UNDERSTANDING THE MUSIC STRUCTURE By Ninalowo Boladale
No doubt music is one goldmine where every young mind focus on these days, but is it really true that this avenue is really money generating just the way people see it? Yes some say there is money in it yet I met some artistes that are even known and are not comfortable, this made me conduct a research and discovered that there are lot of things wrong with the music industry.
Music is profitable but only for those that understand the business aspect of it, many artiste do music as entertainment and expect magic to happen they come to realize they are doing the wrong thing only when age is telling on them and they see needs cannot be met. Lets take our time to analyze music in its entirety.
Meaning of Music
According to the dictionary “Music is an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony and color. Another definition sees Music as “The tones or sounds employed, occurring in single line (melody), and sounded or to be sounded by one or more voices or instruments, or both.
Music defined will at least make artistes give us that good sound and tune when delivering for public hearing.
Why Most Artiste Don’t Make Money
Most artistes don’t make money from their contents because they are yet to understand the structure of the industry they work in or the circle they are in.
A banker will resume work in the morning to attend to clients and the bank itself make money from different angles which when one look at will not really see it as something reasonable but when the law of multiplication set in we discover it’s a whole lot of income.
The first thing an artiste need to have in mind is if he or she is doing music for entertainment or business purpose this will give a guide to how he or she runs the concept. But irrespective of the purpose it is very paramount we all understand the structure of the music industry. And sometimes even when you are doing music as entertainment money can still be seriously made.
The Structure:
Record Label
According to Wikipedia “A record label or record company is a brand or trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos; also conducting talent scouting and development of new artists (artists and repertoire or “A&R”); and in derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer’s name, along with other information.”
MANAGERS
Label Manager: Just like every other manager in the other disciplines as banks, Press, Media etc. Sees the growth of the label and make sure every other sectors of the label functions accordingly without lapses
Assistant Label Manager: This person stands in for the label manager where he/she is not available to attend to some matters. The label manager therefore makes available to the assistant every information needed and all the activities of the label are not carried out behind him.
Talent / Artiste Manager:
People often mistake this for the road manager and every body even a road manager addresses themselves as Artiste Managers.
A talent/artiste manager is the seasoned individual or an established organization comprising of seasoned staff that guides the professional career of an artiste in the entertainment industry. It is the duty of the talent manager to oversee the day-to-day business activities of an artiste. The artiste is always trying to write songs, do recordings, and a lot of other things, which makes him/her not been able to think business wise. The absence of talent managers has made some artistes signed unfavorable deals.
The talent manager here takes care of business deals and advises the artistes professionally on his/her career.
BRAND MANAGER:
Though some talent managers or label managers take up this position, but I just have to separate it to make it more elaborate. This is a very critical position in any organization most especially in the music industry.
A Brand manager sees to creating a long lasting positive impression among consumers and improving product sales and market share. The market is not static so it is the duty of the Brand manager to monitor market trends and overseas all advertising and marketing activities to ensure the message is delivered for their product or service.
The reason I postulate that the job of a brand manager in the music industry is a bit tedious is simply because musical artists are not like other products such as drinks and food that can be given to consumers or client to sample, a whole lot of work had to be put in place to convince your client to book your artist(s) for their next event and remember the market is very competitive and you have to beat your competitor(s). The question is how do you do that?
A Brand/Marketing manger helps builds artist(s) career beyond the audio and bring the music to the market for and consumers.
A Brand manager makes sure attention is driven towards a project and get people invest and excited by an act that they want to buy their music.
You as a Brand manager must work closely with the artist and their management from the moment they are signed, in developing their entire aesthetic and branding.
Our product here as mentioned earlier are our artists or bands so consistent and memorable brand can definitely be created generated around them. We identify what makes out act or brand standout working on this precedes their marketing.
Artists also contributed to their branding because they already have an idea of what makes them exceptional.
Campaigns can only begin after proper brand positioning, during campaign process a whole lot of people are involved in the promotion of an artist at different levels and stages, ranging from online, print, videos, commissioning, radio and to plugging, sales and commerce e.tc. The Brand manager creates a plan that incorporated all the promotional elements and hold a overview of target of and deliverable of each of these elements.
Road Managers:
These managers are the closest to the artistes sometimes they stay together, the road manager oversees the personal life of an artiste, he is always found with the artistes whenever they are out or in they do more of the talking on behalf of the talent. In most cases best friends of artistes are recommended for this post.
