Hi all, I'm Zach, first off I'd just like to say I'm not really an active poster on here and I feel this is a bit away from the usual on this site but thought it would be worth asking.

I'm a 19-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist from Glossop (near Manchester), UK. I'm looking for somebody to fill a manager/producer/publisher role to advance my career.
I have years of experience and study in music, from countless smaller gigs at bars, coffeehouses etc. and songwriting to playing in front of audiences in the thousands, sharing bills with national artists, and getting great reviews in publications. I have ambition, willpower, and a drive to expose myself to different ideas, arguments and influences.

If anybody has potential interest or knows somebody that might, I have attached a more detailed pitch and would be happy to send along some basic recordings. Alternatively, any advice in this area would also be appreciated.

Thanks!

Well - firstly that's 3 different jobs. Whilst some producers dabble in management, and some managers have publishing companies and so on, they're not the same role and it'd be rare to find one person who does them all well.

But:

Producer - that's relatively easy. Find out who made your favourite records, research them, and where appropriate contact them. Few producers are so in demand they won't listen to pitches from independent artists; of course, it's a paid-for service. Don't be expecting anyone other than uni students looking to develop portfolios to be investing in your career.

(occasionally that happens - I have a couple of artists I have on development deals, where I charge them less but I keep a decent chunk of the master rights).

But everyone else needs to pay the bills!

Publishing - the easy way to get a publisher is to have a hit, they'll be clamouring to sign you! As an unsigned artist, a publisher isn't going to do much other than take 1/2 of your minimal publishing income - everyone wants to "have my song in a film" but that's a competitive business to say the least. I'd suggest if a publishing deal is your aim, you're looking at being a songwriter more than an artist - in which case try doing some writing sessions with others, if it goes well you get to the point where you're writing with artists who DO have publishing deals..and therefore you become more attractive yourself. It's not exclusive of course, many writers also have artist projects and many artists contribute to songs by others.

Manager - managers aren't holy grails to an upward path - a good one can open doors, but good managers only generally take on artists on the cusp of breaking through under their own efforts (a bit like labels these days - the data gathering is insane, it's not just a bit of potential anymore!). Again, a manager takes 20% of your income - that has to be 20% of something decent to make it worth their while.

The good news is that you can do just about all these things for yourself with a bit of work/research in the right areas. Look at blogs/artist sites like Indie Music Academy, or Two Story Melody...lots of great advice for indie artists out there. It's totally possible to self-fund releases, promote them and play shows to the point of making a living without any sort of "major" support or management or anything these days. Hard, but not impossible.

I would look at a strategy to get bigger gigs, one of the reasons I left so many bands in manchester was an unwillingness of other members to go outside of their little comfort zone, meaning they were not prepared to travel to london, birmingham, or anywhere outside of their crappy local town, this is a big problem when you are in a band, maybe less so as a solo artist, a manager may help you get some of those gigs, that's part of why you need them, record labels also do help with promotion and the big ones will really help you raise your profile because of the contacts they have, but honestly with how much money they take especially on a 360 deal you have to ask yourself if that's worth it to you, donald passman has a great book on the music business, read it, and best of luck, you are young and have plenty of time ahead of you, don't give up and give it your best shot.

All good points...which is unfortunate, because I was hoping for an all-in-one quick fix myself!

Steve

Yes to the first part - carrying people in a band means the band is doomed. The successful ones are where everyone is pulling in the same direction.

Record deals etc - there's a lot of reason to both go with and not go with a record deal, but it's all irrelevant until it's on the table.

There is NEVER a quick fix..if it's there it's probably too good to be true!

Hey Zach, i did a few projects from the ground up and i can share what i learned. 1) Dont be dependent on the quality of your Music from others. This means, learn to produce your Songs and make them Sound good. Its 2024 and you have all tools you need at your fingertips because your real competitors are using them and if people evaluate on the question if they want to work with you they look up what your capable of achieving by yourself. This is the willpower needed. 2) grow an audience. Problem is that people with big audiences can be successful with bad music but good musicians with no audience dont have the reach to become successful. Working social media is absolute key and there is no way around it these days.

If you achieve these 2 Points you are in the 1% and chances are way higher that the right people start to watch you more closely. Its really hard Zach, you better love music to the core because i can tell you that the only chance to stay consistent in all of this is the unconditional love for musicmaking, even through the ruffest of times. Best of luck.

Hmm.

I kinda disagree.

I mean yes - get things as good as you can by yourself, and it never hurts to get better at production.

But - the "competitors" are using top notch producers and mix engineers and mastering engineers - wherever appropriate. It's hard to join the ranks of all 3, whilst also trying to be an artist and market yourself! Spreading yourself too thin means you just don't get great at any of them.

Why not concentrate on being an artist, and hire the people who are amazing at their job? Don't wait until you're good at those things too - your time will have been and gone.

That I agree with. The number of people who put songs out with no-one hearing them, because they've got no idea how to market or push them to an audience...it's huge!

I don't agree on the social media part, I know a few people who are successful who don't use social media, it's not necessary for everyone or every artist.

They’re the exceptions not the rule in the current market though. Sadly!

Hey, i dont mean highend artists with comptetitors. Rather the ones in the underground that try to get reach on socials, getting out playing live etc. if he wants to pass that stage of being an artist he should sound equally good or better then them and from my experience its better to make the sound yourself because the good producers and engineers that understand you are harder to reach and pay. Only my 2 cents of course, ways can differ

It’s really not that expensive to find a great but affordable producer or mix engineer who can add that extra %age to take a track a notch higher.

In some genres the mix is inherently part of the production, and if you’re an EDM artist or something then yes - you’re probably not needing an additional producer or maybe even mixer if that’s your workflow.

Also maybe if you’re a lofi artist - you’re probably not going to want an external mixer making your record “better” sounding.

However, as soon as vocals are involved or you’re not in those sorts of niches, it’s pretty easy for a half decent mixer to improve things. I mean - it’s what we spend our time doing. Of course we’re going to be better at it than someone who also gigs, writes, promotes, rehearses etc…maybe whilst having a day job too!

And it doesn’t have to be expensive. It’s certainly quicker than learning how to do it yourself (for most people at least).