I moderated a panel this weekend as part of the Truck Records OX4 event in, unsurprisingly Oxford. The organisers had invited Un-Convention to run two of the panels on the day.
Mine was about local music. We had a great set of panelists – Tim Turan, Scott Cridland-Smith, Nightshift editor Ronan Munro – who were passionate about why they were working in Oxford – and in Pat Fulgoni’s case why that same passion thrived in Yorkshire and Huddersfield.
A few key points came up. The importance of an infrastructure that allowed artists to record and play, obviously the decline in local music retail is a big concern, the lack of support from a council that is happy to take credit for Radiohead coming from Oxford but is unwilling to actively support grassroots artists, clubs and labels (or at the least understand why capping venue numbers hardly helps matters) and finally the importance of a local music paper – in this case Nightshift.
A few things were not emphasised which as moderator was purely my fault. One was the importance of a spirit of collectivism – though the fact that this was organised by a local label and was living proof of that spirit sort of negated that worry – but the other is a subject that I believe has implications for local scenes – the need for good artist managers.
What has this to do with local? Hopefully I’ll make that clear as you read on but the role of managers never seems to be at the forefront when we discuss grassroots. Possibly because the role is associated with money and lots of grassroots artists lack money – or the potential, in the short term at least, to make any.
Good managers are hard to find. They need to be empathetic, business focused, entrepreneurial, a fan and have the patience of a saint – and also factor in good contacts, a sense of humour (though not essential as I’ve found to my cost), and an understanding of the myriad ways to structure deals and avoid being ripped off and a need for minimal sleep.
So why are they relevant to local scenes? A lot of managers – then and now – act as the first link (after studio engineers) in the chain of discovering acts. Or at least moving them up from the local pub gig to where they could be seen on a labels radar. It will be the manager who works the phones and persuades the London A&R guys to schlep it up to Oxford or any other place outside of NW1, and hits up the indie labels in the UK (and internationally) that their artists are the next hot topic.
It is the managers who are hustling, selling, driving awareness and trying to squeeze some cash out of the money pit that is the music business.
There are, of course, bad ones. Not just because they are venal, incompetent or mercenary (though they do exist – in remarkable numbers) but because they are out of their depth. They don’t keep abreast of change or see opportunity. They read about Peter Grant and fail to understand that it’s the artist who is the headline not the manager. They still think that the goal is to get that demo in front of the guys in Kensington.
I was lucky to work with really smart and creative managers over the years – both at EMI & at Nettwerk. The great managers were all of the above. They never went native – by this I mean they never forgot that it was all about the band not their new best friend, the label head. They knew when to apply pressure and when to step back. They kept on top of things and protected their artists and their vision. Not always easy for a label guy but better that then the opposite for both us and the artists.
And the majority started at the bottom along with their bands – going out and seeing bands on the strength of a tip, knowing a local scene inside out and being there when something special starts to happen or even facilitating the meetings of local artists that spark something special.
That is why local scenes need managers. Managers can – and should – make things happen. Good, great managers understand that a great local scene will give their bands oxygen and profile. They should be part of local scenes – actually along with labels they should drive local scenes.
As for artists – it’s pretty simple. Part of the challenge with artists who go DIY is often that the majority aren’t comfortable with the business side. They didn’t become artists to do this stuff and – frankly – aren’t up for it – and although there is no excuse these days for not understanding their managers job – they prefer to have someone else do the business side. If your manager or prospective manager doesn’t seem like the people I describe above start thinking about changing them.
Because a manager is for life. Or longer depending on the contract you signed.