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  • DJ.Studio 2.0 is an AI-assisted “DAW for DJs” that lets you export mixes to Ableton LiveEver tried to construct a DJ mix for a radio show or party in your DAW? It can be a pain. DJ.Studio 2.0, which lets you build DJ mixes the same way as you would a song in a DAW and uses AI to quicken the process, could help.

    READ MORE: Best DJ Gear 2023: 8 of the best Standalone DJ Controllers in 2023

    The software, founded by Siebrand Dijkstra, syncs with popular DJ software such as Rekordbox, Virtual DJ, and Serato, so you can sync your libraries and drag and drop tracks into the app. You can even take tracks from YouTube if there are any missing from your own collection.
    DJ.Studio will then order the tracks by BPM and key, and automatically create your mix for you using harmonic intelligence. You can then go in and edit the transitions, meticulously adjusting parameters such as the percentage of crossfade, the filter action, how the bass is cut and more. You can also save certain transitions as presets for reuse in the future.
    DJ.Studio integrates seamlessly with Mixed In Key, using the Camelot wheel and other useful features to master harmonic mixing, making over 250 million calculations in seconds for professional-quality mixes in under fifteen minutes.
    After your mix is complete, you can export directly to Mixcloud or YouTube, or export the file to Ableton Live for further editing and mastering. Impressively, any effects you alter in DJ.Studio – such as an EQ setting or phaser, for example – will be transferred into a Live Effect, complete with the automation you’ve applied in DJ.Studio. If you’re exporting the mix to Mixcloud, the software can also generate the tracklist instantly.

    Founder Dijkstra says: “I have been passionate about electronic music for more than 25 years and I have been creating DJ mixes for the last 15 years. In that period I used an old legacy application, which unfortunately was only running in Windows and it got deprecated 10 years ago, so it was time for me to build it myself with my team.”
    The recent update to the app has transformed the platform’s interface so it now offers a more intuitive, streamlined, and versatile user experience.
    AI technology is being elsewhere in DJ tools. Launched in 2022, Serato Stems uses AI tech to let you separate stems from a track, such as the drums, bass and vocals, on the fly.
    If you’re interested in this new approach to crafting DJ mixes, check out DJ.Studio, which costs $9 per month as a subscription model.
    The post DJ.Studio 2.0 is an AI-assisted “DAW for DJs” that lets you export mixes to Ableton Live appeared first on MusicTech.

    DJ.Studio is a new platform that's a "DAW for DJs", letting you, with the help of AI tech, craft long DJ mixes quickly and export them online.

  • MODCAF Test Chamber project Electronic music community MODCAF's latest project centres around a series of recordings and performances in a disused wind tunnel.

    Electronic music community MODCAF's latest project centres around a series of recordings and performances in a disused wind tunnel.

  • Lenovo debuts gaming glasses and portal PC handheldIFA technically kicks off today in Berlin, but it seems like Lenovo may have won the thing outright. I’ve given the company plenty of credit in the past for its willingness to try new things in this oft-staid world of consumer electronics, and it’s really come out of the gates swinging. Much of its IFA […]

    Lenovo debuts are pair of interesting new pieces of gaming gear at IFA 20233: The Legion Go and Legion Glasses.

  • How to Prepare A Song For Mixing
    Let’s explore how mix prep can speed up your mixing process. Here’s how you can get your song ready for mixing. Mixing music is so cool that it is tempting to dive straight in and ride those faders, sculpt your signature tones, and slam that loudness limiter – it will be okay, right? Well, maybe, [...]
    View post: How to Prepare A Song For Mixing

    Let’s explore how mix prep can speed up your mixing process. Here’s how you can get your song ready for mixing. Mixing music is so cool that it is tempting to dive straight in and ride those faders, sculpt your signature tones, and slam that loudness limiter – it will be okay, right? Well, maybe,Read More

  • MIDI Innovation Awards: Finalists announced The MIDI Association have announced the finalists of this year’s MIDI Innovation Awards, with the winners to be revealed in a live stream event taking place on 16 September 2023.

    The MIDI Association have announced the finalists of this year’s MIDI Innovation Awards, with the winners to be revealed in a live stream event taking place on 16 September 2023.

