Any business requires an understanding of what product or service it is providing and to whom it is providing it. It is a basic mission statement and helps maintain focus. With the mission established, it becomes the job of the manager to refine the definition of who the expected customers of the artist will be, to employ people and other resources to create a support team, and to develop a plan to create a relationship between the artist and their fans that includes commercial activity.
It is clear that among the most important functions of the artist manager is being the promoter and advocate for the artist and their talents. This is another way of saying that the artist manager is responsible for developing the artist as a brand, marketing the artist, and exploiting their talents—which is why this and many of the following chapters include sections on marketing and promoting the artist as a commercial entity. This chapter begins with a look at target marketing for the artist manager followed by the creation of the artist’s support team.
The job of artist management is to direct the career of an artist, and a very common activity of the manager is promoting and selling the musical talents of the artist to people willing to buy music and tickets to performances—this means that there is a lot of marketing going on. The manager must keep a constant understanding of what is driving the buying decisions of music consumers, especially within the genre of the artist, and must translate that information into revisions to the artist’s career plan. The manager should also be on the watch for opportunities to redefine the artist’s target market in order to build a larger fan base.
DEFINING AN ARTIST’S TARGET MARKET
A target market is made up of consumers and potential consumers with whom the artist’s music connects creatively and commercially, and they are the fans who have the willingness and means to buy music, tickets, merchandise, and related ancillary products from the artist. This target market makes up a segment of the larger general market of music consumers. In the marketing profession, targeting this smaller segment of a broader market is defined as market segmentation.
There are numerous ways to look at segments of a target market. The savvy manager will not assume that the marketing department of a record label is viewing the full career of an artist in terms of the label’s target market segment. As we know, the traditional function of a label is marketing and distribution with the goal of selling recordings—not necessarily selling tickets and merchandise (although 360 recording contracts have changed this). So it is important that artist managers keep a continuous look at trends in the genre, in music generally, at new product technology, and in pop culture to find all opportunities for their artists that might be in the marketplace. The manager should then adopt those opportunities into the formal career plan of the artist to be sure they have become integrated into the goals set by the manager and artist.
A good definition of market segmentation is “the process of dividing a large market into smaller segments of consumers that are similar in characteristics, behavior, wants or needs” (Hutchison et al. 2009, p. 20):
• The broadest way to view a market segment is to define it by demographics such as age, sex, race, religion, and other similar criteria. This is the segmentation type used most often because it is relatively easy and inexpensive to create a target definition and it can help create distinctive target groups, although it can be somewhat shallow when compared with other segmentation methods.
• Geographic segmentation is another standard method of defining consumer groups, but it doesn’t reveal as much about potential customer groups as other ways.
• Psychographics segmentation is viewing a market segment based on the lifestyle characteristics of the buyers of music and tickets.
• Behavioristic segmentation looks at why consumers engage with a product, how they use the product, and what creates their loyalty to the product.
The last two methods of segmentation that help define the target market for an artist require considerably more thought and ongoing research by the artist manager in order to be useful. However, artist managers who stay current in their understanding of generational attributes of the target market in areas of psychographics and behavioristic segmentation will be able to find subtle ways to reach consumers that competing artists will not. An extension of this is to be continuously aware of changes within peer groups that might establish new attitudes to find opportunities, or to head off a consumer group’s flight from favoring an artist. There is no question that psychographic and behavioristic segmentation approaches can be expensive to include in career strategy development for the artist; however, where resources are available, they can offer a distinct advantage over artists who don’t use these sophisticated tools to more closely define their target market.
An informed understanding of the target market segment can be one of the most productive and efficient tools an artist manager can use in managing the career of an artist.
A brand is typically the name of a product that consumers identify with in terms of the benefits it provides, so the artist’s name and everything associated with it create a brand name in the minds of the target market/fans with the benefits of being entertained and associated with someone many admire. The name of the artist is a distinct brand, and like all brands it becomes the sum of all of the experiences the fan has had with the artist’s music. Artists who present themselves as a brand, including the associated image, distinguish themselves from others because their music and performances are distinctly theirs. With the large array of cable music channels, video websites, and smartphone apps like YouTube, the artist is multidimensional and takes on the qualities of the purest form of a brand. Although brand identification with labels such as Chess, Motown, Atlantic, and Def Jam has created a certain expectation in the consumer over the years, the brand relationship the music and ticket buyer has now is with the artist, not with the label.
