How Music Managers Became as Important as Artists

Music managers could very well be the new frontier of the media world.

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Complex Original

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As the ground beneath the music industry has shifted over the past decade, most conversations about its future have centered around two parties: the labels and the artists. Will major labels continue to dominate the market? Or will independent labels flourish? Will artists self-release their music en masse and abandon the labels entirely? Or will they capitulate to label demands for 360 deals?

In 2014, the label-artist relationship continues to evolve, but perhaps the most unexpected factor is the increasing importance of third parties: management and other forms of artist representation. At one point we might have referred to them as “middlemen,” but they’re not merely liaisons between artists and labels now, if they ever were. Increasingly, getting signed or having an album out on a major label is not the endgame even for some of the most ambitious artists. And on an indie level, booking agencies, publishing companies, and publicity firms have begun to wield a greater influence as industry-savvy DIY artists seek out allies to navigate the business end of their careers.

One needs to look no further than Jay Z’s current empire, Roc Nation, for proof of the power of management. Sure, there’s a Roc Nation label imprint, and it has released hit albums by Hov and J. Cole, but its artist management wing is where the real power lies, helping to guide massive careers like Kanye West and Shakira. When Big Sean recently switched management to Roc Nation, it meant as much for his career as it would if he signed a big label deal, perhaps more.

Likewise, manager Scooter Braun has become a pivotal figure in pop music. He guided Justin Bieber to superstardom, and when “Call Me Maybe” caught Bieber’s ear, it was Braun who signed Carly Rae Jepsen and helped her push her single to the top of the charts. More recently, Braun has begun representing Ariana Grande, and it certainly seems that his Midas touch has made a difference—Grande’s 2013 debut, Yours Truly, was a breakthrough, but it was the follow-up, My Everything, executive produced by Braun, that turned her into a major force in 2014.

Even outside of the top-40 mainstream, managers are helping artists pursue more unique career opportunities with a boutique mentality. Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All was a fiercely independent L.A. rap collective when they first received national attention in 2010. But it was the management company 4 Strikes—led by the married couple Christian and Kelly Clancy—that helped Odd Future create an offbeat cottage industry. Instead of going for a big major label advance or a typical hip-hop fashion line, Odd Future created its own label through the RED Distribution indie company, and retained its unique sensibility through its own clothing brand and Adult Swim comedy series, Loiter Squad. Any expectations for Tyler, The Creator or Earl Sweatshirt to become radio-friendly platinum stars were dashed a long time ago, but a look at the crowd at any Odd Future pop-up shop event or Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival concert will prove the strength of their fan base. And these unusual avenues of expression and fan outreach always seem to happen because, when Tyler has a strange idea, Christian Clancy helps him make it a reality.

In some ways, it was Steve Stoute who pioneered the role of manager as headline-grabbing power broker in hip-hop. After Illmatic sold modestly relative to its acclaim, Nas hired Stoute as his manager in 1995. It was Stoute’s guidance that positioned Nas to become a multi-platinum marquee name with It Was Written, pushing him toward the flashier image and more accessible Trackmasters production. When Stoute moved into other arenas—like advertising—in the early 2000s, he used his music industry connections to link stars like Jay Z with consumer brands, making the kind of product placement ubiquitous in rap since “My adidas” into a very lucrative new revenue stream.

Although Stoute mostly operates outside the music world now, many other hip-hop industry legends are still moving to help define the new landscape. Russell Simmons is raising capital for All Def Digital, a multi-platform venture that promises to be more modern and agile than his last music venture—the more traditional Russell Simmons Music Group imprint that he ran under the Def Jam umbrella in the last decade.

A dream team of industry vets, including Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles, is currently making noise with 300 Entertainment, an intriguing new label that has helped move mixtape sensations like Migos and Young Thug closer to the mainstream over the past year. And Liles, who surely has his hands in so many different projects right now that he should be too big to bother with individual artist management, is still currently D’Angelo’s manager. And although everyone was skeptical when Liles promised a new D’Angelo album in 2014, he was just proven right with the release of Black Messiah, which is about to make managing the enigmatic R&B star into an even more important job.

At a time when artists take pride in achieving success without the help of a major label, being signed has become almost uncool. And it speaks volumes that Migos released two mixtapes under the title No Label. But No Label II was placed on iTunes and Spotify by 300 Entertainment, perhaps in the ultimate implicit statement that it is not a label in the traditional sense. Not a lot of artists are ready to self-release music and do everything themselves, but many are not ready to hand over the reigns to Interscope, either. And in that area in between, content companies like 300 Entertainment are blurring the line between label and management.

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