  • GRAMMY U drops college enrollment requirement, opens to anyone 18-29GRAMMY U has dropped its college enrollment requirement and opened membership to anyone between the ages of 18 and 29. Founded by the Recording Academy in 2006, Grammy U provides opportunities for. Continue reading
    The post GRAMMY U drops college enrollment requirement, opens to anyone 18-29 appeared first on Hypebot.

    GRAMMY U has dropped its college enrollment requirement and opened membership to anyone between the ages of 18 and 29. Founded by the Recording Academy in 2006, Grammy U provides opportunities for. Continue reading

  • New music platform Myvox lets artists licence and monetise their own AI voice modelsArtists who want to clone, protect, licence and monetise their voice can now do so via a new AI music platform named Myvox.

    READ MORE: The first prototype of Behringer’s OB-X clone, the UB-X, is here

    Founded by musicians and producers Maeve (Arianna Broderick) and John Clancy, Myvox is an AI vocal and music distribution platform allowing users to transform their vocals into the vocals of their favourite artists using licensed AI voice models.
    Per the website, users can create original songs with these AI-cloned vocals, distribute directly to all streaming platforms, collect royalties and share in the revenue with the artist, who maintains full control over the whole process by defining their own royalty splits.
    To create your AI voice model, all you have to do is upload an acapella vocal or record a vocal directly on the Myvox platform. The firm’s AI technology will then transform your vocal into the vocal of a licensed artist.
    The platform is said to be the first of its kind to allow direct distribution of licensed AI voices to streaming services, with the aim of making music production more collaborative, accessible and obtainable for those without access to swanky studios.
    The service, which launched on 14 August, now offers a growing voice library of licensed studio quality artist vocals and royalty-free vocals for bedroom producers to create music they previously had no access to.
    Myvox has also introduced their first AI artist, Dahlia, an AI voice model created by Iranian-Dutch singer-songwriter Sevdaliza. Creators can transform their vocals into Dahlia’s and release subsequent tracks on all streaming platforms, with a 50/50 royalty split with the artist. Sevdaliza introduced Dahlia last year via the video for OH MY GOD, which has since amassed 1.5 million views.
    The first Dahlia track is slated to arrive on 24 August.
    Currently, the free version of Myvox entitles you to two artist vocal conversions per week and unlimited royalty-free conversions; the premium version, which includes unlimited artist conversions, unlimited royalty-free conversions, two releases to all streaming services per month, automated royalty payments and artist distribution dashboard will cost you $14.99 per month.

    Learn more at myvox.
    The post New music platform Myvox lets artists licence and monetise their own AI voice models appeared first on MusicTech.

    Artists who want to clone, protect, licence and monetise their voice can now do so via a new AI music platform named Myvox.

  • “You have to be defensive and offensive at the same time as a creator”: ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus on the “mind-boggling” potential of AIABBA legend Björn Ulvaeus has opined on the “mind-boggling” potential of AI in music, and the need for creators to be both “defensive and offensive” in dealing with the technology.

    READ MORE: Google and Universal Music in talks over AI “deepfake” royalties

    Speaking to Rick Beato, Ulvaeus admits to being “blown away” by an AI model demonstration he was shown recently by “one of the really big tech companies”.
    “The potential of what they showed me was mind-boggling,” he says. “And what you’ve heard so far, it’s nothing against what’s coming.”
    Discussing some of the anxieties surrounding the technology, Ulvaeus argues that one has to be “defensive and offensive at the same time as a creator.”
    “[AI] is a fantastic tool, it will be the most fantastic co-writer you will ever have. But on the other hand, these AI models will be training on music that people have written, right? I don’t know if it’s too late, but certainly, we have to fight for the writers of that music so they get remunerated in some form or other.”
    “I don’t know if [artists] will be able to opt-out if they don’t want [AI] to be trained on [their music],” he says. “But I suspect that it’s going to be very difficult to prove whether a model is trained on ABBA music or not… From what I heard [during] that demonstration, if you ask it to write an ABBA-like melody, you would never be able to recognise that. You’ll never be able to hear that it [came] from Benny and me, if it’s sung by someone else, which in this case it was.
    “And then, it’ll be so difficult to trace. Hopefully, these big companies will be good guys. And I think some of them want to be on the side of the creators, rather than against [them].”