A key component of branding is image. A brand image is the way people feel about a product; in this case, the artist. It is their emotional attachment to the artist based on their music and performances and how people respond to them. The image of the artist should be a reflection of their own personal values, but then it should also be a reflection of the values of those who buy the music and concert tickets—the target market. The artist must also keep a contemporary look and sound in order to remain a good fit with current music. Pop culture moves quickly between trends, and it is important for the artist to maintain an image that doesn’t change too quickly or dramatically, yet is still in sync with the times and their fan base. We live in a world that requires us to filter tens of thousands of commercial messages every week to quickly determine whether they are relevant to us and our lifestyle (CNN, 2007). With such a continuous assault on our attention, we’ve become very adept at spotting phony communications that are pointed at the masses with little originality. It’s the same with today’s commercial music. As a brand, artists must be unique but fitting for the genre, consistent in the quality of their work, and genuine about their artistry. So it becomes the job of the artist manager to help artists refine their image so it has a commercial edge but still maintains the values the artists bring into their work.
The symbol of the brand comes in the form of a trademark or service mark or both. A trademark is a symbol that represents the brand and distinguishes it from other products. Artists who choose a symbol as their trademark should also trademark the text of their name in order to protect it in its commercial use. Where trademarks define the sources of products, a service mark gives the source of services, and in the case of artists whose service they provide is entertainment. Both kinds of marks generally are protected if they are regularly used in business, but for assured protection of their exclusive use by the artist they should be registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Related to trademarks is a doctrine referred to as an individual’s right of publicity. This generally means that people have the right to control the commercial exploitation of their names, their image or likeness, or some other distinguishing aspect of their person, even having a very distinguishable singing voice. In 1989, Bette Midler declined an offer to appear in an automobile commercial, so the advertising agency hired a sound-alike singer instead. Midler sued and won $400,000, with the court saying that she had a “property right to her distinctive singing voice” (US News and World Report 1989).
Many states, including California, New York, and Tennessee, have passed laws or accept the common-law practice of protecting a person’s right of publicity. This protects the exploitation of an artist’s brand or image for commercial purposes without permission to do so. In the UK, the principles behind the right of publicity have not been supported, although the courts are more willing to consider the concept today and research on the right to publicity continues at the University of Edinburgh, School of Law (Black 2010).
The ability of an artist to protect the commercial exploitation of their image ends at the newsroom and on the stages of late night comedians. When an artist is responsible for an event—good or bad—there’s an expectation that the news media may report it or comedians will exaggerate it whether or not the artist or the manager wants that to happen. The media have the privilege to report what they determine to be news about public figures like music artists, and are protected from lawsuits unless the artist can prove there was “actual malice” intended with inaccurate reporting (Hall 2014). And comedians are protected when their work is viewed as a parody, and audiences were never expected to view their comments as the truth. So it’s important for the artist manager to understand that the idea of “any publicity is good publicity” fails when an incident can tarnish an artist’s image, and damage control becomes your new full-time job.
A basic set of professionals is needed to help the manager keep the artist’s career on track, and it is the responsibility of the manager to assemble this group to support the artist. In recent years, the number of team members with nontraditional responsibilities has grown as large labels have consolidated, revised their earnings expectations, and reduced the amount of support they provide to an artist’s career.
The booking agent is the individual who connects an artist with most paid performances, and among the largest booking agencies in the world are the William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and Creative Artists Agency. A listing of some the other most active agents a manager will encounter on behalf of an artist would include the following:
AEG Live
Artist Group International
Bonus Management
International Creative Management
Live Nation Global Touring
Marshall Arts
Paradigm
Rock Steady Management Agency
Although agents book live performances, they are also often involved in negotiating for artists to appear in commercials, arranging tour sponsorships, and for appearances in television specials. Agents generally do not get paid from the sale of recordings or from songwriting, although there are a few exceptions to this. In all cases, however, an agent is the person responsible for negotiating the fee an artist will charge a promoter for a concert performance or for an entire tour. Some larger booking agencies have what is termed a “responsible agent,” who is the primary agent who receives offer letters for specific artists from promoters and then creates proposed contracts for bookings for the artist manager’s consideration. Artists are exclusive to agents for their performance bookings; meaning only one agent represents the artist for live performances.
