Starting A Band

Starting A Band
Part Four: To Manage Or Be Managed
by Shane Bailey

Now is where it can get tricky, on both a business and personal level within your band. You would also have reached a point where, unlike before, the path to follow for original bands is likely to differ from that of cover or concept bands. Management for both is rather different, or at least should be. But before we go too far, at this point it's likely one individual within your group has, either by design or by chance, taken on the role of management in so much as they have organised your gigs so far for the most part or liaised with other bands for your undercard slot. Either that or you may have a good friend who has taken on the same role, with the best of intentions more often than not. It is far more efficient to have one person do most of this but this is where the trouble lies. Most who have spent any time in bands would be familiar with the following scenario or something similar. You've scored a well paying resort or mining town gig, or a low paying support slot in another city that's impossible to pass up. It's a fair hike from and you figure you may as well pick up some other shows in the area or as you work your way back home. So you roll into some one horse town you've never heard of too play the local footy club or pub your "management" has managed to pick up. As you drive through this ghost town the mood in the bus starts to change as the suspicion starts to rise that this may not be the best turnout you've ever seen. Up to the corrugated iron shed behind the local footy oval you roll, no one there to meet you. Eventually someone rolls up and you get inside to see what looks like a place that no one's been in for six months. This bloke who let you in starts stocking the somewhat humble looking bar and you start your load in, find one power point, and proceed to run power board after power board, extension cord after extension cord. Now the "who organised this &*^%%* show?" comments start to fly. So fast forward to the post-show, bugger all people turn out. They're a good crowd because their country kids pissed to the eyeballs, and even if they're not, such audiences rarely have the hang ups of the city crowds and always have fun. But all you end up with is a meager door taking and next to no merch sold as the rural folk would rather spend their hard earned on Bundy.

So post show the management (someone in your band or your friend) cops heaps for booking the show. Unfortunately that's human nature, but it's almost never fair nor warranted. They don't want to play shows were you're in the red and haven't made any marketing headway for your band as much as you don't, particularly when you're on the back of a few shows in a row and feeling pretty knackered. They're not to know the venue, and whoever booked you may have done absolutely nothing in terms of promotion, many things could have been the cause of a shocking turn out. But your band mate or friend cops it nevertheless. This is where things can get curly. It's not an easy job to do all you do in the band plus do the management. A band member in this role can fast start feeling a little used and abused. Same goes for a friend who might be doing it.

Now you're at the point of "never go into business with a friend". This applies for both your bandmate if they've been doing the management or your friend. Let the band mate be just that, a band mate, if the task of management is starting to get too complex. You can still manage your own merch and recording and all those sorts of things, but the promotion and booking could perhaps be handed over to a professional. And the friend? Well, they may, as I mentioned, have the best intentions but there are two factors to consider. First, you presumably want to retain them as a friend. If they keep the role of manager the law of averages suggests you won't be such good pals sometime soon. Whether it's their fault or yours. Secondly, are they actually any good at it? If they are maybe you can separate the business and friendship and see how it goes. If they are new to the whole thing just as you are and you don't have the time to wait for them to learn their craft and, most importantly, develop a network of venues, other acts and managers, and generally important people to you it may also be time to consider the professional route.

Now it really matters whether you're a cover or concept band or an original act. In either case, be cautious, but don't be too cocky when looking at management. Whether you believe it or not, you need them more than they need you at this point. You do need to choose wisely who you select to represent you, but at the same time, don't expect the list of candidates to be significant!

