Notes from the manager's side
Eshy Gazit on the three jobs an international artist has to fill to work in America: a US manager, a record label, and label services. What each one does, who pays whom, and the order to add them.
Eshy Gazit on the shape of a 12-month US market entry plan for an international artist: groundwork, the first release, television and press, radio, collaborations and live, and what has to be true before each stage.
How Top 40 and pop radio promotion works in the US, what program directors look for, and why most international artists never get on the format. From Eshy Gazit, manager of Monsta X.
The questions Eshy Gazit would ask a music manager if he were the artist: about their record, their plan for your first year, the team, the money, the contract and how it ends.
Eshy Gazit on the difference between a music manager, a record label and a music publisher (plus the booking agent, lawyer and business manager): what each one owns, how each gets paid, and who hires whom.
Eshy Gazit on the clauses that matter in a music management agreement: term, commission, sunset, key person, exclusions, expenses, termination and who holds the money. General practice, not legal advice.
How music managers get paid in general industry practice: the 15 to 20 percent commission, gross versus net, sunset clauses, expenses, and which income is usually not commissionable. Not legal advice.
Eshy Gazit on how international artists and labels should approach a US music manager: what to put in the first email, what a US manager checks, and the mistakes that end the conversation.
Eshy Gazit on how artists actually get a music manager: what has to be true first, how to find the right one, what to send, and why most outreach goes unanswered.
The playbook Eshy Gazit used as BTS's US managing partner from 2016 to 2018 and as Monsta X's manager since 2018: American television first, then pop radio, then US collaborations, then arenas.
Eshy Gazit on the signals that an artist is ready for a music manager, the signals that it is too early, and what to do in the meantime.
A working definition of the music manager's job from Eshy Gazit: the plan, the deals, the campaign, the team, and how an artist gets a manager to say yes.
Eshy Gazit on what artist development actually is, how he took BTS and Monsta X into the US market, what a manager does all day, and what he looks for before he signs anyone.
CAA, WME and UTA are booking agencies. A manager runs the career and hires the agency. Eshy Gazit explains the difference and why most best music manager lists mix up the two jobs.
BTS's US breakthrough was run by Big Hit Entertainment with Eshy Gazit as US managing partner from 2016 to 2018. Scooter Braun had no role in it. HYBE bought his company in 2021, four years later. Here is the timeline with sources.
A retrospective on the 2017 essay "America, Let's Make History Through Music" and the nine years of K-pop's American rise that followed.