Read It Before The Pen Bleeds It

One of the first rules of entering the music business or any business in the media is to hire a manager.  As an artist, one must research and choose a manager that suits their career needs.  Not only an artist should researching to see what types of managers are out there, but also looking up what a manager does for an artist.  When hiring a manager, the artist must read and negotiate an agreement or simply, a contract.  Once the contract is signed, the artist must abide by the contract or some clauses could come into play.

At times, artists are so eager to release albums and perform at shows, that they forget or simply don’t pay their managers.  For instance, I read a Kings of A&R article about the hip-pop group, LMFAO, getting sued by their former managers.  The group supposedly owes their managers millions of dollars and they were alleged of breach of contract.  Artists and managers should have a reasonable relationship.  They should have a partnership that is partly friendship and fully business.

As for artists, I think they should at least negotiate over the original contract if a major label or something else comes up that is better.  For example, I read an article on Contactmusic website about the lawsuit against pop star, Ke$ha.  Das Communications were suing her for 14 million dollars for a breach of contract.  They said that she was influenced by the other manager to leave their organization.  It isn’t rare that this situation happens where an artist finds a better deal with another manager and he or she just leaves their former manager high and dry. 

To avoid confrontations with contracts, artists and managers must have communication the best way they know how.  Without communication, an artist could end up in more trouble than needed, and managers could end up losing plenty of money.