Product and Artist Management

I am currently taking a class in Product and Artist Management, I am learning so much. It is helping to open my mind to new possibilities in the world of artist management, and how to properly market your product or artist. The key to being an effective manager is learning how be open-minded and how to explore every possibility in getting your product or artist exposure. You are to always be thinking of what is best for them in the way of gaining interest and later sales. Here are some tips to help you market your artist or product in the entertainment industry.

KNOW YOUR MARKET

Who are you selling to? What is the age range? Demographics? Your thinking should be "who is this product or service best suited for?" With this comes a lot of market research. You should not only know what market you want to sale to, but also pay attention to the trends of the market and to what your competition is doing. This will help ground you and conduct the best strategy on how to get people to buy your brand of product or service.

Paying attention to the competition also gives you the added benefit of seeing their strengths and what is working for them, and also their weakness and where they are lacking. This become the perfect opportunity for you to capitalize on some system they have in place or do it better than them; or also you can find yourself catering to the people or an opportunity that is being overlooked. You see this alot with larger companies. The larger companies have lost their way in the form of looking out for the little man. As a new product or service, this is where you come in to make the little man feel special. But all-in-all, you must know your market.

STRATEGIC VISION AND PLANNING

Being a manager for a product or person is not about having a one track mind. Two key words when marketing your product are: possibility and potential. In the world of management, there is no "can't do it", only "how can we make it happen". At least this should be your focus. An old proverb (Prov 29:18) says without a vision, the people perish. It is imperative in this position that you have an idea of where you are going and how to get there. Hoping for anomalies like being found by a talent scout from live shows, or off Twitter or YouTube are nice dreams. But your vision must be grounded in reality.

Strategic visioning is having a plan; knowing where you want to go and mapping it out. This is very key when you are placing the career lifespan of something or someone else in your hands. How do you expect someone to hop in the car with you if you don't know where you are going? If you are going to control a destiny besides your own, you should learn to do the research you need to effective guide your subject to where it needs to be.

KNOW YOURSELF, THEN KNOW YOUR PRODUCT

Product and Artist Managers have an entrepreneurial aspect to them. They are willing to jump in the fire and fail, and hopefully with research have an even more effective back-up plan. But before you can work and market any object or person, you MUST know yourself. Know your strengths and your weaknesses and use them to your advantage. This can help you leaps and bounds in the long run, and will save you time in how much you fail before you get some success.

After you have done the soul searching and know who you are and what you can handle as a manager, get to know your product or artist. You should should know what/who you are selling more than anyone else, because it is your vision that is essentially being sold. This is where "potential" and "possibility" come in, and knowing the potential of possibility with your product or artist. If you are managing a music artist, you should have a 3-5 year plan mapped out. What will they do to expand their brand? Will they branch of into acting? Will they start a product line (clothes, shoes, perfume/cologne, etc)? You should always be thinking, "what is next"?


Open your mind, and let the research shape your vision. You have a chance with research to do what's never been done before, improve what's already been done, or offer what's being done at a better price or opportunity for the consumer. This is what management is all about: how to sell better. What makes your product(s) or artist(s) better than those already out?

For more information on product and artist management, you can pick up Xavier M. Frascogna, Jr's This Business of Artist Management or Linda Gorchels' The Product Manager's Field Guide