Many hip-hop artists who fall off the face of the earth in a matter of weeks after having a hit single come up with every excuse under the sun as to why they "were slept on." Most of them blame their record label that they didn't market the album they way they wanted, or maybe the label choose the "wrong second single" and now the fashionable thing to do is to blame the public themselves for only being into "ring tone rappers" and that WE as consumers don't know what "real hip-hop" is.
In reality, the # 1 reason that artists fail to achieve any long term success in hip-hop is the choice of MANAGER that they choose. You have to look at it this way, if you as an entertainer are a company. Why would you hire somebody with little or no experience to be the President and CEO of that company? The # 1 line I use (which I stole from Jay Mohr who plays agent "Bob Sugar" in Jerry McGuire) is that its "Its not show-friends…..its show-business!" So don't hire your friends to run your company. Hire somebody with experience.
Too many rappers want to hire a guy to manage them who is usually a long time friend of theirs and they trust that this person probably won't steal any money from them once the cash starts rolling in. Ok, fair enough. But what experience does this person have in guiding the careers of any artists before them? Zero, none, nada, zip. Do you think it was just by coincidence that 50 Cent became a star after he made the decision to hire Chris Lighty and his Violator staff to manage him? (A man and a company that has been guiding hip-hop artists to stardom for the past 20 years). Some may say that well "50 had Dre making beats for him." Well so did Truth Hurts and dozens of other west coast rappers in the 90's…..but where are they now?
Those same rappers that use that aforementioned "my record label didn't market me right" excuse should look no further than their own manager to blame for that. It's your manager's job to guide your career and not let your label decide what choices you should be making with your career. Your manager should be on the phone with the label every day telling them what plans you already have in place and not waiting for them to decide. Record labels should not be telling you what cities you should be in to promote your album at any time whatsoever. The label should be presenting your manager suggestions and ideas but at the end of the day, it's your call what you should be doing to promote you, your album and your career. In this day and age, how many record labels executives are even thinking long term with the state of their business? So it would be a stretch to think many of them have your long term career interests in mind beyond this week's sales numbers.
One of your manager's most important duties is to find you the right booking agent to book your concert tours and appearances. Not many artists are making money off album sales these days so show money has become your # 1 source of income as an artist for the time being. The record label should have absolutely no say in this decision whatsoever. This is where even the biggest of hip-hop artists make mistakes. You see, in rock and roll or pop music, artists choose 1 booking agent to work with. That's it…one (for each territory of the world that is. For example North America, Europe, Asia). By choosing one booking agent to help guide your career hand in hand with your manager, you gain the trust, loyalty and respect of that one agent that he will work day and night to make sure you are placed on the right tours as an opening act early in your career and work with promoters, club owners and talent buyers across the world to build you up to the point where you can headline your own tours a few years down the line.
90% of hip-hop acts are listed on the rosters of anywhere between 3 to 10 different agencies booking rosters. This simply doesn't happen in any other genre in the music business. Not in rock, pop, jazz, country as they all have 1 agent representing them…..it's only in hip-hop?
When an artist and his manger show that type of loyalty to "their" booking agent….what type of loyalty do you expect in return? Its like if your girl finds out you've been fucking with 6 other woman behind her back. How do you honestly expect her not to fuck that dude from down the street that she knows you can't stand? It's the same thing with an agent. If you are not in an exclusive relationship with them, they simply won't put any effort into helping your career unless the phone rings at their office to book you. They simply will not make any out going calls to get you to headline a festival like Coachella or Glastonbury or take any meetings to try to drum up sponsorship money from corporations on your behalf to help further your career and get you paid. Why should they? In rock music, big time booking agents like CAA, Paradigm or The Agency Group will develop a band from the time they are worth $100 a night to the point they are worth $100,000 and beyond because they know that loyalty between them and the artist manager exists in their working relationship. Sometimes they will sign a contract for a set period of time with that agent and occasionally it's just a hand shake deal. It's like a marriage in a sense between the agent and manager and the artist is like the "kids" and the two of them are going to work their asses off to put clothes on your back food on you table.