    The use of AI to aid (or even replace) human creators in music-making has been a topic of fierce debate lately. Paul McCartney, for one, has jumped on the artificial intelligence bandwagon, revealing earlier this year that AI has been used to extract John Lennon’s voice from old audio, and strip it from its instrumental background to help create “the final Beatles record”.
    Amidst confusion and speculation about the song’s origins, the bassist then made a statement saying that despite the use of AI, the song had not been “artificially created.”
    “Seems to be a lot of guess work out there,” he said. “Can’t say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created. It’s all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process which has gone on for years”
    Elsewhere, will.i.am recently made comments which echo Ulvaeus’s about the future of AI in music. He said: “Are you using this tool to make songs? You know it’s gonna make better songs than you. It’s Pac-Man right now, we ain’t even got to Halo. We’re in freakin’ Super Mario Bros., we ain’t even got to Call of Duty yet. This thing’s gonna make better songs than you soon.”
    The post “You have to be defensive and offensive at the same time as a creator”: ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus on the “mind-boggling” potential of AI appeared first on MusicTech.

    ABBA legend Björn Ulvaeus says creators to be both “defensive and offensive” in dealing with AI technology.

  • Kits.AI voice generation technology Kits.AI are a new AI-generated voice platform who are working directly with artists in order to licence and release their voice models. 

    Kits.AI are a new AI-generated voice platform who are working directly with artists in order to licence and release their voice models. 

  • Anthropic launches improved version of its entry-level LLMAnthropic, the AI startup co-founded by ex-OpenAI execs, has released an updated version of its faster, cheaper text-generating model available through an API, Claude Instant.
    The updated Claude Instant, Claude Instant 1.2, incorporates the strengths of Anthropic’s recently announced flagship model, Claude 2, showing “significant” gains in areas such as math, coding, reasoning and safety, according to Anthropic. In internal testing, Claude Instant 1.2 scored 58.7% on a coding benchmark compared to Claude Instant 1.1, which scored 52.8%, and 86.7% on a set of math questions versus 80.9% for Claude Instant 1.1.
    “Claude Instant generates longer, more structured responses and follows formatting instructions better,” Anthropic writes in a blog post. “Instant 1.2 also shows improvements in quote extraction, multilingual capabilities and question answering.”
    Claude Instant 1.2 is also less likely to hallucinate and more resistant to jailbreaking attempts, Anthropic claims. In the context of large language models like Claude, “hallucination” is where a model generates text that’s incorrect or nonsensical, while jailbreaking is a technique that uses cleverly-written prompts to bypass the safety features placed on large language models by their creators.
    And Claude Instant 1.2 features a context window that’s the same size of Claude 2’s — 100,000 tokens. Context window refers to the text the model considers before generating additional text, while tokens represent raw text (e.g. the word “fantastic” would be split into the tokens “fan,” “tas” and “tic”). Claude Instant 1.2 and Claude 2 can analyze roughly 75,000 words, about the length of “The Great Gatsby.”
    Generally speaking, models with large context windows are less likely to “forget” the content of recent conversations.
    As we’ve reported previously, Anthropic’s ambition is to create a “next-gen algorithm for AI self-teaching,” as it describes it in a pitch deck to investors. Such an algorithm could be used to build virtual assistants that can answer emails, perform research and generate art, books and more — some of which we’ve already gotten a taste of with the likes of GPT-4 and other large language models.
    But Claude Instant isn’t this algorithm. Rather, it’s intended to compete with similar entry-level offerings from OpenAI as well as startups such as Cohere and AI21 Labs, all of which are developing and productizing their own text-generating — and in some cases image-generating — AI systems.
    To date, Anthropic, which launched in 2021, led by former OpenAI VP of research Dario Amodei, has raised $1.45 billion at a valuation in the single-digit billions. While that might sound like a lot, it’s far short of what the company estimates it’ll need — $5 billion over the next two years — to create its envisioned chatbot.

    Anthropic claims to have “thousands” of customers and partners currently, including Quora, which delivers access to Claude and Claude Instant through its subscription-based generative AI app Poe. Claude powers DuckDuckGo’s recently launched DuckAssist tool, which directly answers straightforward search queries for users, in combination with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. And on Notion, Claude is a part of the technical backend for Notion AI, an AI writing assistant integrated with the Notion workspace.

