Officiated by The Official Charts Company's Martin Talbot and ex-Universal A&R/ artist manager Joel Harrison, The Managers Forum panellists between them have sold a helluva lot of record. Luckily they imparted some wisdom about the challenges facing artists at either end of the sales scale.
Jim Chancellor (MD of Fiction Records & manager of Athlete), Phil Chadwick (Elbow's manager), James Sandom ( Supervision Management - The Kaiser Chiefs), Cassandra Gracey (manager of Gabriella Cilmi) and Deville Schober (manager of showcasing artists of this event Aloha From Hell) all pitched in with what they thought was most important to keep in mind when managing in today's climate. Schober thought it was "more important than ever to fight against 360 deals" which may fly in the face of common perception of today's grab-all deal structures. Gracey, who manages Cilmi and Island artist FrankMusik (also showcasing at MusexpoEurope), stressed the importance of individual artists expectations and having a clear roadmap for each different artist. James Sandom thought it was about staying true to the artist's original aesthetic and ideals.
On the subject of getting revenue for your artist outside the record deal, there was some interesting asides on dealing with Ad synchs. Chadwick revealed that Elbow turned down £1m from a breakfast cereal brand for the use of their hit 'One Day Like This', as well as turning down offers from Orange mobile phones and Birds Eye's Fish Fingers. The reasoning behind it was simple to understand, as Phil said: "The band had decided 'do we want to have a gig where someone shouts 'play that one off the cereal advert!'?". He also offered insight into the costs associated with up-scaling your act. A Wembley Arena show for Elbow only just broke even, but was done as a point to prove that the band could pull it off. The blanket license which TV stations in the UK enjoy for the use of music in their programme was descried as 'heartbreaking' by Chadwick, who admitted to watching 'The Katie and Peter Show' on ITV2 when Elbow's 'Mirrorball' was used.
Cassandra thought there was still the right deals to be done when your artist is in demand for co-branded opportunities: Frankmusik got 'tens of thousands of pounds' for the Blackberry-sponsored TV show he did.
Jim Chancellor said he didn't factor in synch revenue when signing a band as it may not happen in the near future. He expressed the opinion that although MGMT broke in US by clever use of synch, it wouldn't happen over here because the act are perceived as too 'cool' to get away with such a thing in the UK. Chadwick responded that the generation from which the artist belongs to is a factor -Elbow being a bit older means they're less responsive to ad synchs than younger acts. Outside the synch activity, Chadwick also focused on the importance of having a great champion of your act within the label structure - Elbow specified that they would only work with Liz Goodwin in Polydor UK as their product manager because of her passion for working the band through the entire Universal system (which he described as a 'grown-up record label). James Sandom concluded the advice by saying he found it good to have a small network of other managers which he trusts to check things like festival/ commercial fees and run past problems and opportunities as they arise. A fascinating panel with some real lessons learned.
Jim Chancellor (MD of Fiction Records & manager of Athlete), Phil Chadwick (Elbow's manager), James Sandom ( Supervision Management - The Kaiser Chiefs), Cassandra Gracey (manager of Gabriella Cilmi) and Deville Schober (manager of showcasing artists of this event Aloha From Hell) all pitched in with what they thought was most important to keep in mind when managing in today's climate. Schober thought it was "more important than ever to fight against 360 deals" which may fly in the face of common perception of today's grab-all deal structures. Gracey, who manages Cilmi and Island artist FrankMusik (also showcasing at MusexpoEurope), stressed the importance of individual artists expectations and having a clear roadmap for each different artist. James Sandom thought it was about staying true to the artist's original aesthetic and ideals.
On the subject of getting revenue for your artist outside the record deal, there was some interesting asides on dealing with Ad synchs. Chadwick revealed that Elbow turned down £1m from a breakfast cereal brand for the use of their hit 'One Day Like This', as well as turning down offers from Orange mobile phones and Birds Eye's Fish Fingers. The reasoning behind it was simple to understand, as Phil said: "The band had decided 'do we want to have a gig where someone shouts 'play that one off the cereal advert!'?". He also offered insight into the costs associated with up-scaling your act. A Wembley Arena show for Elbow only just broke even, but was done as a point to prove that the band could pull it off. The blanket license which TV stations in the UK enjoy for the use of music in their programme was descried as 'heartbreaking' by Chadwick, who admitted to watching 'The Katie and Peter Show' on ITV2 when Elbow's 'Mirrorball' was used.
Cassandra thought there was still the right deals to be done when your artist is in demand for co-branded opportunities: Frankmusik got 'tens of thousands of pounds' for the Blackberry-sponsored TV show he did.
Jim Chancellor said he didn't factor in synch revenue when signing a band as it may not happen in the near future. He expressed the opinion that although MGMT broke in US by clever use of synch, it wouldn't happen over here because the act are perceived as too 'cool' to get away with such a thing in the UK. Chadwick responded that the generation from which the artist belongs to is a factor -Elbow being a bit older means they're less responsive to ad synchs than younger acts. Outside the synch activity, Chadwick also focused on the importance of having a great champion of your act within the label structure - Elbow specified that they would only work with Liz Goodwin in Polydor UK as their product manager because of her passion for working the band through the entire Universal system (which he described as a 'grown-up record label). James Sandom concluded the advice by saying he found it good to have a small network of other managers which he trusts to check things like festival/ commercial fees and run past problems and opportunities as they arise. A fascinating panel with some real lessons learned.
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