Thanks to Gerd Leonhard for this picture of the anatomy of a modern musician via here
For me though, this sums up the challenge of the modern manager as much as the musician. As the focus is placed ever more on the manager to make things happen for their artist, the range of skills needed has widened immensely.

A manager is more like a 21st century CEO. Ensure the fanbase is properly looked after; help the artist reach as many of the right people as possible; build a long term career in the process. Always been this way, but now they are faced with big decisions on distribution strategies, marketing plans, database management, prioritisation on investments, finding money, digital strategies, investment in production (is it worth it in an mp3 world?)…and so much more.

Add into the mix the number of people/experts/companies offering themselves up as partners to the manager, including us!

I will go off and draw a version of the outline above but for a manager…won’t be pretty (the drawing that is).