Why I shouldn't be a band manager
People have been asking me a lot if I could manage their band, and I think I could do much better than a lot of people who do it. I'd be pretty no nonsense, I'd know who to approach about anything, I can write, design, organise, follow rules and time schedules and all that stuff.
But!
If I'm not 100% in love with your music, I just can't do it. To do the job well, I'd have to believe that you can make money, not just in NZ, but overseas as well - what's the point otherwise. If I think you are totally amazing, it's an easy one, I could hoestly just push you and what you do.
But mostly that's not the way, and in all friendship and respect, people don't like feedback. The bands who want me to manage them wouldn't take on my feedback well at all. Which makes most bands an instant out, because if you don't listen to feedback ever, you may be artsy and 5 people out there will totally dig your music and respect the shit out of you, but it's not likely you'll ever even play out of town, unless you pout a lot of your own money into it.
I've been thinking about maybe just doing something in regards to booking, press releases, press kits etc... But how do you charge for that, knowing that in NZ most musicians don't make money with music. Have some kind of monthly or 3-monthly retainer in different stages, that pays for me organising their gigs, CD pressings, promo, publicity...?
I've been thinking about this a lot. And what if I just *think* I'd be awesome at it, but really I suck? What then?
But!
If I'm not 100% in love with your music, I just can't do it. To do the job well, I'd have to believe that you can make money, not just in NZ, but overseas as well - what's the point otherwise. If I think you are totally amazing, it's an easy one, I could hoestly just push you and what you do.
But mostly that's not the way, and in all friendship and respect, people don't like feedback. The bands who want me to manage them wouldn't take on my feedback well at all. Which makes most bands an instant out, because if you don't listen to feedback ever, you may be artsy and 5 people out there will totally dig your music and respect the shit out of you, but it's not likely you'll ever even play out of town, unless you pout a lot of your own money into it.
I've been thinking about maybe just doing something in regards to booking, press releases, press kits etc... But how do you charge for that, knowing that in NZ most musicians don't make money with music. Have some kind of monthly or 3-monthly retainer in different stages, that pays for me organising their gigs, CD pressings, promo, publicity...?
I've been thinking about this a lot. And what if I just *think* I'd be awesome at it, but really I suck? What then?