The booking agent for major artists is required to coordinate available live performance dates with the manager and the record company in order to fill as many paying dates as possible—and to confirm that the artist is willing to commit to them. For their work as an agent, they are paid 10% of the value of the shows they book, so a $10,000 booking earns an agent $1,000. Some agents will reduce their fees for major acts and larger tours because even small percentages on booking a series of dates can generate considerable commissions for them.
As a practical matter, agents who book small venues may charge higher than 10% in order to make it worth their while to handle lower paying engagements. Typically, these small venues do not require the use of performance contracts required by the unions, although it is advisable to use union language to protect the artist. For the artist, it is always advisable to use some form of written agreement between the artist and the small venue, whether an agent is used for the booking or not.
Appearances on television talk shows are paid performances that do not involve the agent; they are instead usually handled by the artist’s publicist and manager. This kind of performance is considered promotional in nature, and payments to artists who appear are minimal compared to fees charged to promoters for concert appearances.
Nearly every activity the artist will have in the commercial side of the music business will involve promises in exchange for payment. How those promises are framed and how the compensation is planned become the heart of a contract; the advice of an experienced entertainment attorney can assure the interests of the artist are represented in business agreements.
The attorney who becomes part of the artist’s support team should be an entertainment lawyer and someone who is very familiar with today’s music business. The attorney must be a specialist with a daily working knowledge of contract provisions, an understanding of the personalities with whom they will negotiate, a solid reputation within the industry, and experience deep enough to be familiar with most of the circumstances an artist will encounter during their career. Some artists have relied on lawyers who are not within the mainstream of the music business, and that has been adequate for them, but the best advice to protect an artist’s career is to use the skills of one who is experienced and works it day to day.
U.S. entertainment attorneys will bill for their services on a per-hour basis—called billable hours—on a percentage gross of the artist, or on a project basis. In the UK, lawyers are solicitors and barristers. Some choose not to be regulated by the UK law society and instead serve as a legal consultant which gives them additional ways to be paid, such as earning a commission on advances given to the artist (Harrison 2008).
Publicists on the artist’s team work for the manager; they are the conduit to news and information from the artist to traditional, satellite, and online radio, television, cable, newspapers and trade magazines—both online and offline—consumer magazines, blogs, and to all pertinent destinations on the web. They have relationships with key information gatekeepers at relevant media outlets, and are trained and experienced in knowing the needs of editors and decision makers. They maintain databases of their contacts and understand how to get stories about artists placed in the media.
The major labels and many independent labels sometimes provide a publicist for the artist because they are interested in promoting a current recorded music project. But artists who are assigned a label publicist are sharing their attention with every other artist who has, or is planning, the release of a recording. As labels continue to reduce staffing to contain costs in a shrinking retail market, many managers now employ an additional publicist whose focus is only on the artist and who is under the direction of the manager. For a new artist who is in development, the manager will not likely choose to have a full-time publicist, but well-connected publicists are available who are willing to work on a project-by-project basis, thereby giving the manager a way to contain expenses in a budget, yet have a publicist on the team.
Publicists charge a few hundred dollars to write and distribute a news release. For part-time, ongoing services for an active artist, they charge between US$3,000 and $4,000 for three months, plus expenses. A full-time publicist becomes necessary when an artist releases a nationally distributed recorded music project, and costs for these services can be $4,000 per month or more. Another publicity-related cost is a photo shoot, and depending on the needs of the artist and the available budget, these can range from $500 to $10,000.
Digital media (online and wireless), compared to traditional media, take on their own definition most often in terms of how people use digital formats to communicate and acquire information and entertainment. And because artist management firms have employed traditional media in their business relationships, “digital media” as a team support function (as we define it here) has taken its place as a necessity in managing the careers of artists. When the veteran owner of a management company was asked whether he planned to use new media within his company, he replied, “I don’t understand it but I have no choice.” This was his acknowledgment that he needed to use strategies using digital media on behalf of his artists, even though it is an area in which he doesn’t have expertise.
