The Importance of Management For Your Band

So you are a leader and member of a band and you are starting to get really busy right? Since the beginning you have managed every aspect of how you and your members are going to make it. Every decision you make is in your hands and your band is looking up to you. What will you do if a record label approaches you and they offer you a deal? Who will you have to look over that offer for you? Will you take it into your own hands and continue on the path of self-management or will you relinquish your powers to a trust worth artist manager or Management Company?

It is important to remember that you are an artist and an artist must remain in the zone of creativity and cultivation. About.com talks about the importance of Band Management. Management can provide this opportunity to you because of the extra workload that would be taken off of your shoulders. You really don’t know how busy you can get until you get busy. It is important to make the right decision for you and your band members so that you can continue to become well known and profitable. You didn’t work this hard to get to where you are at now to throw it away on the notion that you are letting a stranger manage your career. That stranger has talents that you don’t have in terms of moving you in the right direction.

History is here to remind us that people have done this and it has ether worked or hasn’t worked. Creedence Clearwater Revival is a perfect example of self-management going wrong. The band’s leader John Fogerty thought that he could do it all. He was a very talented songwriter and producer for his band CCR. He looked over every contract and signed on the dotted line not knowing how it would impact him in the future. He didn’t have the advice of an artist manager that would have been able to help him develop his ideas and include everyone in the band in the process. This can be the turning point of you continuing a successful career or breaking up like CCR eventually had to do because of their differences.

Importance of Good Negotiation Interview with Arts & Entertainment Lawyer Clayborne E. Chavers Esq.

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Clayborne E. Chavers Esq. is a prominent Washington D.C. lawyer practicing law for over 30 years. His law firm The Chavers Law Firm focuses on a wide variety of law practices including Intellectual Property, Arts, Entertainment & Sports Law, Internet law, and Corporate Law to name a few. In November of 1996 he was named as one of the top Arts and Entertainment lawyers in the greater Washington D.C. area. In April of 2012 he was rated as AV Preeminent Attorney. Among his notable achievements and acknowledgements he has worked hard in the negotiation room working to get his clients the best deal possible while satisfying the wants and needs of his clients.

One of the things that recording artist and bands need is a good negotiator on the team. When that lucky artist or band gets to the negotiation table at an indie or major record label that negotiator needs to be able to get the best deal for both parties. In a recent phone interview with Clay Chavers Esq I asked him three questions related to his experience with negotiation. The first question was “How do you separate the people from the problem?” He stated and I quote, “I am not sure you would separate the people from the problem because with out the people the problem wouldn’t be something that I would concern myself with.  My focus is on what’s best for the people I represent so if they have a problem I would have to adjust that problem. The focus should be on how best to resolve the problem.”

My second question to him was “How do you handle positional bargaining tactics?” He stated and I quote “You have to justify or reconcile what your position is specific to your opposition and its better to be in a position where you are not being dictated to yet you are doing the dictating. One way to achieve this he said is to let the other side make the offer and then that gives you time access the offer and make your move on what you think is best for your client in regards to that offer. The third question I asked him was “Can you give me an example of how you worked toward mutual benefit when you were negotiating a deal?” He stated and I quote, “You have to always have everybody give a little something they want and give up a little something they want. If you have a deal that is overly advantage to your client and not to the person you are doing business with, they will be dissatisfied and find ways to get out of it.” He also stated that “In every good deal everybody should give up something and everybody should get something. If you don’t achieve that it is unlikely you will have a relationship of long duration.”