    Anthropic, the AI startup founded by ex-OpenAI employees, has released an updated version of its entry-level text-generating AI model, Claude Instant.

  • Meta’s AudioCraft AI music tool could cut multiple revenue streams for musiciansMeta has launched AdudioCraft, a free generative AI text-to-audio and music tool, and announced that it is open-sourcing it for research purposes “to help advance the field of AI-generated audio.”. Continue reading
    The post Meta’s AudioCraft AI music tool could cut multiple revenue streams for musicians appeared first on Hypebot.

    Meta has launched AdudioCraft, a free generative AI text-to-audio and music tool, and announced that it is open-sourcing it for research purposes “to help advance the field of AI-generated audio.”. Continue reading

  • 8 Tips to help you successfully pre-promote your next releaseMaking the music is only half the battle, now that it’s time for promoting you may have a lot to learn when it comes to getting the word out about. Continue reading
    The post 8 Tips to help you successfully pre-promote your next release appeared first on Hypebot.

    Making the music is only half the battle, now that it’s time for promoting you may have a lot to learn when it comes to getting the word out about. Continue reading

  • The Manager's PlaybookThe Manager’s Playbook: Essential Roles and Realistic Paths For Musicians

    As musicians, we all ponder the role of personal managers, those guiding lights who can shape our journey. They navigate us toward our artistic vision while deftly handling the nitty-gritty of the music business. Picture them as our champions, hyping us to the right business contacts, unveiling hidden opportunities, securing sponsorships, and orchestrating epic tours. They’re the backbone that ensures everyone involved is pulling their weight and more.

    But here’s the thing: personal managers don’t grow on trees; they’re a hard-earned privilege. Truth is, until we’ve made some headway on our own, those seasoned managers with clout may not bat an eye in our direction. If we sit around waiting to be rescued without making our own strides, well, our musical journey might just veer into the abyss.

    That’s why it’s crucial to grasp the diverse management options available to us musicians. From the DIY approach to linking up with established professional management, there’s a path for everyone. But before we dig into those essential routes, let’s quickly walk through the myriad roles a personal music manager can undertake. So, hang tight and read on, fellow musicians, as we embark on this enlightening voyage together.

    Excerpted from the book Business Basics for Musicians, 2nd Edition

    © 2023 By Bobby Borg

    PART 1:

    THE ROLE OF A PERSONAL MANAGER IN YOUR CAREER

    By strict definition, a personal manager advises and counsels artists in all aspects of the new music business. This may include artist development, project management, touring, contracts and income streams, and so much more. 

    A. Artist Development

    The manager may assist with the development of an artist’s career via the following activities: 

    •Encouraging You to Get Your Brand Together: Inspiring you to polish up your brand—from your artist name and logo, to what you wear and say in public, to the charities and other organizations and brands with whom you associate. 

    •Assisting with Your Sound and Songs: Inspiring you to polish up your compositions and musical sound. If needed, the manager may even help set you up with songwriting consultants, cowriters, and producers, and help you find complete songs to record and perform. 

    •Helping You to Improve Live Performances and Merch: Inspiring you to perfect the quality of your live performances (set list flow, presence, etc.) and merchandising designs (T-shirts, hats, stickers, etc.). And finally . . . 

    •Helping You Build—and Monitor—Your Fan Base: Encouraging you to strengthen your connections with fans, including improving your social media content strategies on sites like Instagram and TikTok (or other), finding ways to get fans’ assistance with promotion and spreading the word-of-mouth, and ultimately getting fans to engage with you more personally through monetized crowdfunding platforms and Patreon. Additionally, your manager will help you to monitor fans through the use of various analytical tools and artificial intelligence to gain insights and make smarter decisions.

    B. Contracts and New Income Streams

    Your manager may also help initiate various business deals by doing the following: 

    •Setting Up Meetings and Seeking Out Future Opportunities: Setting up meetings with potential co-writers, publishers, merchandisers, sponsors, and record companies, and seeking out immersive opportunities in the metaverse, digital asset stores and NFT marketplaces, and—when you’re a huge star—catalog sales via top music investors.

    •Researching the Right Deals: Researching which companies and representatives are best suited to your talents and musical style, based not only on a company’s past signings or successes, but also on its financial stability, management capabilities and understanding of your vision.

