All artists need management! When starting out as an artiste, your manager will wear many hats. A manager has to be a cheerleader, psychiatrist, advisor, guide, problem solver, and what can be affectionately referred to as babysitter.

A good manager will guide you protect you from bad business deals, and shady people as if his or her life depends on it.

It is important to note that having a bad manager is worse than having no manager at all.
The more successful you get, the bigger your team gets. Eventually your team will consist of a manager, an agent, a lawyer, concert promoters, your Artist Development Rep, road manager, a business manager, and others but you must start from somewhere

1. Career Guidance - It's often extremely difficult for artists to step back from the day-to-day activities and see the big picture. A knowledgeable manager can see how everything in the big picture fits together, and can help the artist navigate through the often-confusing maze of activities that seem unrelated yet are all part of a massive jigsaw puzzle. The manager provides career guidance and helps to set the overall game plan for the artist and the artists' team to follow. For example in the case of Olamide, after Tony Payne disengaged him from her outfit and seems to be having his career going south after the monster hit, “Eni Duro”, he contracted a manager (name withheld) who was able to help guide his budding career and within a year or more, Olamide was beckoning a force in the industry and now dining with “the kings”

2. Cheerleading - Even though fans are the main cheerleaders for an artist, someone has to communicate the same enthusiasm to the music business community. An artist manager will trumpet the artists' message to record labels, booking agents, promoters, media personnel, club bookers, independent retail accounts, etc., in order to keep them all engaged and enthusiastic. A vivid example here is the case of Wizkid after being a studio rat since he was 11, was introduced to Banky W’s co-led EME Records by a female manager some years back and aside the Record Label taking up the mantle of grooming Wizkid, the manager able to “Cheerlead” wizkid to the record label and corporate/general public

3. Prestige - According to most record industry professionals, there is something to be said about an artist that has a manager. The logic is that if an artist is good enough to attract management, there must be something of value present. In fact, most major labels (not the mushroom “record labels” that dot the entertainment scene in Nigeria) refuse to sign an artist unless they have solid team (manager, booking agent, attorney and publicist) in place. An artist without management is just too much drama! Labels would rather deal with someone who knows how the music business works and can make decisions on a non-emotional basis. Imagine everyone who want to have D’banj as a performing artiste for their event calling him directly to book him, of course they could even ‘price’ his performance fee to N10,000 whereas if you call his manager, you could end up paying as high as N8 million (depend on the clients)

4. Buffer - A manager can act as an effective screening buffer between the artist and people that want to do business with the artist. This buffer tends to attract legitimate industry players while at the same time scaring away scam artists. There are no scarier words to a scam artist than "please talk to my manager". Example here could be as the same way explained in No. 3 - Prestige

5. Time management - There simply is not enough time in the day to do everything that needs to be done in order to further the career of an artist. In between writing songs, conducting interviews, designing artwork for CD's and merchandise, managing a mailing list, filling out copyright paperwork, rehearsing with the band, hiring and firing producers, updating artistes websites and social media profiles, getting pictures taken, shooting and editing DVD's and YouTube videos, sending out packages and/or updating EPK's, researching, repairing and purchasing equipment, liaising with media outfits etc., there isn't time to also craft a master game plan, solicit potential sponsorship partners, reach out to industry gatekeepers, attend industry networking events, harass labels for tour support, and so on. Some tasks can be delegated to the project while others can be handled by the manager who still coordinate them and then regularly update the artiste whose career depends on everything. Few artistes in Nigeria such as D-banj, P-square can afford to have strong management team of Business Manager, PR Manager, Tour manager and so on in their management team but they all started from somewhere!

6. Accountability - Part of a manager's job is to hold people accountable. What happens when the financial tour support that was promised by the label fails to materialize? Or the check from the booking agent bounces? Or the Radio station and TV stations are not playing the artiste song? Or the licensee fails to sign and return the contract but is using the artist's songs anyway? Somebody has to keep people honest, and that is most appropriately the manager's job.

7. Good Cop/Bad Cop - Need to fire the bass player or team member not performing optimally but don't want to create an enemy? Let the manager play bad cop and do the firing. Need to re-negotiate your contract and request more of a promotion budget? Let the manager play good cop and keep a positive spin on the proceedings. There are plenty of occasions when the artist and manager can trade off playing good cop/ bad cop.

8. Sounding board - A manager, even though basically an "honorary member of the band", is frequently on the outside looking in. Managers usually see things differently than the artist, and can often provide different perspectives, insights and solutions to problems the artist is encountering. Running ideas by a knowledgeable manager prior to making decisions often allows for good ideas to become better and bad ideas to be removed altogether from the to-do list.
If you want that record deal, you need to bring yourself to a certain marketable level before approaching record labels. That means making an investment of time and money. You need professional music production, exciting pictures and a serious internet presence! Bring your music directly to the people and build up your fans! If you're successful enough on your own, record labels will start approaching you, and then you can dictate the terms!!

BELOW ARE SOME OF THE IMPORTANCE OF A MANAGER:

• A good manager can expand an artiste’s career to it’s maximum potential
• A manager helps you with major career decisions, such as deciding which record company to sign with, whether to make a publishing deal and how to negotiate
• They help an artist decide on which songs to record, which image to go for and source endorsement deals (GLO, MTN, and other brands)
• A manager promotes your career by hyping you to everyone they meet & coordinate publicity campaigns
• They help you assemble a legal team and select booking agents
• Managers coordinate an artist’s concert/performance tours by negotiating deals with promoters, making sure payments are processed and booking contracts are signed and agreed upon
• They’re responsible for putting pressure on the artist’s record label to maximise marketing campaigns for albums, making sure the artist is treated as a priority
• A good manager takes the rap for tough decisions an artist has to make

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