WEBVTT
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Hey, this is Matthew Ricks, and today on the Music
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Business Newsletter, we're going to label this email, I'm signed
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to a major label, why can't I find a legit manager?
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But before we dive into that, if you have a
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question on the music industry that you'd like for me
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to answer, simply go to MatthewRicks.com, click submit your question,
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give me as many details as possible, and we will
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answer the question here on the channel. Now for the email.
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He says, hey, Matthew, I have been listening to the
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Matrix Minute since 2018. So eight years going on nine.
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Thank you. Thank you. Brand new Matrix Minute's coming out
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this month. He says, and I have a management question
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that I honestly thought would be a much easier problem
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to solve once I got to where I'm at. He says,
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I'm signed to a major record label. I'm not going
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to say which one because I don't want this getting
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back to anybody and making it look like I'm complaining
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about my label because I'm absolutely not. Well, that's good.
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I guess he says, I actually love my record label.
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They've done what they told me they were going to do.
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My music has major distribution. I've released five singles with
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them since the end of last year. Five singles. Jeez.
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On a major in nine months. Okay. I don't. Okay. There, there's, there's,
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there's some things in this email that as the kids
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like to say, Could be a cap. But anyways. He says,
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I've gotten opportunities that I absolutely wasn't getting when I
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was doing everything independently. Well, yeah, that is what happens
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when you sign to a label. They should be able
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to get you opportunities that you couldn't get on your own.
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He says, I also won a pretty big music award
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in Nashville earlier this year, which was honestly surreal. So
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you've released five singles in Nashville. Nine months, ten months,
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we'll give you, he said, the end of last year.
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And you won an award in Nashville earlier this year.
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So your first of five singles was out for like
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a month and you won an award? Good for you.
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He says, so things are happening. I'm not famous or anything,
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but you just won an award. He says, I'm not
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trying to make it sound like I'm some huge artist
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because I'm not. But I'm finally at the point where
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this feels like an actual career instead of me just
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trying to convince everybody around me that someday it might
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become one. Well, that's, I mean, if you're making money
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and people are buying into what you're doing, good for you.
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He says, here's my problem. I don't have a manager.
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I've been managing myself this entire time and I can't
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do it anymore. Or maybe I can do it. But
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I'm realizing that I'm spending so much time doing the
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business that I'm barely being an artist anymore. Okay. He
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says my phone starts going off at like 8 in
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the morning. Shocked. Emails from the label. Someone needs artwork.
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Someone needs a bio. Someone wants to know my availability.
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And then someone needs something approved. Then I'm talking to
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the producer. Then I'm trying to figure out travel. Then
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somebody wants content. Then I'm following up on an interview.
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Then I'm trying to make sure everybody got paid for something.
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Then suddenly it's 7 PM at night and I haven't
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written a song practice or done anything creative all day.
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I know that's a good problem to have, but it's
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still a problem. Um, okay. So I would really like
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to know the email. We can't even figure out who
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it is from the email. I think he created an
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email address to send this to me. Um, So, phone
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starts going off at 8 a.m. I mean, for an
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artist in Nashville, I mean, yeah, that's, you guys, Nashville
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artists are special. I think Nashville artists are worse than L.A. artists.
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They all like to wake up at like 1. Let's
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go get breakfast at 1 p.m. Emails from the label,
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I think you're going to get, you would probably be
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getting emails from the label regardless if you had a manager.
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Someone needs artwork. You don't tell us who that someone is.
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Is it the label for your next single? I would
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think that the major label you're with would have somebody
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doing the artwork. A lot of majors have an artwork department.
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Someone needs a bio. Isn't there a press person at
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the major label who can send them the bio? No.
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Someone wants to know my availability. Someone needs something approved.
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I mean, something approved. A lot of times that's going
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to be you anyways. Then I'm talking to the producer.
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Then I'm trying to figure out travel. So, if you're
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doing shows, why don't you, and you've won an award,
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and you're making money, why don't you have a road manager?
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Someone who handles your travel. Then somebody wants content. Well,
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a manager ain't going to be able to help you
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with your content. Hey, this is Bob's manager. Ain't going
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to happen. Then I'm following up on an interview. I
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would think that would go down the category of the
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person who wants to buy out. That should be our
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publicist or PR department at the major record label. Then
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you're trying to make sure everybody got paid for something.
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So if you're with a major and you've had five
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singles already, And you got shows. Why don't you have
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a business manager? Especially in Nashville. There's like a ton
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of great ones in Nashville. Um, the business manager should
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be handling everybody getting paid. And then it's suddenly 7 p.m.
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at night and I haven't written a song, practiced or
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done anything. I mean, dude, you describe your day. I
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know artists who are big, like massive, who don't have
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a day like this or their managers. Um, Because I
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don't know, I just don't know why in some of
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this artwork, bios, interview requests, all that, why your PR
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department isn't handling that. I mean, especially for a major,
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they should be on it. Like, you've released five singles
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in nine months with a major and they're just kind
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of letting anybody be able to contact you for interviews. Like,
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that's weird. He says the label doesn't provide management. No,
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they shouldn't. And you don't want them to. He says,
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they've been pretty clear that it's my responsibility to build
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my own team. Yes and no. Because when I was
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working at labels, every recording contract basically has, we don't
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like your manager, we can get rid of him. Because
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like if he's, you know, oh, my boy's going to
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manage me. He's going to run interference or. Just be
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a train wreck to work with. The label's not going
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to put up with that. Because at the end of
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the day, your manager doesn't own you. Your booking agent
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doesn't own you. Your publishing doesn't own you. Your record
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label does, especially a major. He says, so I've started
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taking meetings, and that's where things have gotten weird. I've
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had several managers reach out to me since signing. Every
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single one starts the same way. They tell me how
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much they love the music. They've been watching what I'm doing.
