a fan enlisted to take on management duties for a musician, reading books about the business might not be enough to get you up to speed on what you really need to…
Music Management Skills: Attend Conferences with a Bias for Learning, Not Promotion
I get a little worried when a new music manager writes up a goal sheet that includes “attend/work a music conference.” Music conferences are fun, raucous affairs. But many bands treat them as little more than extensions of already overheated…
Music Management Skills: Manage Your Media Diet
When I started in college radio, my friends and I would jockey for position by the mailbox on the day when R&R would arrive. Two decades ago, trade magazines were the only way you knew what was happening in markets…
Music Management Skills: Connect with Your Passion
Andy Wibbels just floated a great quote from John Waters about finding something you love and making it your life’s work. And while you may need to dabble–against John Waters’ advice–to really discover whether a passion is worth pursuing, it’s…
If You Dream of Doing the Work, Do the Work
Here’s a pretty rough profile of the Class of 2010 at Middle Tennessee State University’s Recording Industry Management department. The RIM leverages its Nashville connections well, and it’s got one of the best reputations in the world for developing music…
Music Management Skills: Build Your Professional Development Library
Sure, I might be a little biased, having written my own music management book, and everything. But, some days I feel like a handful of books should be required reading for anyone wanting to get into this business. Furthermore, I’ve…
Music Management Skills: Organize Your World
I recently found myself leading a productivity seminar once a month here in the Philadelphia area for professionals from a variety of different fields. Overachievers in the group share a common ability to stay focused, regardless of the systems they…
Music Management Skills: Learn to Stop Over-Analyzing
It’s easy to be a music management novice with your head in the clouds. You’re dreaming about the great things you’re going to do with your first band. You’re looking at all the great letterhead and logo ideas you’ve scribbled…
Music Management Skills: Commit to Your Client
In Music Management for the Rest of Us, I lay out some basic math. If you’re earning 10-15% in commissions from a client, and they’re just about at the point of replacing their “day job” with a full time music…
Music Management Skills: Stop Searching for Perfection
“I have learned… that my present is perfect.” That’s the first quote from Thomas Leonard‘s book, Simply Brilliant. In it, he boiled down the collective wisdom of decades of self-empowerment research into 1,800 quick learnings. And that’s the one that…
Music Management Skills: Prioritize Your Day
I’m not going to try to convince you that I’m the most organized person in the world. However, I can tell you that making an effort to prioritize the actions you take every day can make a huge difference in…