1. Determine if you really need management. You might not!
I have known many fine singers who never had management and had perfectly good careers, but it’s the ultimate goal to join your artistic energy with someone versed in presenting and selling your gifts—someone who can negotiate your contracts, take care of all the details associated with the contracts, get others to see your work, coordinate auditions, keep tabs on your career goals, and design the direction of the present and the near future. A manager can be someone you trust who will be honest with your progress, and when challenges arise, your manager can help negotiate the situation with you. So yes, it’s a wonderful partnership that can broaden your horizons. Certainly, artists may have complaints about their managers. But most artists seem to see that management can truly enhance their careers.
2. Get something to manage before seeking management.
When I ask my manager friends how a singer should prepare for management, they mostly say that “a singer is ready for management when there is something to manage,” which in my opinion means experience performing with professional opera companies and symphonies. Sometimes a younger singer might need management if he or she has a fabulous special talent that needs guiding and guarding, and a manager is willing to let the singer grow and develop on the list. The manager will begin to sell you as you are ready to be managed.
The advice I would give to singers preparing for management is to work your technique until it’s almost perfect, know whole roles in your proper voice category (coach your music so that your personality comes through the music), work and study languages so your facility is excellent, and learn to audition well. You have to be ready “almost at any moment” to audition whenever you can.
Today’s artists for the most part go through Young Artists development programs which allow them to mature while performing. At the end of the program they are almost ready for management. Those who don’t get into the programs have a huge responsibility to get the same kinds of experience elsewhere. Many get a master’s degree and perform in a college situation or smaller regional companies where they might be seen by management or be recommended for audition by teachers and coaches. In short, preparation for the profession is the young artist’s primary responsibility.
3. Catch the eye of management by performance or by recommendation.
As you gain experience, the word often gets “out,” in my opinion. It is a small business when it comes to management knowing about young performers coming up the ranks in the profession. My personal belief is that experience, supreme talent in a special area, voice, dramatic flair, powerful personality, fabulous musicality, and understanding of music will get a young artist noticed. It is a gift, an understanding and love of words and expressing them through music, etc.
Managers would probably best like to see artists in performance. Sometimes an audition is possible through recommendations. Cold auditions usually don’t lead to management. Get your materials together; get your audition package together. Be ready to accept work and mature enough to handle success and the stresses of a career, and you may be ready to attract a manager. Your audition is very important in catching the eye of a future manager. Sometimes managers will recommend you to other managers that might be more appropriate. If you have no professional experience, you will not want to present yourself to top-flight managers. Wait and present yourself at a later date when more of the criteria are together.
4. Match your manager to your personality before signing on the dotted line.
Some singers ask, “How can I tell the difference between a good and a bad manager? That is an amusing question. There really are good managers for top-flight professionals, and there are good managers for your particular needs. But management is sometimes a matter of personal taste—like tastes in food. What might be fabulous for one person might be poisonous for another. Of course, there are generally good managers that have withstood the test of time and have great track records with many professionals. These managers are fair. They don’t overcharge with retainers.
Classical Singer did a study of management a few years back, which I found wonderful. [Editor’s Note: Management, The Book] It asked singers the most important criteria for a good manager, and some smaller management firms actually won the “contest” for finding great work for many of their artists consistently, being menschlich with presenters and artists alike, having great track records for building careers—does that answer the question? Know if you like an aggressive or genteel manager representing you. Do you need time to grow, or someone who pushes you when they feel you are ready? Do you want to have a somewhat lower profile while you develop, or be on a prestigious list with visibility? How about control? Some managers like complete control, while others assume a partnership. What is your personal preference? How about if your manager has strong feelings about teachers, coaches, and your development? It’s very important to answer these questions as you go along, before you decide to be managed. Most managers would rather have a low-maintenance artist, but sometimes a high profile and successful artist comes with high expectations. The manager needs to answer that for him/herself in terms of involvement.The singer/manager relationship requires care and creativity.
5. Learn the benefits and drawbacks of going with a small versus a large management firm!
I think that again personal taste, experience, connection with the managers, voice category, and personality of artist and managers all determine what works for the artist.
Value and ability, not size of the firm, seem to sell a manager or management firm. Managers should have a knowledge of the business. They should be getting opera and concert work for singers on their list. In this way they establish their credibility. The ambitious nature of the artists themselves is also important. Artists should show a willingness to be a partner in management. Ideally, an artist will create more work by their presence on the list and make the manager’s job easier. Singers should look at the artist’s list for each manager being considered. [Editor’s note: You can see this list in the book Musical America, available at the CS office.] Ask artists who have management about them and network about management with trusted professionals.
Know whether you will be a short term cancellation person for a few years on a larger list, or hold a more prominent position on a smaller list. It works well both ways. It’s a matter of chemistry, and it may take a few times to get right as you develop. On the other hand, you may luck into a manager for life right away, which to me would be the very best way. However, it’s not always possible.
Some managers with a smaller list feel they can personally attend to the needs of their artists in a major way. A larger list may have some very established singers who only need their contracts serviced and calls for work fielded, as well as younger artists who are still growing and need auditions. Some managers have a full staff to do publicity, travel, housing, visas, etc., while amazingly, smaller management firms also seem to cope with all these for their artists. There are more commonalities between large and small firms these days. Some managers have European counterparts who work in depth for them abroad, and vice versa in the States. Others might have world management in Europe and then connect with management in the states.
