If you’re a musical artist and you start to do well, the point will come when you need a manager.

The manager is the person who looks after all the business stuff so the musician can get on with the business of making music…managers deal with booking gigs, marketing, promotions, promoters, publicity, support staff and road crews.

They collect the money and pay the bills…and the oversee all the infrastructure of your career: lawyers, accountants, and all the other people involved in running the business that is you and your music.

But it doesn’t stop there…managers can also function as advisors, sounding boards, fixers, father and mother figures, referees, bail bondsmen, bouncers, psychologists, and even amateur physicians and pharmacists—for good or for not-so-good reasons.

They need to be on top of trends, have all the right connections, understand audiences, be able to navigate record companies, and translate contracts…it can be a 24/7 job.

Bottom line is that a manager can make or break a career…they are incentivized by their commission, which is usually somewhere around 15%...the more you make as an artist, the more they make…if they’re good at their job, your career grows and the money roles in.

These are the stories of nine managers who have had an impact—mostly good, but also, you know, not-so-great.

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