    •Recommending You Find Legal Counsel: Providing recommendations for legal counsel to help shop your music to various companies and review important contract terms that are relevant to the new—and ever-changing—music industry. And finally . . . 

    •Working Collaboratively with Your Attorney: Communicating with your attorney about important contract deal points, but knowing when to step aside and let the attorney do their job. 

    C. Project Management 

    When, and if, you sign a recording agreement, your manager may also assist by doing this: 

    •Getting Everyone at the Label Excited About Your Career: Lighting the fire under the label’s ass and trying to make sure that you will be a top priority. 

    •Monitoring Pre-Release and Post-Release Activities: Providing marketing ideas regarding the branding, price, place, promotion and measuring of your records, and fighting tactfully for what is best for your career. And finally . . .

    •Meeting with Departments: Meeting with the various departments at the record label, (new media, licensing, press, sales, marketing and radio promotion), and to make sure that everyone is talking and working in concert to further your professional career. 

    D. Hybrid Services: Merch, Publishing, and More

    As if the above tasks were not enough, some management companies operating under newer business models may even assist your career by doing the following:

    •Providing Label Services: Handling all matters concerning the funding, recording, manufacturing, distributing, promoting and monitoring of a record, in addition to all other management services. Said another way, the management company is a label, or the label is a management company—however you see it. 

    •Providing Publishing Services: Seeking creative uses of your songs in film, TV, games, and podcasts, issuing licenses to music users for the use of your songs, and collecting all income generated by these uses. And finally . . . 

    •Providing Merchandising Services: Helping design and manufacture effective merch that sells, helping the group sell merch on the road and via retail outlets, and seeking sub-licenses to expand the product line. And finally….

    •Providing Digital Marketing and Advertising Services: Acting as a digital marketing service in influencer marketing campaigns, advertising campaigns, email marketing brand sponsorships, and general social media management. 

    E. Live Engagements and Touring

    Moving on to another role, a personal manager may also assist with the following: 

    •Securing a Talent Agent: Helping you to find a licensed talent agent who specifically works on procuring live performances. Your manager will work together with this agent to determine which tours are best for you, to make sure that you’re getting the best offers from concert promoters, and even to help direct your performances from city to city. 

    •Working with Your Business Manager: Helping you find a business manager who specializes in the music business, and working together with him or her to ensure that your tours are properly budgeted. Hotel accommodations, transportation, stage crews, and other expenses will be closely examined in an effort to minimize expenses and ensure that you turn a profit (or at least cover expenses). And finally . . . 

    •Hiring a Tour Manager: Hiring a “tour manager” who is responsible for keeping a watchful eye on all business matters from city to city, night after night. This could mean checking you in to hotels, “advancing” the shows (making sure that each venue has the proper accommodations in place for you), “settling” money with promoters at the end of each night, babysitting, and bailing you out of jail—seriously!

    F. Physical and Mental Health Issues

    Finally, once an artist is successful, a great manager can assist the artist in the following ways: 

    • Monitoring Physical and Mental Health: Looking out for the artist’s health and well-being, and knowing when to say no to that extra morning radio show, public appearance, podcast interview, or leg of the tour. 

    •Checking in with the Artist: Checking in with the artist and simply asking him or her, “How are you doing?” Said another way, the manager checks the goose that is hatching the golden eggs, rather than just focusing on the golden eggs. This is important. Artists are known to break down when they’re pushed too hard. Elvis Presley is one classic example. Destiny’s Child, Britney Spears and Justin Bieber are more recent examples. 

    Turning Bad into Good: POST Malone and IGGY Azalea

    Dre London, Post Malone’s manager, highlights another role of personal managers—turning bad into good.  

    London discovered that Malone’s upcoming album had been leaked online. This could have been a major setback for the album’s release and promotion, potentially affecting its sales and reception.

    However, instead of letting the leak derail their plans, London and team decided to turn it into a marketing opportunity. They created a scavenger hunt on Twitter, where they released different snippets of the leaked songs and hid clues for fans to find the full tracks.

    This not only generated excitement and engagement among Post Malone’s fanbase, but also helped increase the album’s visibility and anticipation. When the album, Hollywood’s Bleeding: The Director’s Cut, was officially released, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and became one of the best-selling albums of the year. Totally fire! 

    In another example of turning bad into good, T.I., Iggy Azalea’s manager at the time, helped Azalea avoid a major PR disaster and instead turned it into a positive experience. 

