Canadian Musician September / October 2019 | Page 38

The Ins & Outs of
Music
By Steve Parton
Dundas, Ontario, 1984. My band was called Wicked Sin. We
were all 13. We played Rush and Iron Maiden covers and were
the headliners at our school’s grade eight talent show. Paul,
one of our buddies who hung out with the band, wanted
to get into music but didn’t play an instrument, so I came
up with an idea for him: “Hey, do you want to be the band’s
manager?”
“Definitely,” Paul replied. “What do I have to do?”
“I have no idea,” I said.
Eventually, our manager got bored, found himself a
girlfriend, and that was the end of that. To this day, we blame
him for our lack of worldwide stardom.
A vaguely similar story had taken place in nearby Toron-
to 13 years earlier. In 1971, promoter and agent Ray Danniels
was asked by Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and John Rutsey to
be their manager, despite the fact that he’d never done that
job before. Ray decided he would figure it out as they went
along, and ultimately guided Rush to become one of Cana-
da’s greatest success stories.
How likely is it that The Beatles and Elvis would have
become superstars without their managers? Brian Epstein
and “Colonel” Tom Parker wrote the playbook on how to
bring a musical artist to the top of the world. Led Zeppelin’s
38 C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N
Peter Grant drastically pioneered a new approach to the way
things were done within the music industry, the media, and
the music-buying public.
All of these managers saw something that others
overlooked, and they found ways to build their artists into
a brand.
The Roles of the Manager
If you are wondering why you need representation, the an-
swer is that you don’t – provided you have no aspirations to
spread your music outside of your area code. Although there
are some bands that manage themselves, it’s possible that
nearly all of them would be happy to turn the reins over to a
manager – someone to wear all the necessary hats, someone
to be the gatekeeper. A manager allows the artist to concen-
trate on the art of music, performance, and composition.
Managers will advise artists on all business matters,
particularly with record labels, publishers, and promoters.
They will hold the labels’ feet to the fire to finance, release,
and market records. The manager will represent the artist in
dealings with agents, lawyers, and business managers. This
means staying on top of these people and making sure they
continue to fulfill their obligations to the artist.