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They think I'm positioned perfectly. They have relationships everywhere. They
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start dropping names. One guy told me he had direct
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relationships with basically every major promoter in America. Another one
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told me he could have me opening an arena tour
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within six months. Another manager wanted me to sign an
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agreement before we'd even had our second phone call. That
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one wanted 20% of basically everything I make. Okay, so
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you get signed to a major label, apparently. You win
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an award in Nashville, so probably a songwriting award, I
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would think. The label doesn't have anybody they're recommending. That
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doesn't make any sense at all. Because when you sign
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an artist to a deal, what you would do, especially
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if they don't have management or you want to get
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rid of their manager and get them something new, is
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you have people you work with closely. They might work
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with your biggest artists on the label. They might just
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be easy to get along with and you guys have
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a great rapport. And when somebody's looking, you try to
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see if it's a match. The fact that your major
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record label doesn't have anybody they want to recommend to you,
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that's weird. I'll just say that. Because they should be
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recommending somebody to you. It is your responsibility to build
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your team, but they shouldâ I mean, if you don't
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have a booking agent or a manager, you're kind of
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out in the middle of the ocean just floating, and
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that doesn't benefit the record label. That's why I don't
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understand this. You say they're major, but they're not going
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to point you in the right direction? It doesn't make sense.
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You've had several managers reach out to you. So how
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are they reaching out to you? How do they learn
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about you? Why isn't the label bringing people to you?
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And then if you take a good meeting with an art,
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a manager, why aren't you bouncing this off the label
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and be like, Hey, do you know this guy? What
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do you think about him? Instead of just like trusting
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your gut or whatever they tell you. Um, one guy
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told me they had direct relationships with basically every major
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promoter in America. I mean, that's, usually typically every major manager.
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Another one told me they could have me opening for
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an arena tour within six months. Yeah, probably opening for
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their artist. And they got to get the label to
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pay for an opening spot. Another manager wanted me to
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sign an agreement before we even had our second phone call.
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That's crazy. And that one wanted 20% of basically everything
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I make. 20% is a little high. but it's not astronomical.
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He said the manager that wanted 20% wanted music shows, merch,
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brand deals, everything. Yeah, what did you... Like I said,
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it's a tad high. It's not like scam territory or anything.
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He says, I started asking him about his other clients
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and couldn't really verify half of what he was telling me.
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Why isn't your label... Why... He says another management company
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had this beautiful website with pictures of artists and all
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these industry logos on it. I assume those were their clients.
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Turns out most of them weren't. Yep. But you're with
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a major. See, here's the thing. This is why I
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think that there's some creative license with this email. You
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should have reputable managers. If you're signed to a major
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like you say you are, and I mean, I'm talking
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about like you say they're a major label. A lot
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of times people are signed to like their homies record
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label and they're like, it's major. We're going to do
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big things. But if you're signed to a major, you
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would have legit managers literally lined up out the door
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to work with you. You would have them because they
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want to get in good with that A & R director.
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You would have it because they already work with other
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artists on that roster and it's just an easy pass off.
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The fact that you are telling me you're on a
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major and you got to go through all of this
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on your own and it sounds like you got some
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pretty scammy people hitting you up. How are these guys
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even getting to you? But you've won awards. So then
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the label had to nominate you for an award to win,
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or the publisher did. And you have nobody in the
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industry that you can bounce these people off of before
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you even take a meeting. But you're signed to a
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major and you've won awards. He says about the website
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with all the people that they had apparently worked with
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some of these people in some capacity years ago and
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were presenting it like they managed them. That scared me.
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That's the one thing I, I mean, I've always fought
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my team on when it comes to like the Matrix
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Minute and buyouts for speaking gigs and everything is like,
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mention the artists you've worked with. And I'm like, I'm not,
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I mean, you know, I could talk about how I
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worked with an artist 20 years ago, but I could
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make it seem like I'm best friends with them now.
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I'm like, some of them I haven't talked to in
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10 years. And that's one of the things, like I've
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talked about that before. It's like, I got friends in
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this industry. I will never post a picture with them.
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I never use my friends and I never use my
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past work for my current work or present work. I
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just don't. I just feel I feel very slimy doing it.
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He says, I've also had people asking for upfront monthly fees.
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One wanted twenty five hundred dollars a month plus commission.
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Twenty five hundred dollars a month. Maybe that's normal in
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certain situations. It's never normal, my guy. It's twenty five
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for an artist on a major label who's won an award.
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He says, I feel like I'm in the exact point
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in my career where I genuinely need help, but also
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at the point where I'm becoming valuable enough that people
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are showing up who just want a percentage. Well, it's
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a manager. Most managers are lazy. I don't care how
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big the artist is. Because you get a big enough artist,
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you don't do anything. All you're doing is just blocking
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and tackling. You're not striking deals. You're waiting for the
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phone to ring. And I mean, the bigger booking agents,
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they don't even do outgoing calls. So they're not going
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to call on your behalf. He says, I don't want
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to sign with somebody because I'm overwhelmed and then spend
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the next three years trying to get out of a
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bad management contract. Okay. I don't believe you're signed to
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a major label. I'm just going to tell you that
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right now. I believe this is all crap. I believe
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you've probably had some success here in Nashville. You're probably
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like a neighbor of mine or something. I believe you
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probably had some minor success in Nashville. And you're probably
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signed to an indie label. Nothing wrong with that. But
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I don't believe you're signed to a major at all.
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I think this is crap. Because there is no major