6. Learn about contracts.
Most managers offer a standard three-year contract with an option for renewal and an escape clause if things don’t work out well. Have someone who knows legalese read that contract and check it, but basically it is pretty straightforward. Most managers charge 10 percent for opera work and 15-20 percent for concerts and recitals. There will be some charges for the Musical America ad, some charges for costs relating to contracts already booked in most cases, phone, materials, publicity, and mailing charges, etc., but most managers do not charge huge retainers. It is painful to see young artists take out loans to pay for the early part of their careers. On the other hand, the costs for creating someone’s career early on are huge. It takes many calls to get a contract, and the payoff may be two seasons away, so in the interim the money from a retainer fills the gap and helps the manager run their business. It is possible to negotiate some terms within the contract or to add a rider if there is a sensitive area. Most managers are amenable to this. Also there are some managers that don’t issue contracts, relying on mutual understanding between the manager and artist. Some managers will wait for six months to see if it is a good match before issuing a contract.
7. Know your management’s responsibility.
To get work, to get opportunities to audition for work, to negotiate contracts, to follow up auditions, and to help orchestrate the development of your career. To look for fabulous new possibilities…to “make money” for you and themselves, to see you through the tough times, to suggest new coaches or a new voice teacher if there is a problem, to be honest with you, to negotiate higher fees when you are ready, to deal with tax issues, to arrange housing and travel for contracts, and to deal with amazing amounts of paperwork relating to your career and growth. To make sure that the artist’s materials stay current and send them out as needed in complete package form—photo, résumé, bio, reviews, other pertinent materials. To create and “re-create” the mystique of this artist through their career. To know when it’s “the end” and to suggest a way to release a career in the most respectful way—to be a visionary for the artist.
A manager needs to establish trust, honesty and sense of integrity in work. It is not the manager’s responsibility to be your confidant, your financial advisor, your therapist, or your parent, although that may happen as a by-product of the relationship.
8. Know your responsibility in a management situation.
To be ready emotionally, physically, vocally, and experientially for a professional career, to be mature enough to handle success (or to get help to resolve issues if necessary) to know the repertoire, to learn new appropriate repertoire, to be prepared for auditions and even more for professional work, to be a good team player when out on a job, to be ready for the amount of work necessary to be a successful artist, to be ready to study as much as necessary. As a singer you should be willing to coach, invest in your own career, take on other work if necessary in the down times or to pay for career needs, to have clothes appropriate for auditions, TO HAVE JOY IN SINGING, to know the stage, to be flexible musically and dramatically in order to work with directors and conductors, to be able to compete in the best sense, to grow and develop, and to be patient.
In other words, as I see it, the singer’s role and responsibilities are tremendously important. This is what I coach and teach in my work. It is hugely important for the singer to maintain personal relationships in the business. Build your contacts and relationships, and you will help your manager “sell” you. It is important for singers to know the business. Learn about opera companies, impresarios, and choral groups. Learn about the operas themselves. Attend performances. Learn about the business of opera, as well as every aspect of your art and artistic personality. Maintain a freshness and a newness with each assignment, even if it’s your tenth production of Carmen or third different English translation of Cosi. Be a risk-taker when necessary, and above all, know yourself.
9. Use your manager once you have them.
Ask questions. Make your needs known. Be willing to be a partner. I cannot say this strongly enough. Discuss repertoire; discuss a timeline for moving your career along. Sing your audition repertoire for your managers. Offer to sing portions of whole roles whenever they might have a moment to listen; it helps them to sell you. Call at least once a week, but not every day. Know your manager and best times to reach them. Fax and e-mail can be beneficial. Keep pursuing your own contacts—i.e your hometown symphony or choral organization—and then turn over those prospects to your manager. Be willing to keep your materials updated. Get new photos as necessary. Make a review file and get the reviews to your manager. Keep communications open regarding voice teachers, coaches, language coaching, auditions, and travel plans. For example, if you are going out to California, your manager can set up auditions. If you live outside of the New York area, be willing to travel as necessary to New York or wherever the auditions are being held.
10. Listen to your manager’s career plan.
If you have established a basic trust—and that is absolutely a necessity to success in management—listen to the manager’s career plan for you, and discuss it. The plan will change through the years as you gain experience and as your voice matures. The manager may have a vision for you that you might not have. On the other hand, I counsel artists to remain a partner and not to relinquish all power. Partnership is extremely important in the singer/manager relationship.
One manager I knew would decide which roles his artists needed and when his artists would need to sing them and then book the artist into four to five theaters where they could perform these roles! If your manager books you in Europe you will get a chance to “season” a role by doing 10-15 performances in a season, which is a luxury as you build your career. This is a wonderful opportunity for artist and manager to create your career in a most personal way.
11. Remain manageable.
This, to me, is one of the most important challenges of getting and keeping management: to remain manageable, whatever that entails—musically, expressively, physically, and emotionally—to grow and develop as you are managed. Singers should be honest and ask questions. Be willing to constantly do the work necessary. Have a positive outlook and patient personality. Embrace rejection.
