The ‘Role of an Artiste Manager’ by Toks Young Umezulike

A manager is the first buffer between an artiste and the world. As an artiste manager you are your acts biggest supporter. You are his biggest fan as well as his biggest critic. You have to support your artiste fully and always. Your support for him/her must be blind like love. If you don’t support your artiste ? How then do you expect others to support him/her too. As a manager you have to give your all if possible to your artiste’s career. Sometimes artistes feel they know it all and they are very selfish and protective of their music and as such refuse to see/hear the voice of reason at times. You have to humour him/her sometimes, encourage, direct, explain and always look for ways to make his next performance better than the last one. It is your job to observe every performance, the crowd reaction and his stage craft with a view to discussing with him/her on ways to improve or better his craft. Your job isn’t just to handle logistics, negotiate terms, sit and wait for bookings or opportunities to come your way, it also includes going out of your way to explore and exploit every opportunity or chance that you feel will expose your artiste to better times, good income, better music & performances and better days.

There’s nothing wrong with an artiste performing a FREE SHOW as long as it will benefit your artiste positively help him/her grow and add value to his brand/career. It might not be immediately but if you perform the right free event sometimes it can open doors quicker than a lot of paid gigs. Also without free shows or non paying events how else do you expect an artiste to hone and perfect his performance and stage craft? How then will he/she look back and realize the things he/she could have done better so that next time they can truly kill the show proper not just by word of mouth. Nothings teaches better than experience, no matter how much an artiste rehearses it won’t be the same as actually performing live on stage and what better way to get that than at a free event/show. A lot of managers and artistes assume that free shows are a waste of time cos it won’t make them any income or money but they are totally incorrect. 

The problem isn’t that the show is FREE, the problem is that you put your artiste on a show/event/platform that doesn’t suit his genre of music or his style of performance. E.G you know your artiste’s strong point is live performances yet you allow him/she do a backing track performance. Or you know that the event is a street event not an intimate setting style gig yet you let your artiste who is a singer & vocalist perform just  cos you wanna say he killed the show ??. Every artiste feeds of his audience/fans energy and if they are giving off a negative one sometimes it can mess up a performance if the artiste isn’t an experienced/seasoned performer. So if you put your artiste in front of the wrong crowd you can kill his vibe and confidence. 

As a manager you have to always learn from those around you, sometimes observe other colleagues at events or gigs and try to add what you learn to what you already know. Read, study, watch and learn from those before you and always try to be friendly with other colleagues especially at events and when in doubt never hesitate to ask questions. Also remember what works for artiste “A” may not work for artiste “B” cos each artiste is unique and peculiar in their own way so always do what will suit your artiste.
I can go on and on but the simple truth is that many of those who call themselves managers are merely assistants. Nobody is perfect and none was born a manager but as long as you are open to learning and can easily adapt and improve everybody can be a good/great manager. 

About the author:

TOCHUKWU TOKS YOUNG UMEZULIKE aka Toks Asher Young as he is popularly known is a Nigerian music and entertainment veteran, who made his bones working with Storm 360/Storm Records – an indigenous music label which spawned artistes like Naeto C, Sasha P, General Pype, L.O.S & Yung6ix.

He is an Artiste/Talent Manager, A & R consultant and Co- Founder/Managing partner at Podium Worldwide aka Poduim Vybez.
He specializes in nurturing and managing budding talents. An emerging Poet & Writer who loves travelling, making friends, networking and building new connections. He is a firm believer in Nigerian and African musical talents and fierce promoter of good music.

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