Enter the manager of digital media. The most competitive artist management companies have a staff member who actively oversees the interaction of artists with their fans through their websites and through the various forms of social media. They oversee company content distribution for their artists, they track how users find and then interact with the company’s and artists’ websites, and they are the online eyes and ears for the artist brands managed by the company. A manager of digital media requires a broad understanding of the music business and keeps current on trends in the use of digital media by the target market of the company’s artists. For example, a digital media manager facilitates the development of an inexpensive smartphone application, or “app,” to keep fans easily and regularly connected to the artist. To borrow from M. P. Godfrey, you can think of a manager of digital media for an artist management firm as very much like a Swiss Army knife—one who understands fans and digital media, and the tools to help the artist interact with their fans using them (Weintraub 2009).
An artist’s music is played on terrestrial radio stations and their online counterparts primarily because radio promotion people are hired to build relationships with radio programmers and to urge them to play the artist’s music. It’s an expensive part of large independent and major label services to promote new recordings by their artists. However, some established artist management companies hire their own radio promotion people because labels can be selective which of their artists get the most promotion time, and it might not be the management company’s artist. For example, this author attended a major music business convention and congratulated a Warner Bros. radio promotion person on the release of a new artist’s single, and he wasn’t even aware that the music had been released to radio.
Smaller management companies often don’t have the resources to hire someone to do radio promotion and have no choice to but to rely on the label.
There are four business advisors who could eventually become part of the artist’s team. One of those is a banker. An artist will begin acquiring financial assets that require safekeeping, so a checking and savings account and a safe deposit box will be necessary tools. Likewise, artists will need credit cards for expenses on the road, access to lines of credit, and perhaps loans to help finance their career. Having a good relationship with a banker can assure that the artist will have access to these important financial tools. There are no direct charges by bankers for their advisory services, but they recapture their costs in the form of monthly account charges for credit, savings, and checking services as well as interest on loans and credit card balances. The global banking industry underwent sweeping regulatory changes resulting from the 2009–2010 recession, and it is important that the artist manager be aware how new regulations will affect the artist’s business. Continuing updates are available at the website of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (www.fdic.gov).
Another advisor an artist needs is someone who can recommend appropriate insurance coverage: artists need liability coverage for their mode of transportation going to and from performances; they will need general liability insurance to be sure that neither they nor anyone associated with the live performance injures someone accidentally; they will need life insurance for their family; and they will need insurance for equipment that is taken on the road and is used for performances. Charges for these policies will vary depending on how much coverage is needed by the artist, and the cost of an insurance advisor is the commission he or she earns when he or she sells the policies. An advantage of membership of unions like the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) or the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) is that they provide insurance coverage at a reasonable cost.
In the early stages of an artist’s career, the manager may handle the routine collection of earnings, making bank deposits and writing checks to pay expenses. But as the artist becomes more active and earnings increase, it will become necessary to hire an accountant to handle these matters. Accountants who specialize in the music industry have experience that will keep the artist from developing liabilities such as income tax in other states or other countries, and they can take away the accounting task, thereby clearing more time for the manager to focus on career development. Charges by accountants vary depending on the needs of the artist. At the beginning of an artist’s career, an experienced bookkeeper may be adequate to handle simple transactions and routine tax accounting, but as the career begins to mature, an accountant or a certified public accountant may be required, although their service charges are higher than the other options.
A business manager is someone who handles the income and expenses of an artist and who ensures that what remains after the bills are paid is deposited or invested in ways that build wealth for the artist. Some business managers are accountants, some are certified business managers, and some are certified public accountants.
Whatever levels of business management the artist requires, it is important that the reputation for honesty of the business manager is solid, and that both the artist and the manager have unwavering confidence in that person’s expertise. Artist management companies tend to have very small staffs, and often someone who receives money from the artist’s commercial activity is also the same person who deposits the money, and that person may also be the business manager. In the author’s experience, it is always advisable to have different people in the roles of office manager and business manager. Likewise, the person who handles the actual proceeds for accounts receivable should not be the same person who handles accounts payable, especially in small companies that have continuous income and expenses that vary, creating opportunities to hide theft by embezzlement. A small music industry company in Nashville had a full-time staff of four and the office manager was able to embezzle over $90,000 over a five-year period before her scheme was discovered. She went to jail for a period of time and was directed by the court to repay the money she took.
