It seems nowadays that everyday we hear about a new start up to help make the life of the musician easier, more efficient, more productive and most importantly more independent, so you might think that naturally as musicians start to adopt online band finance management tools like Band Central, or independent music distribution services like Ditto Music music managers might become less of an attractive option to musicians, but in fact it appears that this is not the case.

A few weeks ago I went to meet Faye Hunter from Underdogs management in the sweaty basements of Dean st. Studios and I decided that it would be a great opportunity to ask her for her opinion on the matter and to also pick her brains on what she does at Underdogs Management and share some of her expertise on music management with the Top of the Ox crowd.

Interview with Faye Hunter, Underdogs Management

MT: In your opinion, what does music management entail nowadays? Or do the variety of 'duties' vary significantly from artist to artist?

FH: “The work you do with and for each artist of course varies for each individual. But the most important thing for underdogs is to build and structure a business for an artist. Support them creatively and work as partners towards a goal. Because of the massive shift in power, money and market in the industry a manager is now often working as a label, publisher, pr and marketing director for the artist.”

MT: How do you find new artists to manage at Underdogs? Do you have any advice for musicians on how to attract the attention of established management companies like Underdogs?

FH: “We have always been very eclectic in our choices. We are fortunate that a lot of trusted and brilliant labels, publishers and distributors send recommendations our way but often it’s just a simple gut feeling thing!

We love a challenge and love to surprise people. If we can get passionate about the artist that’s a good start! We have picked up artists from live shows, have met and fallen in love with artists who have contacted us directly and have had the privilege of working with artists we admired from afar years before too! It’s not always great to get cold emails but usually a live gig will give us a good idea. We love a band who are trying things out themselves in terms of promotion online, etc. Oh and we work with a couple of old school friends too!”

MT: What are your thoughts on digital band management packages like Band Central? Do they help you to manage your artists or are they seen as a digital competitor to traditional management?

FH: ”They absolutely fit in! They help with the organisation of campaigns and live schedules particularly for bands that are managing themselves. I don’t particularly see them as digital competition. Perhaps for old world managers, but for Underdogs they give us a digital platform to manage the various members of our team and partners working for and with a band (it also means we know if someone is pulling their weight or not!)”

MT: Do you think there is a certain ‘type’ of artist that music managers benefit the most? As some people might argue that by having a manager do all of the groundwork for you, you as the artist might lose a lot of the opportunities to learn skills and meet contacts – what are your opinions on this?

FH: ”No i don’t agree at all. A great partnership is an equal one between the manager and artist. A manager must encourage and support rather than control i think.”

For more information on music management, there is a chapter on how to get a music manager in The Musician’s Guide to World Domination, which you can download from Top of the Ox at an exclusive price of £8.99.

This news post was written by Marcus Taylor, author of The Musician's Guide to World Domination

Want a digital copy of the musicians guide to world domination?

TopoftheOx offers an exclusive through this link only

  £8.99 only at TopoftheOx

RRP £10.99