Death by the Manager

The night before last, I was invited to a watch an up and coming artist perform at a local lounge. His manager and I have mutual friends so I went to support her, see what her artist was about, and see what kind of networking I could do. The show was cool, but this is not really the story.

I’m not sure how many of you go to the lounges with the open mic/ poetry nights with the incense burning, Erykah Badu/Jill Scott spin offs that my Atlanta crew affectionately call the “Towelheads, because of the super Afro-centric head wraps, and the brothers that are the greatest at putting a thrift store outfit together, keep some organic body oils and only drink Guinness and Red Stripe. I can’t tell you how many nights I spent in those joints. My homeboy spent at least three nights a week in different spots like that while on the hunt for his big break. I call him the hardest working man not necessarily in show business. These are the places that the havens and nesting spots for tight circles of starving and struggling artist to hone their craft and hopefully make a big enough name for themselves to go on to the big leagues. The circles are real tight and sometimes getting on the list and having the MC stick to the list can make you want to forego the “love” in the place and get downright animalistic.

Over time, the “El Natural” brothers and sisters have shared some of the space with the educated and sophisticated starving artists. There is one thing that hasn’t changed though and that is the arrogance and the “I’m on the rise, so look for me at the top” attitude that these artists have. It’s really interesting how a weekly performance at the Apache Lounge converts to a 90 date European tour. Most people there are in the same position and the others are there simply to enjoy the show. This whole mindset is probably what kills the career of some of these artists before they get started.

In this case, it was the manager of the artists that may do them in. There was a band playing at this lounge; some young funky little cats that had this funk/rock type of groove. While they were playing, I thought about a friend of mine that’s a Hip Hop producer and was looking for some guys to come in and play some live bass and lead guitar on couple of songs. As they were leaving, I stopped one of the cats to ask him about “hiring” them for a studio session. Hiring is the key word here. He said to talk to his manager which is the business smart and respectable thing to do. I stopped his “manager” and asked about hiring them for a studio session. She asked me if I had a studio, which was not the topic of discussion but, I responded with the details of what my friend needed. She asked me if I had a business card and I stated not at this time but I have a couple of email addresses and a BBM that I can provide. She said that she had her business cards in the car and she would bring them in for me. Now immediately, I took this as the big blow off but she did come back. She gave the bartender big glossy photos of the band and something else. I figured that she was handling business so I waited and then I noticed that she was skating past me on the sly. This is what reminded me of that attitude that I was so familiar with from up and coming artists only this time it was from the manager.

The manager is supposed to have the best interest of the artists in mind and I suppose that being “hired” for a studio session is not in the best interest of the artist. Being hired means that you will be receiving money for services rendered; in this case playing some songs that brings immediate and possible future revenue to the artists, as well as expand their exposure by having their names posted on a piece of work in a different musical genre. Maybe she assumed because I didn’t have a business card on me that it made me less legitimate and that is understandable, but what you do is take the information that is provided or provide your information as you said that you would and then have a conversation to make an informed decision about furthering the relationship. This was a move that wasn’t very business savvy in my opinion but I hope these guys do well because I like what they have going on and their manager gets the Gas Face for offering something and then reneging. This is truly what you would call “Death by the Manager”.

As always, TELL SOMEBODY! Hit me at www.facebook.com/Marcus.Obrien2 or www.Twitter.com/TheMarcusObrien