    Iggy Azalea was set to perform at the Pittsburgh Pride festival, which was a highly anticipated event for the LGBTQ+ community. However, a Twitter user resurfaced old tweets from Azalea containing homophobic and racist remarks, which caused a backlash and calls for her to be removed from the lineup.

    T.I. could have suggested Azalea issue an apology and let the situation play out. Instead, he came up with a creative solution. T.I. suggested that Azalea use the opportunity to educate herself on LGBTQ+ issues and work closely with the community to make amends.

    Azalea agreed and as a result was eventually welcomed back by the LGBTQ+ community. Make no mistake, folks, turning bad into good is a major role of the manager.•

    PART 2:

    Management Options

    Now that you understand what a manager does, we can discuss the various management options available to you. The most common choices, depending on how far along you are in your career, are self-management, start-up management, and established professional management.

    A. Self-Management (DIY or DIE) 

    In the early stages of your career, good management must always begin with the artist. Unless one of your relatives happens to be a record label or publishing company president, no one is going to help you until you first help yourself!

    As your self-manager, consider the self-assessment checklist below to determine whether or not you are doing all the right things.

    • Have you given serious thought to your long-term career vision? 

    • Have you written a large repertoire of songs or even cowritten with professionals?

    • Have you professionally recorded, mixed, mastered, and packaged your music?

    • Have you developed a consistent and unique brand (name, logo, look, attitude)?

    • Have you learned to properly release your music in streaming and physical formats?

    • Have you mastered your marketing game both online and offline, as well?  

    • Have you developed creative methods of connecting/engaging with your fans? 

    • Have you amassed respectful analytics (streams, social numbers, reviews)?

    • Have you developed a kick-ass live show and amassed a respectful local draw?

    • Have you attempted to hit the road playing colleges, festivals, other events?

    • Have you created a line of merch (T-shirts, hats, etc.) and generated decent sales?

    • Have you aligned with any product sponsors and formed symbiotic relationships?

    • Have you pitched your music in synch (film, TV, games) and secured placements?

    • Have you attended industry conferences (NAMM, SXSW) and built a network?

    • Have you subscribed to the trades/podcasts and got a grip on the new music biz?

    • Have you made an effort to keep up with emerging trends (NFTs, Web 3, AI)?

    • Have you found methods to pay bills, set goals, and manage your time like a pro?

    Musicians often believe that the solution to their problems is finding someone to whisk them up from rehearsal room to superstardom. An experienced manager can make good things happen fast, but he or she is not a solution for your laziness. This is the digital age, where doing it yourself is far easier than ever before. Bottom line: you must generate some action on your own—and prove that you don’t need any help—in order to give managers a valid reason to want to work with you.  

    B. Start-Up Management

    After you’ve reached a point in your career when you’ve done all the things mentioned in the list above, and you just can’t go any further without a helping hand, then perhaps you’re ready for a start-up manager. This might include one of the following: 

    • A Friend: A close friend who’s willing to make phone calls and help promote shows without getting paid for the first few months or years. In fact, he may not even be called a “manager” at all, working with the understanding that as soon as your career progresses, he will be replaced by an established professional manager and offered some other position with the band. 

    • A Retired Musician: An experienced musician who wants to “right all the wrongs” she encountered in her professional career, and has got all the passion and drive needed to set you on course. 

    • A Businessperson: An educated businessperson who’s always dreamed of being in the entertainment business and has the desire to live those dreams through you.

    • A Club Owner: A club owner in your hometown who sees hundreds of bands perform each year. This individual has a good idea of what works and what doesn’t and is willing to offer you an objective point of view and career guidance. And finally . . . 

    • An Intern: An intern or junior assistant of a professional manager by day who’s looking to cut his teeth on managing his own artist on his downtime at night. He’s got the advantage of having his boss’ ear for guidance and observing how a professional office is run all day.

    While start-up managers may not be the most experienced folks, don’t underestimate their value. They can be some of the most loyal and hardworking people around, and they’ll stick with you through the tough times. And who knows, they may even grow into being legends. Look at Andrew Oldham. He started out with the Rolling Stones when he was just 17, and he became one of the most successful managers of all time. Johnny Wright started managing New Kids on The Block at just 18, and he also went on to manage Jonas Brothers and Justin Timberlake. Impressive! 