As a cover band your management would usually consist simply of someone who liases with bookers or is one and the same. Bookers represent venues and do what their name suggests, book the acts to play in those venues. If you're a good cover band you'll likely be kept very busy with only a small network of venues as they rotate their acts and you can be rotated through a series of venues to book your entire year quite easily if you're good. So if you are that good just go to one of the bigger entertainment representative companies in your area. IMMEDIA is a good place to start to find out about the relevant people. If you're interested in playing other areas either seek management in those areas too, or find management who has contacts in at area and can book there for you. If you're not looking to play more than once every week or two, or even less, yes, you can manage yourself pretty comfortably if there are enough venues in your sort of preferred area. If you're not stretching too far afield you're unlikely to encounter the nightmare scenario detailed earlier on. If this is the case for you you're pretty much set. Just start ringing around the venues and find out who their bookers are. Some bookers would be more than pleased to hear from you if you're good, others you might find less accommodating if they're the types that manage their own stable and essentially double dip on the management fee for the band and the booking fee for the venue. They'll urge you to sign with them as management and will more than likely get bent out of shape if you don't and not book you for the venue(s) they represent. If it's worthwhile signing with them then go for it, if not, screw 'em, if there are enough venues they don't book around you'll be fine.

As an original band things can get a little more complex. What are generally referred to as bookers for cover bands are replaced by promoters in the original game. Their affiliations with specific venues can be much more formal than with bookers for cover act venues. Good ones have their pick of venues if they consistently deliver good shows. And you'll likely have a relationship with far more promoters than you would bookers as an original band. At the end of the day, you haven't got the luxury of sticking to your own area you know well have a ready crowd. You have to spread your live show to far more areas to prosper. So, on the one hand you need to start to get in amongst the promoters everywhere. A good way to do this is through the band's that this promoter seems to have on their bills often. In the first instance you'll probably pick up some shows liaising with these promoters just as you, hopefully, have done so by liaising with other bands up to this point. You're just stepping up a level. A "manager" in the sense of your live stuff needs to come in when the list of promoters gets too big for the aforementioned quasi-manager in your band mate or friend to handle comfortably. Remember, those nightmare scenario gigs can still occur, but at least you can blame a separate entity in the promoter or manager than your band mate or friend. And they can have a go at whoever they want then, at least you have it off tour chest :)

A manager of an original band can also have their role extended if things are going well. Likely it's because they have managed to develop a good network of promoters and venues and more shows you play means more shows they get paid for. They can then take on their own role of promoter and start booking you your own headline shows with substantial undercards and so on. Then the more shows you play the more work that is needed from them to start getting into the organisation of sound, equipment in places where you won't be taking your own, transport, accommodation, a whole raft of things that, if you're making a bit of money or your focus is on recording, writing, some other sort of cross promotion, or a myriad things you can have going on in an emerging, prospering original band, you can have the luxury of someone doing it for you.

I'm getting ahead of the game a little there, there's a long, long road to that, if you ever find that road. Just keep an eye on the road far ahead, but never take your eyes off the road immediately in front of you. Don't get all "rockstar" yet, like I said earlier, at this point if you are at the point of seeking representation on a professional level and you're a new act, you need management more than they need you. I've had my share of shaftings from management in the past, so anyone who knows me would hardly label me as someone as who champions the cause of managers, but I do know their role is vital in the business of music. Selecting the right management, for you, is critical, but don't shoot for Glenn Wheatley just yet, prove yourself with someone in your league, just make sure they know what they're doing, or at least that you can find some references to them acting ethically and in the interests of their artists. Ask the acts they represent, or in the case of bookers (although your relationship with them is less critical as all you need doo is roll up and play a good show and you've done their job and they theirs) find other bands who have played their venues and find out if anything untoward has ever gone down. Generally it's payment dramas in these situations, so you want to know ahead of time if someone is habitually late in paying, or doesn't pay at all, invoices presented them by the acts they've booked.

If you've gotten this far you've probably learnt a whole lot more than what we've covered in the past four articles, sometimes the hard way, but there's a whole lot more to learn yet. Again if you've come this far successfully, I've no doubt there are people around you who will be able to teach or advise on all those things that come up. And if you don't you'll find them soon enough. Keep your head down, practice your craft the best way you can, and always keep an eye on what those people you pay are doing. Not only to make sure they're doing what's in your interest, but to learn from them. The best ones have so much to offer that they can be the most critical people you may ever come across in the course of your career.

Part One: Where Do you Start?
Part Two: Is It All About The Music?
Part Three: Time To Get Gigging