ARTS MANAGEMENT
Serving as strategic advisor to institutions of the arts and the artist. Focusing on decision making supporting the operating, business and finance affairs or ventures of the client. For performing artists, simultaneously coordinating the supporting human resources to operate efficiently and in the artist’s defined interests (e.g. agent, attorney, publicist, financial advisor).
Cont'd...Artist Management In The 21st Century
In 1969, a young and largely unknown Jimmy Page understood much of this. He had a clear understanding of who should own the work of a new band he had formed (Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham). While The Stones, Jimi, Bowie, Springsteen, Tom Petty et al., were all being pillaged by their management, Zeppelin negotiated with a sterling businessman that revered the artist, Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic Records. The result was Zeppelin retained creative authority and owned their songs. Everybody took great reward from the band’s creative run, including Ahmet and Atlantic Records.
This approach is not a business model. It’s a mutual respect between artist and management to assure the creative output of the artist’s vision is realized and the associated reward falls to the creators, while also being shared with the business partners that enabled it. We feel this is common sense but it remains elusive well into the 21st Century.
When Prince discovered the same conundrum nearly 25 years later, he repudiated it. Thereafter, he became acutely aware of ownership rights to any performance he lent himself too and made sure the terms respected control of his artistic rights. This is an idea of timeless good sense.
Simple, commonly available ingredients, such as language, paint or the five notes of the pentatonic scale, when arranged and rendered by someone that sees where they belong, becomes art. M6i endeavors to secure a path that allows the artist the liberty to conduct their work, on their terms, while being properly compensated and retaining ownership of their work.