by Jonah Zimmermann
Artist management is one of the most talked-about and least understood jobs in music. Artists know they need it, fans rarely see it, and even people building careers in the industry often couldn’t tell you what a manager actually does between the headline-making moments.
To get a peek behind the curtain, I sat down with Erin, the founder of Olivia Management, to film an “Ask a Manager” series about what the work really entails. We talked about what a manager’s day-to-day involves, how to know when it’s time to seek management, and so much more.
Whether you’re an artist wondering what you need, someone curious about a career on the business side of music, or just someone who wants to know what’s really going on behind the scenes, this series is for you.
Here are some highlights from my questionnaire with Erin:
Q: What does it actually mean to work in artist management? (what does the day-to-day look like)
Erin: The day-to-day of an artist manager is constantly different, and I think that’s part of why I love it and why I’ve been able to do it for fifteen years now. It’s really fun. Whatever the artists are into and whatever they’re doing, we come along for the ride. So, if it’s touring, we’re doing tour planning or tour marketing on the front end, or we’re on the road helping put out fires along the road. If they have a record coming out, we’re brainstorming ideas and getting the label and the distribution and the publicist and everybody on the same page, and kind of managing that process. The way I look at it is that the artist and I are like business partners, and we’re trying to build this business together. Their job is to make the art and be the product and go out and do it, and my job is to find the audience for that and grow it in a way where they like their life, they’re having fun, and we all enjoy doing it. That’s, to me, what being an artist manager is.
Q: How do I know when it’s time to get a manager?
Erin: I think that a lot of artists think that it’s the first step, and I just completely disagree. Here’s my rule of thumb: You need an artist manager when there is so much going on that you can’t handle it. There are requests coming in for your time, you’re missing gigs because you’re at a gig, emails came in and you missed them, and you’ve kind of raised your profile and you have so much going on, you can’t manage it yourself, and you need someone to come in and help you do that. I think before that, you’re still figuring out as an artist, who is my audience? Who do I want to be? What does my art look like? Who is it for? And there are some managers that will come and find a “diamond in the rough” and come in and help you do that. That’s not who I am; I like working with artists that know who they are and know where they want to go, and have kind of built something, and then I get to come in and work with them on– okay, now there’s something here to manage, let’s grow it together.
A huge thank you to Erin for sharing her fifteen years of experience with us. We’ll be posting more “Ask a Manager” episodes with Erin on our Instagram, so head to our profile and stay tuned if you want to keep learning alongside us!
