Dear artist managers and record labels

The past few weeks I have dedicated myself to listening to local music. I listened to local music across all genres, Kwaito, Hip-Hop, RnB, Afro-Pop and etc. The one thing I have noticed is the abundance of talented musicians in the land of the brave. The only sad thing is that most of these talented persons do not have the right kind of exposure. This exposure needs to be generated partly by artist managers and depending on a record deal, the record labels also are responsible for promoting the artist. Certainly the artist should be his/her own number-one fan, but sometimes they lack the necessary skills to get their music across and this is where managers and record label executives come in. The artist is the talent, and the manager is the “business”. A manager, especially in the entertainment industry, needs to have a sound knowledge of the industry and should have an ear for good music. You as an artist manager work on the publicity and the individual goals of your artist, sometimes you may have to work a little harder than your client.

Whether you manage an unknown or popular musician it is important you understand your field of music in which your client operates. All music genres have a different fan base and unique way of working. You need to make sure you research your artist’s field of music and make sure the research works to your advantage.

As I was listening to most of the albums I realised that most managers do not represent their artists accordingly. Some of the albums I have listened to have little to no promotion and this was very sad. Your client who spends many hours coming up with ideas and concepts for their songs do not get the fair share of the deal. Our artist managers in Namibia need to step up and make sure they work hard to ensure that artists are visible in their respective industries. This means that music videos shoots need to be planned, simple things like a documentary that explains the creative process that an artist went through to create albums and songs need to be prepared. There are so many ways that artists can be promoted and they should be explored. You can easily have tours, album signing sessions and album listening sessions with fans to create more hype around your artist. Plan for competitions and activities that generate opinions about your artist and to test how your artist is perceived.

This is a new year and if you represent an artist ask yourself: “Do I have a vision board for my artist?” “How will I get people to talk about my artist for the next six months?” “What are some of the songs I want to promote for my artist and what songs deserve a music video?”

If you have answers to all the questions you need to have an action plan and ensure that everything for your artist is implemented. We have seen so many artists drop out of music labels because of a lack of promotion and many other reasons. It is your responsibility as an artist manager to make sure that your artist gets noticed and has a great amount of presence in the industry they find themselves in.

June Shimuoshili