It puzzles me why hip-hop artists and managers won't sign exclusivity deals with agents early on in their career yet many sign the worst recording contracts known to man with the shittiest record labels imaginable. It's like they are always looking to fuck the hotter chick even though they know they have something good at home when it comes to agents. But their record labels are like that fat nasty girl that every one of your boys has already fucked......yet you love her and stay loyal to her at all costs? Amazing isn't it.
You look at an artist like Snoop who has an excellent management TEAM (not dude...team. The Firm who also manage Ice Cube, R. Kelly, David Banner, Backstreet Boys, Enrique Iglesias etc....you see a pattern here?) behind him and has also one booking agent for North America…that's it.....one (Brent Smith @ the William Morris Agency). I'm sure Brent comes to work every day with the comfort of knowing that he gets to plan out Snoop's touring schedule for the next 2 to 3 years in advance….with the right shows/tours in mind that will be in the best interest of Snoop and his career for the long term and not simply a cash grab of 10% from an artist that is probably taking show offers from 6 other agents across America and Canada. If a company/brand like Cadillac or Coor's Light approaches an agent like Brent and says "we have a lot of $$$ and we want to sponsor a hip-hop artist or tour." Which artist do you think Brent is going to try and push to these companies to make sure they get paid? An artist like Snoop whom he has worked with to develop for many years who he knows is exclusive to him…..or the rapper who is listed on 6 other agencies and takes show offers from anybody with $10,000?
You also need to look at the Minneapolis act Atmosphere. These guys seem to be constantly touring and selling out 1500 capacity clubs all over the globe yet they have never had a commercial hit single, never had a song on 106 & Park and have never gone platinum anywhere. How can Atmosphere play 150 shows a year in and year out when an artist like Mims had a monster hit and is nowhere to be found these days? Well, they did it by finding a booking agent (Christian Bernhardt now with The Agency Group) that was committed to booking them gigs from the time they were worth $100 and played gigs to 50 people. Then came back to the same city 6 months later and played for 100 people...and 6 months later for 200.....and you get the drift. They didn't demand outrageous fee's upfront but simply had their agent put them in the right clubs with the right promoters in every city in North America. I'm sure they took less money in certain cities when they could have played for money in competing clubs but they stayed loyal to the promoters who took a chance on them when they were only worth $500 and now Atmosphere, the agent and their promoters are all reaping the benefits. These promoters now had a vested interested in seeing this act succeed due to the loyalty they have showed in return.
"Makes sense don't it….now make dollars" (see…. I too can quote rap lyrics).
Managing your business relationships is very similar to how you manage your personal relationships with your girlfriend or wife. The respect and ethics still apply if you want that relationship to work long term. (Please note that I have 2 baby mama's.... and I'm white.....so take everything I say with a grain....check that....bag of salt)
So if you are an up and coming hip-hop artist and you have reached a point in your career when you think its time you need a manager (when that point is will be an entirely different blog). Think about what experience this person has. The person doesn't necessarily have to have artist management experience because that's not easy to find. Especially if you are an artist that doesn't live in a major city like New York, LA, Toronto or Atlanta. But they must have some sort of experience so that they understand how the music business works. Maybe the person could have worked at a label for a while, perhaps a club or concert promoter or maybe this person was an artists themselves in the past and has a good understanding of the business because they would have a great insight as to what things they could have done differently than their own career and hopefully can make the right choices for you on your path.
Choose any of these people over "Homeboy Management" or even the industry nightmare of "Momangers" (people who let their Mom's manage them…..yes this actually happens!) and you will be on the path to a long career in music. Going back to a career in the factory can be a pride swallowing experience after you've 'partied like a rock star' in Vegas or Miami with Diddy.
And remember.....ITS NOT SHOW-FRIENDS...ITS SHOW-BUSINESS.
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Chris McKee
Chris has worked in the music business for over 13 years and is now a booking agent based in Toronto that has put together concert dates and tours in Canada for the likes of Rihanna, Busta Rhymes, Black Eyed Peas, Obie Trice, Ludacris, The Roots, Royce Da 5'9, Lloyd Banks and dozens more. You can find him at www.myspace.com/mckeeagency or mr.mckee@telus.blackberry.net
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