TPS #046: The Most Important Framework in Artist Management
Author: Andre Mullen - 2 min Read
Read Time: 2 minutes
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💡 Big Ideas:
1. The selflessness framework for artist management is made up of 3 perspectives – how you handle your client’s success, mental health, and professional growth.
2. Selflessness is the most powerful attribute an artist management can develop.
3. Selflessness should be the basis of every artist-to-artist manager relationship.
4. Selflessness doesn’t come naturally – it’s an intentional practice of putting your client first.
“Tragedy doesn’t always need to propel you forward.”
When I saw the Billboard Top 200 chart with my client’s name and the title of his record, I thought I was going to cry.
His computer was stolen with all of the original masters. He had to start from scratch. When I thought about his sacrifices, it made seeing his single hit the chart an emotional experience.
I realized this didn’t have to be a one-time occurrence, and a nearly tragic experience doesn’t need to be the thing that propels us to work harder.
I was determined to help him be successful and see his name on the charts more often.
“The most important framework in artist management is selflessness.”
In today’s newsletter, I want to talk to you about the most important framework in artist management.
This doesn’t mean every framework I previously discussed is irrelevant or unimportant. This framework is based on what I believe is the most powerful personal attribute of any artist manager.
This attribute is selflessness.
Now, you may be reading this thinking that selflessness is a given for any and every artist-to-manager relationship. However, selflessness doesn’t come naturally.
Just like anything else worth pursuing, you will need to be intentional about putting your client first.
Artist managers who don’t have and don’t cultivate this attribute will always look at their artist clients with varied expectations that include everything from a big payday to prestige.
It’s time to change the narrative.
"Selflessness should be the basis of every artist-to-artist manager relationship.”
The music space is undoubtedly crowded with artists who are looking to achieve everything from being able to express themselves through their art, to making a living from their art as an independent artist, to being signed to a label and marching towards what they hope is stardom.
As the artist manager, your responsibility is to navigate these varied subjective mindsets and bring them into an objective perspective that best serves your client.
To do this, you have to be selfless in your approach to your client’s overall business goals.
Those business goals need to be achieved by combining factual and practical information with creative vision.
The selflessness framework for artist management consists of 3 perspectives:
1. How you manage your client’s success
2. How you manage your client’s emotional well-being
3. How you manage your client’s professional development
Again, it’s important to point out that this framework only works if you have embraced selfless management. Your client’s creative and business goals make up the totality of who they are as an artist. Your job as their manager is to aid and assist in scaling their business.
Each of these perspectives helps you cultivate selflessness personally as well as professionally.
Let’s look at each perspective, one by one.
Perspective #1: “How you handle your client’s success”
Helping your client understand the business is a major key to their success.
Use every business interaction, failure, and success as a teachable moment for your client. Your client’s success isn’t about you. It’s about what you two have done together.
The more they know, the more they will appreciate what you do.
If your client believes their success has been achieved from and through their own merit, then your client doesn’t believe you’re working from a place of selflessness. And, to be fair, your client may not be selfless either (Here’s how to deal with a toxic artist-to-artist manager relationship).
To really create a firm foundation of trust and consistent success, you must be selfless in your efforts to grow and scale your client’s business.
Perspective #2: “How you handle your client’s mental health”
I have mentioned in previous newsletters the importance of artist managers focusing on protecting their own well-being and their mental health.
However, great managers understand that protecting their well-being and mental health directly impacts their clients’ mental health.
As a rule, the same way you protect your mental health as an artist manager should be the same for how you protect your clients’ mental health. You, as an artist manager, have unique stressors, and artists – such as your clients – have unique stressors as well.
Protecting your clients’ mental health directly affects their bottom line. As I have mentioned before, you are part of that bottom line.
Being genuinely concerned about their mental health builds mutual trust and deepens the roots of your relationship.
Perspective #3: “How you handle your client’s professional growth”
Great managers are committed to their clients’ professional growth, just as they are naturally committed to their own.
Representing your client is an investment not only in their music career but also in them personally.
This is why selflessness is highly important. Being able to handle and work through your clients’ professional growth requires a commitment to seeing their careers flourish.
You can reinforce the need for your client’s ongoing professional growth by holding them accountable in the areas where they’re weak while encouraging and supporting them to overcome their challenges.
Managing your clients isn’t about either of you getting it right every time. It is about owning mistakes and making the necessary adjustments to correct them.
Strive to improve and level up every time.
Hope this helps.
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