The job gets described in vague words. "Handles the business side." "Guides the career." Here is what it is in practice, from the inside, and what an artist should expect before they sign with anyone.
The four parts of the job
1. The plan
A manager decides what the next year is for. Which single, which market, what the artist will be known for at the end of it. Without a plan every opportunity looks equal, and the artist ends up saying yes to whatever arrives first. With BTS in 2016 the plan was one line: American television first, then US pop radio, then collaborations with American artists, then arenas. Every decision for two years was measured against that line.
2. The deals
Label, distribution, publishing, sync, brand partnerships. The manager sets the terms and decides what the artist signs and what they walk away from. The lawyer papers it. The manager is the one who has to live with it.
3. The campaign
Release date, radio, press, TV, playlists, the ad budget, the content calendar. This is where most of a manager's week goes. It is also where the difference between a good manager and a name on a contract shows up, because a campaign is hundreds of small calls and follow-ups nobody sees.
4. The team
The manager hires the booking agent, the publicist, the radio promoter, the business manager, and holds each of them to the plan. The agent books the shows. The manager decides which shows are worth booking. That order matters, and I wrote about why the two jobs get confused.
How a manager gets paid
A percentage of the artist's gross income, usually 15 to 20 percent, for the term of the agreement, sometimes with a sunset on income from deals made during the term. That structure is the whole point. The manager is paid on the career, so the manager is responsible for the career. Anyone who asks an artist for a monthly fee up front and calls it management is running a different business.
What I look for before I say yes
- Momentum that is not paid for. Streams, followers and views that grew because people shared the music. A bought audience shows up in the data within a week and it kills the campaign later.
- A song that can travel. Something a radio programmer, a playlist editor or a TV booker can say yes to without a paragraph of context.
- A team that picks up the phone. If the artist already has a label at home, the label has to be a partner. The home label stays the home label. The manager runs the market they know.
- Work rate. The artist will be asked to do more in year one than they think is reasonable. The ones who break are the ones who do it.
How to approach a manager
Three lines. Who you are, one number that is moving, one link. Managers read the number first and the music second. Do not send a biography. Do not send a deck. If the number is real, the meeting happens. If it is not, no email fixes that.
Match the lane. A manager who has broken country artists in Nashville knows country radio and the promoters who book it. A manager who has taken K-pop groups into America knows the TV bookers, the pop programmers and how to work alongside a Korean label. Look at what the manager has actually done with artists like you, not at how famous the roster is.
Related: the best music managers in 2026, by lane, and what an international music manager does. Direct inquiries: contact.