I started speaking to Matt at Merrington Music Management a couple of weeks ago when he sent me a email about the bands he represents. We decided we wanted to know a bit more about music management, so this is the second part of the three interviews which we are doing. The first one was with Look, Stranger! which you can read here Interview and the final one will be with Kites.
So if you would like to know what a music manager does have a little read.
I’ve been working independently as an artist manager for about four years but I have had various other roles within the music business for many years prior to that. Merrington Music Management is the company name I work under. A lot of people, particularly colleagues and other people in the business seem to call me Merrington these days, which I believe Georgie Okell (formerly the drummer in Kites and now a T4 presenter) originally coined. Infact the only people that seem to call me Matthew these days are parents, police and priests, the latter of which I rarely come into contact with, thankfully.
I understand you were a Journalist before has this helped you be a manager?
Yes, I believe it probably has. I started working as a freelance writer as soon as I moved to London from the North East. I worked at all the great and not so great publications, and then landed a column in a major American magazine. I was quickly disillusioned with journalism (certainly of the ‘review’ at least, not so much the ‘interview’) and via a number of other roles, I moved into artist management.
I don’t think there were many writers at the time with a genuine desire to find great new music and to help it reach an audience. Most of the journalists around me (and I will probably confess to it myself) were more interested in propelling themselves into literary notoriety than launching someone else’s musical career.
How did it help? Well it certainly gave me a huge network of contacts to work with, it helped me to understand clearly how to launch new artists to the media and so on. It also gave me a confidence, perhaps even a subtle arrogance, that has been pretty important in my work today.
It’s vital for a manager to fully understand all of the intricacies of how each aspect of the industry works – including the press. A manager is responsible for ensuring every cog in the machine is turning, and everyone involved in the artist are briefed and understand what they are doing, how they are going to do it, and when they will have it done by. There are no loose cannons in a well managed artist team.
As a manager of a band what kind of things do you have to do day to day?
There is virtually no aspect of an artist’s life, professional or personal, that a good manager does not encounter on a daily basis. The role of big labels has diminished somewhat and a lot of the things that they would do for an artist have now landed on the manager’s table. This enables manager’s to wield huge control over the success of an artist. You’ll find it incredibly time-consuming and rewards painfully slow, yet exhilarating and energizing in a business that seems to be changing week in week out. Every day I am surrounded by the most incredibly talented people, and not just my artists, but PR, radio, venues, bookers, journalists, editors, photographers, designers, fashion stylists... it’s endless, and it's perfect.
A typical day? I could be coordinating national UK or US press campaigns with our PR teams in London and San Francisco and getting feedback from our radio pluggers on placements and play-listing of singles. Occasionally I will be planning concepts, locations and props for video or photo shoots with art directors and daily I meet or speak with our wonderful live agents to discuss tour plans, festivals, live dates, venues, accommodation, transport etc. Some days will be focused on promotion, having dinner meetings with journalists and labels, meeting our publishers to see where we stand for various sync opportunities and so on. That’s not even touching on sales meetings, band meetings, merchandise production/selling/designing, recording and rehearsing, responding to 400 emails a day per band, fan engagement, website maintenance, news releases... it’s an endless task.
What's the most tedious job you have to do managing bands?
I don’t think I would really focus on tedious aspects of a job. As with all business’ the ordeal of tax and bureaucracy is crippling, but even the most tedious of tasks that I do for a band, I do with love – usually! Although I did find myself ironing my singer’s shirt in a hotel room on tour last week and I had to take a long hard look at my life. I actually quite liked what I saw.
I would say the worst thing about the job is how incredibly isolating it can be. You may be talking to a hundred people a day about various things, but ultimately, they’re interested in the band, and certainly not in you, or your problems. You’ll get an irate call when something goes wrong, much sooner than a call to say thank you, when something goes well. It’s also your neck on the line. The band look to you to continuously pull rabbits out of the hat and to keep things turning. You can’t run out of rabbits!
It can be ruthless, intimidating and daunting, but so can I. The business of music is the only place I really belong. I don’t exist outside of music. What else would I do? Where would I be?
How would you explain the bands Kites and Look, Stranger! are like? Are there any other bands you are working with at the moment?
This video is for Kites single 'Brother', a new video is on the way from these guys called 'This Jumped-Up Boy In Livery'.
In terms of other bands I am working with… Kites and Look, Stranger! are my sole focus. I worked briefly with INTL (again a group of fabulous people) who have now disbanded. Their singer Oliver will be unleashing something typically thrilling onto the public soon and other members went on to form Splashh!
This is one of Splashh's singles called 'All I Wanna Do'.
I’m not actively looking for new acts at the moment. My time is now taken up entirely with the two bands I have. Having said that, I’ve always been interested in having a solo artist – perhaps something a littler more mainstream and commercial, but I certainly have no plans right now.
I get a number of demos every day, but just don’t have the time to listen to them all. I respond to as many as possible, but it’s difficult. There are certainly bands that have passed me by (that I won’t name), and they have gone on to do very well… but that doesn’t concern me. What concerns me is doing incredible work for the bands I have – they deserve that.
To help anyone who would like to get in to band management, what would you say is the most important thing to know? What would you look for in a person to take them on?
My guide has always been as follows…
1. Understand what the job actually entails.
If you’re looking for a heady life of sex, drugs and rock and roll, then join the band, don’t manage it.
2. Have the patience of an angel and the diplomatic skills of the UN.
You should be able to manage the most creative of people in a way that they feel in control of everything, without them ever actually having to do anything other than write and perform. The hardest part of managing a band is frequently keeping the band together. Personality clashes, sensitive natures and shocking tempers seem to be quite common amongst artists. You must deal with it and ensure that these issues do not effect other people in the team, or the business in anyway.
3. Embrace your controlling nature.
A manager who does not know what is going on within his band is instantly redundant. There should be no member of the team (band, agent, press, radio, label, publisher and so on) that does not know exactly what is happening, when it is happening, how it is happening and why it must happen. A lack of coordination leads to different parts of the team running off with their own ideas and intentions into totally different directions and achieving absolutely nothing. If any part of the chain is confused, it is your fault.
4. Expect to give up a huge amount in order to gain later.
The band and all of it’s entrapping will take over your life. It is very likely you will lose a huge amount of money, a number of friends, any concept of a social life, and probably your sanity during your early years as a manager. But it will be worth it. We all expect to earn large amounts of money from what we do, but if this is the single driving force for you going in to management then you are probably going to break down before you reach that point of monetary success. Tony Wilson said that he wanted to make history and making money was secondary.
5. Choose the right bands and make the right decisions. Show as much love to the music makers as you do the music itself. It’s that simple and that difficult.
Thanks for the time Matt and i hope the bands do really well.
Thank you very much.
For more information on Merrington Music Management or to contact Matt for advice or management.
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