Canadian Musician - July/August 2021 | Page 46

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By Michael Raine

What Does It Take to Be a Self-Managed Artist ? And When Do You Get a Manager ?

Whether they call themselves “ self-managed ” or not , every artist begins this way . But once the momentum picks up , shows start getting a little bigger and more frequent , and fans , media , and industry start paying some attention , how does a smart artist continue to successfully and efficiently manage their career ? Because it ’ s a delicate balancing act to maximize one ’ s opportunities as the business side of things gets busier , handling all the mundane administrative tasks that are necessary in any career , while also remembering that the chief priority is making music .

“ For myself as a self-managed artist , it ’ s really about the usual things , like running dayto-day-tasks and sorting out my plans , which is something , to be honest , I hadn ’ t learned until like last year , or starting the year before ,” says Alex St . Kitts , who is currently one of the most in-demand bassists in Toronto . He ’ s also an accomplished singer , songwriter , and multi-instrumentalist , with solo projects under the monikers of Alexander Saint , The Projektor , and dumbbass . “ It ’ s really like projecting into
46 CANADIAN MUSICIAN the future about what you want to accomplish , what your goals are , how are you going to get there , what do you need to get there , and who do you have to talk to ? Because … you need a lot of help getting this thing going . And even when you ’ re self-managed , you need people around you that you can trust . So , one of the tasks that I ’ ve been starting to look at now is figuring out who believes in my music and who wants to be a part of it ? And who can help me push this thing forward ?”
That gets at St . Kitts ’ biggest piece of advice , which is to figure out what you ’ re good at , what types of responsibilities you ’ re capable of handling yourself , and get help with the other things . Because while a lot of young artists think it ’ s a manager they want or need , it may turn out that you can handle the tasks of a manager quite well yourself , and it ’ s actually an accountant or publicist or agent that you ’ re in need of .
Because he has two sides to his career – touring and session musician , and then solo artist – St . Kitts says the questions of if and when he needs a manager are a bit different . As a session / touring musician , he says it ’ s preferable to be self-managed because the artists he works for ( and their management ) don ’ t want to deal with a middleman . Plus , the job and what tasks it requires is more straightforward . As the artist , though , putting on his “ Alexander Saint ” hat , he acknowledges that it ’ s a tougher question .
“ For me , personally , I think I can continue being a self-managed musician and professional bass player because there ’ s not a lot of moving parts in that . I mean , there ’ s still the same lessons , like knowing where your finances are , keeping your scheduling together , going out and looking for gigs , and promoting yourself ,” he explains . “ I find that as the artist , there are more pieces that I ’ ve learned over the past year from trying to be my own PR person , trying to be my own accountant , and trying to be my own digital marketer , and so on — you ’ re trying to be all things . So , something needs to give , right ? It does look like even for me at some point in the future , I am going to need to start looking for representation , because there ’ s only so much I can take on before it actually starts detracting from what I ’ m doing musically , which is what we all want to do .”
What St . Kitts has learned about himself over the last couple years is he ’ s quite capable of handling his schedule , booking gigs , contacting people , and other day-to-day responsi-