Just because your management company has a small staff, don’t be tempted to save money by not separating the duties of those who handle and then account for the artist’s earnings. An annual review of the company accounts by an auditor can add costs to the company but can help ensure the accountability of those whose duties include handling money.
Although there are other ways to compensate a business manager, those working in the music business typically charge up to 5% of the amount of money they handle on behalf of their clients with a cap on the amount they may earn.
Other team members of artist management firms can include individuals responsible for marketing, sponsorships, licensing, and branding. These functions are employed on a project-by-project basis with many small management companies whereas larger firms may have them assigned to current staff.
ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF BUSINESS FOR THE ARTIST
Artists have options that determine the formal business type they assume. As these alternative forms are presented for basic informational purposes, it is important to remember that those who will help the artist and manager decide which business form to use will be the artist’s attorney and accountant. It takes professional advisors to recommend a form that takes into account how the artist’s business will be organized and also offers the most favorable tax consequences among the alternatives. The following is very general description of the alternative business forms available in the United States, and although other countries use similar terms as those described on the following pages, the application of local law to the terms may be very different.
A proprietorship is the initial business form that a solo artist typically assumes. In this business form, individuals declare that they are in business for themselves, and they are their own bosses. They are not liable for anyone else’s actions except those who they hire. It is an easy business form to create, and there is little regulatory accountability to the government. The key drawback is that there is unlimited personal liability when someone chooses to sue the proprietor for accidents or negligence.
This business form is the most common chosen by new artists who are actually members of a named group of performers. This occurs when a group of people pool their talents and professional resources to become “an artist,” and a partnership is generally easy to form. Courts will support the right of any member of a partnership to act on behalf of all partners, but will also acknowledge that all partners are liable professionally and personally for any lawsuits brought against them. Partnerships in Canada permit limited liability members who take no active role in the partnership but whose liability exposure is limited to what they have invested in the partnership.
Most groups beginning their careers do not have a partnership agreement, although it is very important to have one. Something as simple as a handwritten agreement by the partnership members will serve to forestall some of the inevitable disputes that will occur between members. As an aid to groups who find themselves without a partnership agreement, Appendix B of this book includes an agreement form that gives guidance to bands or groups on forming a formal partnership. The contract forms suggested by this book or its website are for educational purposes, and are not intended to represent final contracts; in other words, always seek the advice of an attorney for the details of the agreement.
A corporation is a very formal business form. It requires filing a charter with a state’s secretary of state, often with the assistance of an attorney, and it is regulated by government. It is easy to transfer ownership of the shares one owns, and it protects and shields the artist from liability because a corporation is its own legal business entity. It doesn’t mean the artist will not be sued personally because of acts of the corporation, but it provides considerably more legal protection to the artist compared to a proprietorship or a partnership.
Limited Liability Company or Partnership (LLC)
Often, a limited liability company (LLC) is a very attractive alternative for an artist or a performing group compared to a corporation. An LLC operates and functions very much like a partnership but gives the members of an LLC the protection from personal liability in ways that a corporation does. Like a corporation, an application for an LLC is filed with the state’s secretary of state and a charter is issued. Depending on the state in which the LLC is chartered, it can even have a single member (North Carolina Secretary of State 2010). A variation of the LLC is the limited liability partnership, which carries many of the same attributes of an LLC. The limited liability partnership requires at least two members, and chartered LLPs in most states protect the individual members of a partnership from liability claims, although they are required to demonstrate adequate insurance and assets to settle any claims that might be brought against them. The United Kingdom has similar provisions, with their enactment of a law permitting the establishment of an LLP (Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000); however, Canada does not recognize an LLC as a domestic business form, and the use of an LLP in Canada is reserved primarily for professionals such as accountants and lawyers (Arvic Search Services 2014).