    C. Established Professional Management

    Finally, if you’re able to create serious momentum in your career (get millions of streams, start generating some income, and/or attract labels and publishers), then established professional managers will be more interested in working with you. You might be referred to these folks via your record label, or they might seek you out. Let’s look at mid-level and big-league managers.

    Mid-Level Managers 

    Mid-level managers are those who have a great deal of experience in the industry but have not quite broken a band into superstardom. Maybe they have one client on their roster who was able to amass several million Spotify streams and social media followers on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok (or other), but they still don’t have that bonified superstar artist yet—and that’s what they’re shooting for! They are typically well liked in the industry and have a big enough network to open some doors for you. 

    However, the problem with mid-level managers is that they are not as powerful as big-league managers, and therefore it may take them longer to get things done.

    Big-League Managers

    Big-league managers (like Irving Azoff, Scooter Braun and Coran Capshaw) have been around for years and have lots of Grammy-winning superstars on their rosters. The relationships they’ve formed, the respect they’ve earned, and the favors they can trade give them the power to make things happen with just a few phone calls. 

    However, the problem is that you could easily get lost in the sauce. This means that you get overshadowed by their more profitable clients. I was with a group that had one of the most successful rock management companies in the word (one that handles Metallica), and we never even did one date with the band or really much of anything at all. We soon left the management. 

    Qualities of the Manager 

    There are dozens of experienced, professional, established managers out there, any one of whom is capable of doing the job. The important thing is picking the one who really wants to work with you. 

    Don’t just pick a manager who has the biggest stars on his or her roster, takes you out to the most expensive restaurant, or makes the biggest promises. 

    Above all, your manager must possess a genuine enthusiasm for your music, an understanding of your vision, and a commitment to going the long haul. Of course, they must also come highly recommended from people you respect, and they must be trustworthy.

    Be sure to read the biographies of some of the most interesting managers of all time and make note of some of the other character traits that you admire. One I’d like to recommend is the story of the Rolling Stones manager titled Stoned: Andrew Loog Oldham. Oldham understood branding and how to create the Stones’ “bad boy” image; he was an innovative thinker and helped the Stones retain ownership in their masters; and he knew how to form the right alliances for the band (he connected them with the Beatles). 

    Another manager you might want to read up on is Scooter Braun. Scooter was a strong believer in social media (long before it was the industry norm), and had a knack for spotting hidden talent online, notably Justin Bieber. He also knew how to form the right alliances for Bieber by hooking him up with Usher, who was very instrumental in furthering Bieber’s career. 

    So, what traits are important to you? Be sure to give this some thought. •

    BOBBY BORG is a music industry professor at USC, author, and YouTuber at youtube.com/bobbyborg. He is the author of Music Marketing for the DIY Musician, Business Basics For Musicians, and Introduction to Music Publishing. He is the co-author (with Britt Hastey) of Personal Finance for Musicians.

    The Manager’s Playbook: Essential Roles and Realistic Paths For Musicians As musicians, we all ponder the role of personal managers, those guiding lights who can shape our journey. They navigate us…

  • SoundCloud tackles what it calls the ‘Zero Plays problem’ with AI-Powered ‘First Fans’ featureAlgorithm will use AI technology developed by Musiio
    Source

    SoundCloud’s “First Fans” feature will surface newly-uploaded songs to around 100 users with relevant music preferences.

  • Bucket One Is A FREE Crumar BIT Plugin By Full Bucket Music
    Full Bucket Music releases Bucket ONE, a FREE 80s-inspired synth plugin for macOS and Windows. Bucket ONE emulates the sound of the Crumar BIT 01/99 synths from the mid-80s. It is the latest candidate for our free retro synthesizers article. These Crumar synths are pretty desirable today, but for one reason or another, they didn’t [...]
    View post: Bucket One Is A FREE Crumar BIT Plugin By Full Bucket Music

    Full Bucket Music releases Bucket ONE, a FREE 80s-inspired synth plugin for macOS and Windows. Bucket ONE emulates the sound of the Crumar BIT 01/99 synths from the mid-80s. It is the latest candidate for our free retro synthesizers article. These Crumar synths are pretty desirable today, but for one reason or another, they didn’tRead More