Given the extensive weight of their input and their effect on an act’s success or fail-ure, you don’t want to muff up your choice of manager. This is a person you need to trust
with your life, because you do, in so many ways. We’ve all read the horror stories of bad
management, acts being robbed blind, etc. Seek out an experienced professional with a
great reputation for getting things done, making excellent decisions and being utterly
honest. Utterly honest, by the way, isn’t just about business deals. They should be a per-
son who will tell you when a tune is good, but perhaps more importantly, when a tune
sucks, a band member is off and similar things you need to hear but may not particularly
want or like to hear.
Never, under any circumstance agree to hire a manager based on a handshake deal.
While that might be very gentlemanly, if you do, you might as well bend over in the
process. Always have a written contract that’s been drafted by your attorney and prefer-
ably signed in blood. The contract, or agreement should address, the length of the agree-
ment (how long the manager will be with you); the manager's responsibilities; what those
responsibilities are, specifically; the amount of compensation (commission); whether or
not the manager will be paid for his or her expenses; what authorization the manager has
to make communications on behalf of the band without prior approval; specific mile-
stones, both short and long term (what you can expect to be done and by when) and when
and under what circumstances contract termination is acceptable.
Agents
Agents are the folks who get your act booked. They’re the gig-getters and usually the
kind of gigs you wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of booking on your own. So,