So you are thinking about making a family member or girlfriend/boyfriend your manager, are you really prepared for what that means? Lesson number 10 from my new ebook KISS School of Marketing: 11 Lessons I Learned While Working With KISS (download a free copy) is Separate Business and Pleasure. This means just because someone is family you shouldn’t do business with them. They may not be the best thing for your business. Remember your music is a business and you need to respect that.
Here are some questions you should ask yourself now before you bring them on as your manager.
- Can you separate business and family? You will have to, you can’t let them mix.
- Can you be brutally honest? Can you tell them they messed up something?
- Can you fire them? Yeah, fire them and still keep the personal relationship afterwards?
- Can you hold them accountable for their actions?
Nothing wrong with them helping with your career, but things will change once it becomes business and you have to remember you are the boss.
Good points, but you forgot one on the flip side. Is the artist willing to listen when they are told something is a bad idea. Yes, he may be boss, but the manager is also there to help guide them to make good business decisions.
That is a very important point for all artists… they have to set the ego aside and take advice, without taking it personal.
Read this with interest as I used to manage a couple of artists a few years back
I wasn’t family with either of them, but the manager / friend divide is a very hard one from a managers perspective when you’re working on the band 24/7
One of the most rewarding things to do on a personal level, but also one of the hardest areas of music
Many don’t realize the relationship that must be created with the band, but as much as it is personal you have to remember it is business.