Artists Management/ Industry Events

Being that I am a vocal artist and a graduate student as well, I have been faced with every aspect of artist management, because I have to manage school and myself as an artist.  I have been faced with planning budgeting, and execution as an independent artist. During the time of rest between the scheduling of show events, I am constantly writing music for the actual song that I am performing. I have a budget in which I have to control that aids in financial assistance for my wardrobe attire, costs of registry itself, and tickets for promotion of my events. I am still currently learning new approaches to the music entertainment business by pursuing a degree in my field of expertise.
I am now a promoter for Chakra Ultralounge in Orlando, Fl. I noticed that promotion is the most important part of the entertaiment business.There are times when I find out that a show is cancelled or held over because not enough promotion was done for the event itself. Countless situations have occurred considering financial costs, and not being able to meet the budget. For example, I have $200.00 for my budget cost and I have to pay $150.00 for registry of the show. The registry costs include 30 tickets. For, instance if tickets are priced at $5 dollars each and I only sell 20 of 30 tickets, I only made $100.00 in profit, which means I end up only paying $50.00 for the total cost of the event. If I had a budget of $400.00 or more per show or event, I would have a more secure financial budget to work with for extra costs of events and promotions. 

During the promotion of events, I have found that social networking is the easiest and cheapest way of promoting yourself and sending out invites for my own performance events. Free promotional assistance with the planning and implementation of events really cuts down the financial budgeting because promotion is considered to be inclusive in the event of planning to perform at local shows here in Orlando, Florida. Alex Braggs is a really good friend of mines who is an entertainment business entrepreneur /artists developer out of Orlando, Florida. He gives great advice and is very helpful with the promotion of my events as an independent artist. If you are interested in becoming an entrepreneur of business entertainment or you can use help with some promotional services contact Nicole McFadden at (708)-595-7446.

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Interview with Artist Manager Mr. Calvin Atchison of Quantum to Virtual Media Group

In the music entertainment industry today, artist’s managers play an important role in securing the artists with an established career. Considering the fact that I am a recording artist, this interview was very important to me. I conducted a phone interview with Calvin O. Atchison II, of Quantum to Virtual Multimedia Group in Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Atchison has directed the music careers of several artists since the early 1990’s. He has over 20 years experience in artists management, publishing licensing and tour management. I asked him several questions regarding to the role he plays as an Artist Manager in the music industry.  I used a question/ answer format to conduct the interview with Mr. Atchison.

1) Question: What things should an artist that you consider to be serious about attracting management bring to the table? Answer: First of all, I’d like to see the artist history including past performances, television appearances, pending recording/licensing deals if any. I would also expect the artists to have built a fan base for themselves, and to be clear about the type of goals they want to accomplish as artists.

2) Question: Has your job as an artist manager changed over the last few years, or is it somewhat the same? Answer: I think that the field of artist management has quite the same approaches, however providing the right music for commercial gain has become more difficult. The same artists are going for the same record deals, and the same audience, which causes the level of financial support, and support from target audiences to decrease.

3) Question: What do you think is the most important aspect of being an artist manager? Answer: I think overall that the relationship you have with your artist is the most important aspect because it can determine rather an artists will become successful or fail because of a bad relationship, consisting of dishonesty, miscommunication, and a lack of respect that exist realistically today between some artists and artist managers.

4) Question: What role do you play as an artist manager? Answer: As an artist manager I am the person who believes in the vision, goals and expectations of the artists and work to the best of ability to help the artist achieve those goals. I spend a lot of time negotiating with several artists about their goals, future publishing deals, licensing requests, and dealing with the legal matters by appointing a lawyer who specializes in entertainment law. I am also responsible for developing a master plan that an artist can follow to achieve their goals.

5) Question: What are some good qualities that you expect to see in future artists? Answer: I expect an artist to be a hard worker and stay committed to their craft. I also expect them to have a general knowledge about the entertainment industry, and a sense of long-term goals that they would like to achieve as an artist.

6) Question: Do you think it is important as an artist to have a manager for representation? Answer: It is impossible for an artist to conduct every affair of being an artist without a manager in the music business. Many artists are not business-oriented people, so they tend to fall victim to the music industry without the right representation. The manager is the key in determining the artist career.

7) Question: What should an artist look for in a manager before hiring them? Answer: Artists should consider hiring a manager once they have found out the background history of success or failure. This person must be someone who can guide, counsel, and advises and provides a successful career. This individual must also be a “doer” who helps you to take all of the steps necessary to help you become a success.

8) Question: What is the one of the most important value of an artist manager? Answer: A manager must be hardworking because they making the dreams of someone else who they believe in come true. They must give the artist the guidance they need to set the overall game plan for the artist and the artist’s team to follow. 

9) Question: What are some of the ground rules that you follow when managing an artist? Answer: A manger has to totally respect what the artist wants to do. A manager should be able to buy into the artists visions and do the best that they can to help him maximize that vision. My job is not to create and an artist, my job is to take an artist and make his or her career happen. 

10) Question: What is the hardest thing about being an artist’s manager? Answer: The hardest thing about being an artist manager is delivering the bad news to an artist concerning their overall career.