Q & A
Each month, MusicBizAdvice.com answers your questions about the music industry.
Here we discuss the best term length for a management contract, and why.
Length of term for management contract?
Q. How long a term
should an artist management contract be for?--M.S.
A. It depends on the artist's and manager's level of success before signing
the management agreement, but provided the artist and music are marketable,
for a full-service management agreement--as opposed to a consultation
agreement on retainer, which is much different--two years, plus one-year
options to five years is usually fair to both parties.
A one-year agreement--even if the artist achieved some success prior to
signing with the new manager--isn't long enough for artist and manager to
get to the next level, because the first several months are usually spent
trying to sort out any financial, legal, or other business difficulties the
artist may be in. Given that, it's doubtful that artist and manager will
make sufficient income to even cover expenses in the first year, let alone
make money. Also, an artist's unwillingness to sign agreements longer than
one year is sometimes a sign that he or she has trouble making business
commitments in general...a major red flag for a manager.
Two years plus one-year options to five years is more realistic. If things
are going to happen, it's often in the second year of the relationship that
things start clicking and momentum builds toward the next level--especially
if the artist has had some success prior to signing the agreement, and
provided the manager is experienced. The third year is the true acid test:
if the artist is working hard and something hasn't happened by the
middle of the third year--lots more gigs, better gigs, label interest,
decent song placement--it's probably time to move on to a different manager.
None of this is set in stone, and it's meant as a general guideline. There
are a lot of variables, such as the manager's experience and contacts, the
artist's work ethic, the dynamic between the artist and manager, the
financial resources available, the financial arrangement between artist and
manager, and the state of the music business in the artist's musical genre.
But the business goal between artist and manager is for BOTH parties to make
money from their mutual association, within a time frame reasonable to both
parties (as defined in the contract). When that doesn't happen, it's time to
move on.
Good luck,
Randi Reed
Editor-in-Chief / Founder
MusicBizAdvice.com
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