Introduction to Music Media Industry

Executive Summary

This report looks into the development and future within artist management and artists that have defined management as it is today. There will also be a breakdown of the contracts within the sector, along with roles for not only the artist manager, but those that work closely alongside them. It is also relevant to discuss the future of the sector and current issues that are affecting it. The bulk of the research was through study books, alongside professional management handbooks (IMF, 2000) which broke down the contract structures in greater detail. Websites, such as Music Week, allowed professional opinions on current trends, as well as detailed findings of management companies, which lead to contact with those companies, resulting in little outcome. Overall, the report gives a point of view within the U.K. but does compare the structure of the U.K. against the U.S. as there are key dissimilarities within the sector, along with a development through the years.

From the findings, it's deemed that the music industry as a whole is having huge financial cutbacks, resulting in the lack of artist development. For artist managers, they are now expected to create artists that are ready to be signed straight away. In comparison to the early stages of artist management, the sector has, in a way, gone in a full circle and managers are now having a more vocal role in the development and styling of the artist once again, trying to find that certain something that will elevate the artist.

Introduction

Overview:

History of the Sector & what it is

Within the last ten - fifteen years, artist management has had a great transition, with artists now having a greater contribution on their image and sound; whereas prior to this, managers took a vital role in sending out an image of an artist, creating acts suiting the current trends or even creating trends themselves. Within the U.K. music really became such an attraction in the early sixties, with the likes of The Beatles & the Rolling Stones. The two acts are now seen within complete different genres of music. The artist management of Brian Epstein (The Beatles) and Andrew Oldham (The Rolling Stones) took control of the acts image, stage presence and even directed their sound, to capture a teenage audience that had yet to truly embrace the music culture and industry. With those two acts in place (as well as the likes of The Who, The Yardbirds, Tom Jones & Cliff Richard) history tells you that artists began to form rapidly, with record companies and artists managers capitalising on the surge in audience awareness and demand.

In the past for a long period of time, where a U.K. act to go to the U.S. then a second manager would be installed to cover the U.S. and Canada, with the U.K. manager working with the