If You Could Walk Miles In My Shoes

        There are so many artists that I would love to manage out there so it’s nearly impossible for me to narrow it down to one person or to one group in particular. However, when I get into managing my own artists, that may be precisely what I need to do. I’ve been interested in becoming an A&R at a label or another executive to that effect because I feel like I have an ear for talent but I think I’ve just been introduced to another option! A new manager has to keep their ear out to the streets because there are so many untapped wells of talent out there looking to make a name for themselves. So how do you go about doing this? Well, for one, if you don’t get out much and go to concerts or showcases then you need to start. You will need to frequent local shows pertinent to the genre you are looking to manage in if you don’t do that already.
        Also, social media is a treasure trove for unsigned, up and coming talent. People are using this free resource to be heard and get seen and are very successful at it. I had a few people in mind for this assignment but before I narrowed it down to just one, I took to my Twitter account to check out some of the artists that follow me. (Artists will follow you depending on the artists and bands you follow, hoping you take a minute out of your day to check their music out too.) There are things that I look for in an artist based on being an artist and producer myself. I am easily intrigued by the simplest of things like their name, their artwork, visuals like their logo, and who their demographic is. Do they have an identity or do they know what they want to accomplish? What are they posting about? All of this is important to me when I’m looking for new music to listen to.
        I can’t underscore how important it is be able to love and embrace what your artist does. It’s like marrying a person you kind of like but seeing yourself with someone else. This can be toxic because you’re not going to be fully committed to capitalizing on all the opportunities you owe your artist and everyone is going to suffer for it. The artist I chose as the person I would like to manage most is 14-year-old Chris Miles out of New York. He is a protégé of Full Sail alumnus and professional producer Tyler Costantino and is blowing the world away on YouTube and DatPiff.com. I have been fortunate enough to collaborate on a track with him about a year or so ago and would love nothing more than to see this guy go far. It takes a lot for an artist to excite me so I mean it when I say that I want to be the first in line every time he drops a new album. I hate to say it but Chris can demolish rappers my own age so I’m really excited for the both of them!
        I chose Chris because I have a deep love for his music first and foremost. He is always retweeting his fans on Twitter and he carries himself professionally despite the online trolls that continually put him down. He is very humble, down to earth and is always open to making music with anybody. He loves what he does and I am convinced that he has a long and lucrative shelf life ahead of him. When you have such respect for what an artist does, it influences you to push yourself that much harder. He's someone I look up to and he is only half my age!

Where Rivers Run Deep

            How does one go about scouting artists to manage? It’s almost like looking for a needle in a haystack but there are countless droves of untapped talent out there anxiously awaiting their big break. Before the advent of social media, finding diamonds in the rough primarily involved word of mouth and who you knew. Free exposure by way of social media sites paired with recording equipment becoming more affordable and acquirable has led to a musical revolution of sorts, comprised of individuals taking charge of their own careers by recording their own music, in turn capitalizing on the fruits of their own labor by way of various outlets like Bandcamp, MySpace and ReverbNation to name a few. Needless to say, there is no shortage of free or inexpensive music of all genres these days; music is all around us.

            How do you know when an artist is ready to be managed? There is much more to getting your career off the ground than sending out a few demo tapes to a few record labels. To appeal to these labels in the first place, you have to be the total package. This week, I took to Twitter to get some first hand experience into looking for new talent as an experiment. Artists and groups follow me on Twitter all the time depending on music that I listen to. (Artists will follow the general public if they listen to similar artists in their genre to get people to take a few minutes out of their day to listen to them.) I am usually set in my ways when it comes to music that I listen to but for occasions like this, I can hop online to discover new music that I’ve never heard before as an escape.

            For this experiment, I started at the bottom of my followers list and worked my way up. Things that generally pique my interest when I’m discovering new acts are their names, their visuals, their song titles, and how they carry themselves online. I listened to a lot of new music and even downloaded a few albums to listen to at a later time. Oddly enough, I was occasionally transferred to pages that had no music at all or additional links to help me get to know the band a little better; needless to say that’s a no-no. When I got to the very end of my followers list, I came across a band by the name of Rivers Monroe and they demonstrated a lot of great things that I wish to talk about today.

            According to their Twitter page, “Rivers Monroe is an energetic and mainstream brand of music, flavored with a fresh rock & pop/punk mixture” from Philadelphia. This is great - they know how to define themselves and have a pretty good idea who their target audience is. Just then, I was pulled in by their profile picture and wallpaper. Their logo consists of a black background, differing splashes of neon paint and an “RM’ in the middle. It reminded me of each member taking a different color paint can and making their mark on it by telling the background that each of them are similar but different at the same time and that each of them will bring about a different flavor to the table. So far, so good!

            “Follow us for a FREE DOWNLOAD of our music!” They are enthusiastic about sharing their blood, sweat and tears with their audience. I clicked on their Facebook link and took a look around. One of the members on their cover photo is wearing an Anberlin shirt; that’s an instant 10,000 cool points right there! I began to learn a lot more about the group from their music tab on their Facebook site.
            They met my expectations as an artist and I was pleased to note that not only do they have an upcoming show with All Time Low and The Wonder Years, bands that I listen to regularly, they had working links to all of their social sites and a great looking .com page where I was able to download their new album, “Meteors.” Last but not least, I clicked on a YouTube video of the band doing a performance for Radio 104.5’s Birthday Bash in their hometown of Philadelphia. You could see from the video that Rivers Monroe were enjoying themselves and had a deep appreciation and unconditional love for the fans. This is so crucial from a manager’s standpoint because it is vital that you find acts that do what they love and love what they do. And of course, I will be looking forward to big things from this group and hope to find more artists out there with the gumption that Rivers Monroe has!