The Right Person

More than any other business, the music business is extremely personalised. Due to its glamour aspect, too, it attracts many more time wasters than any other business, and just around the corner is someone ready to do just that. The people of real value are much more difficult to come by. Looking at the business closely reveals that success seems to follow certain people around, regardless of which company they happen to work for. Basically, there are no good companies, only good people, and keeping track of these good people is the key to success.

A great person for you is someone that...

1 ...has a particular knowledge of your type of music and the audience you are targeting. He must have the ability to distinguish what will be a hit in your field of music. Someone who knows Offspring may not know anything about the Korn audience, someone who knows the Spice Girls may not know the Christina Aguilera audience etc.

2 ...has the ability to break new acts. It´s important to keep in mind that breaking an act and maintaining an act require very different skills. Selling another 5 million Sting albums will engage marketing techniques, which are not those that will be used to introduce a new act. You are at a stage where you need someone to break you and establish your name.

3 ...loves your music. Don´t work with someone who says: "It sounds good, this should be a hit". What you need is: "I love it - it´s the best track I´ve heard in a long time." There is a big difference between someone who speculatively considers your song to be an interesting piece of investment, and someone who sees it as something he wants to keep in his CD collection for the rest of his life. It is important that your partner be able to identify with how the buyer feels about your music.

4 ...has the stamina to sweat for you, someone who is burning for the project. A major problem could be that people love your song, they have the know-how and the money to make it successful, but they are not hungry enough for another hit. Sooner or later, everyone loses the touch, usually due to a lack of hunger. If you have already been No.1 ten times, why bother?

5 ...has the financial resource to launch your music in a very tight and busy market. Also make sure that he backs you with as much money as it takes, and that he is willing to spend as much on you as on other artists in his roster, who may be already established and therefore higher on his priority list.

Read the 5 criteria again and imagine making do without one of these. Sorry, but it won´t work, and will send your music to the rubbish dump along with the other 99%. Of course, various people may cover these qualities. Perhaps you could have an old, tired, but hugely rich record company with an A&R representative that knows a hit when he hears one. Combine this with an independent promoter who knows the marketing bit and a manager with great stamina that pushes everyone to do everything correctly - then you're all set. Leave out only one of these factors, however, and you'd better start work on your next project right away.

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