Who's The Most Powerful Player In The New Music Business?

The record label was once the most powerful entity in the music business, but that's no longer the case. In this excerpt from Music 4.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Internet Age, you'll find that there's a different position that exerts more control today.

"Managers of talent have always been powerful (especially with a big-selling act in the stable) and have, for the most part, stayed behind the scenes. After all, it’s the acts that should have the most attention. But as the music industry transitions into Music 4.0, managers are more powerful, and more needed, than ever. The reason is that the fortunes of the manager are directly tied to the act. If the act makes money, so does the manager; if the act tanks, the manager starves. As a result, the manager has to truly believe in the act and represent it with a passion. The manager’s singular vision must be to make that act successful. Any other member of the artist or group’s team, from producer to attorney to record label to publicist and so on, will not have his or her fortunes tied so directly to the artist’s success, and, as a result, his or her passion can’t be expected to ever be as high. With most service contractors that an artist employs, you can never be sure where their loyalty actually lies. Is it with the record label, distributor or promoter, or the artist? With a manager, the answer to that question should never be in doubt. 

So why has the manager’s role become more profound in Music 4.0? Because as the choices for the artist have expanded, so has the manager’s influence. In Music 1.0 through 2.5, the manager’s main focus was on dealing with the record label and getting the act booked. The label was the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and the manager was the keeper. With the record label’s influence now decreased to that of a chimpanzee, the manager has ascended to become the giant in the act’s life. As we’ll see in later chapters, there are far more possibilities for every aspect of the act, and that means far more decisions are required. 

An interesting trend is that management is now adapting to Music 4.0, bringing multiple talents in-house for instant access and attention by the artist. These talents include concert promotion, Internet promotion, dedicated social networking, the handling of street teams, and where it’s legal, even acting as a booking agent.

Not every artist is able to connect with forward-thinking management of this type, or even any kind of organized management, but that’s okay. Personal management is ineffective unless the manager is passionate about you, since passion can overcome inexperience. Passion is something that you can’t buy or contract—the manager has to truly believe in you or you’re wasting your time. And as the act gets bigger, it’s easier for a less powerful manager to plug into a larger management company and “four-wall,” or get the best of both worlds: the power of the larger management company with the attention of the smaller."

You can read additional excerpts from my Music 4.0 Internet Music Guidebook and my other books on the excerpts section of bobbyowsinski.com.

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