Recording - February 2011 - 62

By Todd Gascon and Bruce Kaphan

Chapter 11: Managers—part 2
The artist-manager relationship can be complex, as Bruce Kaphan outlined last month in Part 1 where he addressed the topic from the artist’s point of view. Now it is time to hear from the lawyer—over to you, Todd Gascon.
As Bruce discussed last month, the manager is an individual who guides, directs, nurtures and develops the artist helping you reach your professional and commercial potential. (We’ll use the term “artist” to describe solo artists and bands alike, and from here on out in this article, we’ll be addressing the artist as if the artist is you, the reader.) Among other things, the personal manager helps you with major career decisions, assists in the creative process, organizes and manages tours (not to be confused with a road manager, who manages the day-to-day details an entourage encounters while touring), often negotiates the material business terms of recording, publishing and/or merchandising agreements, oversees artist promotion, and acts as liaison to all third parties. Simply put, the personal manager is perhaps the single most important person in your professional life. There are a number of important terms in a personal management agreement. For purposes of this article, we will focus on those key provisions to which you would want to pay particular attention. Scope of Employment As Bruce explained, an artist’s relationship with his/her manager is typically exclusive; meaning this person will be your manager, and no one else, during the term of the agreement. In the majority of agreements the manager will provide management services to the artist throughout the world. However, it is not uncommon for an artist to have a manager in the U.S. and another in Europe or other specific territories. Term of Agreement The length of the agreement can vary widely depending upon the artist and manager, by the stage the artist is at in his/her career. A typical agreement can range from 3 to 5 years. Although this is a common method of defining the term, if you’re signed to a record label, my preference is to tie the term to an album cycle as defined in the recording agreement. By “album cycle”, I mean the period of time during which you are to record and deliver the album to the label, through the subsequent tour supporting the album’s release.
62
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2011

By defining the term this way, the manager will be working with you during the time when the need for a manager’s guidance and assistance is greatest; e.g., which songs to record, which producer to use, album artwork, marketing, promotion and publicity campaigns, etc., etc. If the term is defined in years, you could run the risk of the manager’s term ending during the album cycle, which could have deleterious effects on ongoing efforts—remember, an album cycle can last well over a year. As many of you know, an album cycle commences when the label releases the album. So, if the album cycle is defined as “12 months from initial U.S. release” and it takes 4 months to record the album and another 4 months for the label to release it, it’s easy to conclude that an album cycle could last almost 2 years. If all your albums are recorded and released on a similar schedule and you are obligated to deliver 5 albums to the label, your management agreement could run close to 10 years! Despite this possible outcome, to me it makes the most sense to have your management deal track the album cycle (as defined in your recording agreement) since the manager’s obligations to act as your liaison with the label are of critical importance, particularly in issues that may arise such as requests to increase the recording budget, approval of album artwork, marketing campaigns, which single to release first, etc. Aside from the definition of the initial term, your manager will want an option to extend the contract for an additional period of time. Under most management agreements, an option is for an additional 1-year period (or album cycle). How these options are triggered is important and often heavily negotiated. If you’re just beginning your musical career, you may want to define certain goals that must be reached before an option may be exercised, or triggered. One of the most common triggers is the requirement that the manager secure a record deal for the artist. Another trigger is performance plateaus tied to the exercise of any option (e.g., you must earn a certain gross income, which may be expressed in a set dollar amount or a percentage increase in gross income from the previous year. Here is an example:

Recording - February 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - February 2011