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Artist Management

Business managment. It's rare for an artist to have a head for business, which is why most musicians whether they perform solo or work in a band, retain a manager. Managers are in charge of running all aspects of the business side of the artist's or the band's career. This allows the talent to focus entirely on creating the music.

Sponsorship. A artist or band manager helps them with sponsorship whether its money or by getting sponsored by different makes, foe example a drummer could get sponsored by pearl or paste. Due to the incremental increase in financial responsibility, artists are inducted at the promotions level, and are given additional levels of sponsorship as resources become available.  However in some situations, artists are sponsored immediately on all levels, or achieve the levels in different orders.

Tour management. On tour the the artist manager helps the band with different things such as setting up eqiupment. On tour they also spent time hanging out with the band. On tour the manager will make sure that life on the road runs smoothly for everyone involved. This means getting the band safely to venues and hotels, managing money coming in and money going out, and dealing with Promoters and Venue Managers.

Artist and manager rights. The artist's faith and trust in a particular manager is probably what motivates the artist to enter into a management contract. Yet, the contract itself may define the parties as the artist and the manager's management company, often a corporation.

Merchandising. Artist managerst will help with merchandise by wearing the artist or band clothes, they also help with designing and selling merchandise. It's hard to make money from just ticket sales alone. If you have the right type of merchandise for your fan base you can generate additional income that can make your tour or performance a success.

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Music Publishing Companies

Finding songwirters / artists. Artists or bands can assign the copyright of their tracks to a publishing company and then it will be monitored where the tracks are used.

A&R. The A&R division of a record label is responsible for finding new recording artists and bringing those artists to the record company. A&R people are often young and many are musicians, music journalists or record producers. The A&R division helps the artist to find the right record producer, scheduling time in a recording studio and advising the artist on all aspects of making a high-quality recording. They work with the artist to choose the best songs to record. For artists who do not write their own music, the A&R person will assist in finding songs and songwriters. Once the record is completed, the A&R department consults with marketing, promotion, the artist and their management to choose one or more singles to help promote the record.

Promotion. When a recording company records tracks for an artist or band, the tracks often get placed on the radio. They maintain relationships with program directors at radio stations and attempt to persuade them to play singles to promote the sale of recordings, such as CDs, sold by the record company. They may also pay a fee to a third party, known as an independent promoter, who has a financial relationship with the radio station or its parent company. Music publishing companies will manage the artists songs and make sure that all of the royalties to which you are entitled are being collected. In exchange, the music publisher will get a cut of income generated by your songs.

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Record Companies

Major and independent labels. When it comes to major and independent record companies the difference is major record companies are powerful and are used to rule the music industry. They distribute, manufacture and promote the music of the people under contract. The major record companies are Universal music group, Sony music entertainment, Warner music group and EMI. The difference with independent companies is they do not have a corporate backer. Examples of independent companies would be Matador records, XL recordings and Hopeless records. Another difference between major and independent record companies is the actual contract they sign. An independent artist has a benefit that an major artist doesn't. Major labels wont let the artist keep rights or control over their music but independent artists can. Most major record label artists will have 10-15% royalties to their music were independent record company artists will have around 40-75% royalty.

Finding new music. The A&R division of a record label is responsible for finding new recording artist and bringing those artists to the record company. Artists and repertoire (A&R) is the division of a record company which is responsible for scouting new bands or artists. A&R people are often young and many are musicians, music journalists or record producers. Bands or artists looking to get signed will send music demos to companies, these companies can receive hundreds of demos everyday. Some labels go through the demos they are sent once a month others have given up all together and scout new music through their network. 

Recording studio. Record companies usually have their own recording studio, when bands or artists sign with a company they will use that studio to get their tracks or albums recorded. Bands or artists signed to a record company can usually spend a lot of time recording as it isn’t something that can be done quickly, especially to get the tracks mixed and sounding good.

Retail. Record labels can sell much more online by creating their own online shops. iTunes being one of the most powerful digital sales communities in the world, it makes sense for record labels to work directly with them to get music to people’s iTunes libraries as quickly as possible.  The fact that most new music is available digitally now makes this connection so much easier.

Distribution. Distribution is the way that recorded music gets in the hands of consumers. Distribution companies sign deals with record labels and that gives them the rights to sell that label's products. The distributor takes a cut out from the income from each thing that is sold and then pays the label the remaining balance.

Internet sales. Once a record company has had a band or artist recorded at a studio they will have those tracks online for sale on app or websites such a Itunes. If they have an album recorded then that will also be for sale to download online or it will be sold as a CD online that will get delivered. Also online they can sell clothes and posters wich the record company will get a cut from.

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Live Performance

Health and safety. Health and safety is one of the main areas in live performance. It is important when it comes to some events that the artists is protected and also the crowed must be controlled by a crowed control manager which are known as stewards. Most accidents happen because of over crowding at a live performance, to prevent this from happening there must be security arrangements in place. 

Tour management. Tour management is another main area of live performance, a tour manager looks after a band when on tour and also helps schedule of appearances of a musical group or artist at different venues. 

Event management. The event manager has to make sure all of different parts of the event are all working fine, they also help with planning and organising the event such as chosing bands and other actvities.

Merchandising. At a live performance such as a gig or on tour, selling merchandise at concerts or gigs is a good way of making profit, selling things such as t-shirts, bags and hats. 

Promoting. promoting a live performance is a very important area when it comes to live performance to get people to the event or concert. Bands will print posters and use social media to promote. Also the word of mouth is a good way to get the word around about a gig or concert. Posting videos online of you or your band performing is a good way to promote yourself because if someone likes the sound of your music they will likely come to your gig or concert.

Front of house. When it comes to front of house in live performance. The front of house engineer is usually located in the middle of the audience, from there they have good listening and clear view of the performance. The output signals from the front of house console connects to a sound reinforcement system. Other non-audio crew members such as the lighting console operator might also work from the front of house position, since they need to be able to see the show from the audience's perspective.

Backstage. Backstage there are the music technichians if they are needed. There is also usually a room or rooms for live performers to relax and get ready. There is always security back stage also on stage.

Live performance rights means. Live performance rights means having the rights to perform music in public. Performance rights royalties are royalties paid to a songwriter or band when one of their songs is played live. A live performance of a song doesn't have to mean strictly a performance in a concert or gig, a live performance of a song can also mean a public airing of a recorded song, like being played on the radio or on television. Every time a song is played publicly, the songwriter is due a performance rights royalty. Also when it comes to live performance if someone is using or singing a song that has been written by someone else they could go as far as suing the person using the song as whoever write the song has the rights to it, unless he gives the rights to the track to someone else.

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The sound and music industry

In my blog i will be talking about the four main areas in the music industry, which are live performance, record companies, music publishing companies and artist management.