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Live Most Significant Revenue Stream For Music Managers, Report Finds
– “Managing Expectations”
A new report release by the Music Managers Forum UK
A new report published by the UK’s Music Managers Forum (MMF) makes it clear that live touring is something music managers need to be well-versed in.
The report, dubbed “Managing Expectations”, is informed by survey responses from 183 managers, as well as in-depth interviews and Q&As with managers and professionals working in the wider industry.
The report finds that “Live is now the most significant revenue stream,” for artists, and thus their managers, “followed by recorded/publishing advances, PRS royalties, streaming payments, and PPL royalties.”
57% of managers said they took responsibility for tour management for their artists. “Live events and tour management” was identified as the second most important music management skill for future business success, right behind “managing vulnerability, health/wellbeing of the artist.”
Some of the managers interviewed for the report suggest a rethink of sunset clauses, which entitle the manager to receive a commission from any contract negotiated during the management term, even after the management contract terminates.
“A new area that could be rolled into sunset clauses is live income. As the economics of the business are now very different to the era when sunset clauses became the norm, managers are feeling they are justified in recalibrating what exactly a sunset clause should cover,” the report states.
The expanding list of responsibilities that managers are expected to shoulder means they “must master all trades, with expertise across live, recorded, publishing, marketing, promotion and a host of other areas,” the report finds.
Ellie Giles of Step Music Management believes that both the terminology and the commercial relationship managers have with artists need to change to better reflect the manager’s role. Giles suggests replacing the term “manager” with “business developer” instead.
“You are building a business and then you’re not getting bought out of that business at the end,” she is quoted. “You’re just being pushed off the business. In any other business scenario, if you build a business, you’d be bought out of that business. So why the fuck is that not the case in music management?”
The MMF report notes that most of the interviews conducted placed less emphasis on live music and music publishing, “but we plan to follow this report with an in-depth exploration of challenges for managers with these income streams.”