THE INTERNET AND WORLDWIDE WEB: A PRIMER FOR THE ARTIST MANAGER AND THE SELF-MANAGED ARTIST
The Internet and other digital media are viewed variously in the music business as being either the technologies that could ruin the recording industry, or the entities that provide new opportunities for music creators and performers. However you view them, the relevant components of the Internet and digital media must be parts of the promotional strategy for active participants in the music business. This section is included in this book to give artist managers and self-managed artists a very basic understanding of key Internet components and the terminology that will be useful when directing the work of digital media managers on behalf of themselves or their artist clients. A discussion of social media is included Chapter 4.
This book has limited space for this topic, so I recommend the second edition of a book titled Web Marketing for the Music Business, written by Dr. Thomas Hutchison, for very in-depth guidance on using the web for the marketing and promotion of music.
The Importance of a Domain Name
A domain name is simply the registered name of the artist with a .com (or similar) suffix, and registering it should be one of the first things a manager does on behalf of an artist. The domain name becomes the address to the most valuable piece of real estate the artist can own on the web. It isn’t necessary to have a physical website created or space on a web server in order to reserve and register a domain name. For less than US$20 per year, an artist’s name can be registered via sites such as Yahoo! and GoDaddy. Both services offer a free search service to see whether the artist’s name is available. When the artist’s name is registered, he or she then has a domain name reserved until the manager has the time and resources to arrange for the creation of the website for the artist.
Some artist names are easily misspelled by fans for visitors to a website, so it is always advisable to register all of the likely misspellings of the artist’s name, too. When the webmaster creates the artist’s website, they can cause the domain names with the misspelled derivations to be directed to the correct website.
What happens when someone registers a domain name that is the artist’s trade-marked name, and wants to charge a large sum to “sell” it to them? Can the artist be held hostage? There is a possible solution. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) can transfer the name to the artist, but it will be after there has “been agreement, court action, or arbitration” to provide them with terms of a settlement (ICANN 2014). The resolution questions that ICANN considers are as follows:
1. Whether the artist’s name is identical to that which has been registered by someone else.
2. Whether the artist has a trademark that creates rights in the name.
3. Whether the owner of the domain name has a reason to register it for his or her own legitimate business reasons.
4. Whether the domain name was registered in bad faith, meaning that it was registered with the intent of making money through resale.
In 2007, New Jersey graphic artist and designer Keith Urban (the graphic artist) was sued by Universal Music Group Nashville recording artist Keith Urban (the singer) for the right to use the domain name www.keithurban.com. The singer claimed he had the right to use the domain name because it is his trademark. The graphic artist pointed out to the court that he had registered his domain name in 1999 and has used it as the address to his website where he offers his graphic design and art services. In 2008, the two Keith Urbans privately resolved the dispute. Keith Urban the singer uses the .net suffix and the painter retains the .com suffix (U.S. District Court 2008). Clearly, as in any issue that is as involved as this one, the manager should always seek the assistance of an entertainment attorney.
When registering the domain name for an artist, always try first to register their name with the .com suffix. There are other suffixes, such as .net and .org, but web users are likely to try the .com domain name first to find the artist. If the artist’s name is not available, consider easy-to-remember alternative variations of a domain name that include the artist’s name.
A uniform resource locator (URL) is the web address for the artist’s website after it has been created and loaded onto a server. If the artist has a domain name of “yourartist.com,” it becomes a uniform resource locator on the Web when it takes on the URL, or address, of http://www.yourartist.com.
Web hosting services are companies that set aside file space for the artist’s website on their Internet servers. These servers are the physical location for the website, and it is from here that people using the web get access to it. The cost of space on a server like this depends on the amount of file space required for the artist’s website. For example, if the artist plans to feature large audio and video files, doing so will require a greater amount of space on the server. Costs for server space on hosting services is relatively inexpensive, so even larger files that showcase the artist provide promotional benefits than outweigh their costs. Remember, too, that there is no geographic limitation on where the hosting service is located. Find one on the web that has a good reputation and a competitive price—it can be located anywhere.
Some web hosting services say they are “free,” but the price the artist pays is having banners and other advertising sharing each page. Using so-called free hosting services sends the message to visitors that the site and the artist are amateurs.
Content for a website consists of all of the resources that are presented to the visitor to the website. Tom Hutchison has published a list of the basic elements of an artist’s website, which serves as an excellent guide for the artist manager to ensure that these key content elements are included on the site:
• A description and biography of the artist.
• Photos: promotional photos, concert photos, and other pictures of interest. This can include shots of the artist that capture everyday life, photos of the fans at concerts, and other photos that reflect the artist’s hobbies or interests.
• News of the artist: press releases, news of upcoming tour dates, album releases, and milestones such as awards.
• Links that connect to the artist’s presence on Facebook, Twitter, the label’s homepage, YouTube, and other important websites used by the target market.
• Discography and liner notes from albums.
• Song lyrics and perhaps chord charts.
• Audio files: these may be located on the purchase page.
• A membership or fan club sign-up page. This allows visitors to sign up for your newsletter, or to login to access to more exclusive areas of the site.
• Tour information: tour dates, set lists, driving directions, touring equipment list.
• E-store: a page for selling recordings, T-shirts, and other merchandise.
• Contests or giveaways.
• Links to other favorite sites, including links to purchase products or concert tickets, venue information, the artist’s personal favorites, e-zines, and other music sites. Ensure that all of your off-site links open in a new window, so the visitor can easily return to your site.
• Contact information for booking agencies, club managers, and the press.
• Message board for chat rooms: this allows the fans to communicate with one another to create a sense of community. This can be an area restricted to members.
• Blogs. A blog is simply a journal, usually in chronological order, of an event or a person’s experiences. Maintaining a blog of the touring experience is one way to keep fans coming back to the website to read the most recent updates to the journal. It also gives fans a sense of intimacy with the artist. Twitter is often referred to as a microblog because of the limited amount of text and links permitted in messages. Some artists discontinue Twitter because it can be a task trying to meet fans’ expectations for continuous interaction. It needs to be a good “fit” with the artist’s style in order to be an effective tool. There must be a commitment by the artist manager to ensure that the manager of digital media gives the site regular updates and maintenance doesn’t merely push promotional information. Using digital media should actually engage with fans and build a relationship with them.
A key feature that must be designed into the artist’s website is a way to capture information about visitors. This is done by using a “form,” which is nothing more than a page that opens on the site with spaces for visitors/fans to enter information that will be used to update them on the artist’s activities, such as upcoming album releases or tour dates that have been added to their schedule. Capturing information about visitors is perhaps the most important function of an artist’s website because it gives the manager and the record company the data necessary to specifically target people who have an interest in the artist.
Content on a website is simply a set of files that is organized by web design software. Creators of websites use hypertext markup language (HTML) to write code that generates web pages. There are also a number of software packages to create websites that are essentially drag-and-drop, meaning that they are developed and designed with mouse clicks and avoid the need to learn HTML. Among the more popular are Expression Web and Dreamweaver. The author maintains a website with links to sites and services noted in this chapter, a large free directory of artist management companies with hot links, and other information useful to an artist manager at www.artistmanagementonline.com.
Mining Digital Media for Information
Among the tactics used by labels of all sizes and many artist managers is visiting social networking websites to search for individuals who fit into the target fan base of the artist. Although it can be tedious, artist managers can find geographic information about individuals so they can email them when the artist will be in the area for a performance. They can also determine individuals’ musical tastes that are similar to the music of the artist by searching these sites for similar artists, and capturing the contact information of people who are fans. Communicating about tour updates, new music, and other news becomes a part of the routine that draws people to the artist’s website as well as to YouTube and to music streaming services.
An alternative to management seeking information to help build a fan base is having the existing people in an artist’s database contact others regarding important information about an artist. Rather than the management company providing news in the name of the artist, the fans themselves can send news and recruit others to join the artist’s database, sometimes referred to as “organically” building interest in an artist. The number of clicks that an artist’s work attracts is often used in promotional communications for “bragging rights.”
However, managers and self-managed artists should beware of what are known as “click farms.” These are companies that offer to build Facebook likes, Twitter followers, and YouTube views. For example, one company offers one million Twitter followers for $600, which are clicks from bulk domains registered on the web and owned by the “farms.” As of this writing, there are hundreds of companies around the world who offer this service, and officials have not been able to stem the growth. But there is a warning that goes with hiring companies like this: websites that catch companies or individuals using click farms often ban the click buyer from using their web service (Mendoza 2014).
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