There's a cool alternative if you want to work in the music industry but performing isn't really your aptitude. Apart from creating the actual music, a music manager handles almost everything else in an artist's career, and sometimes this requires playing many different roles. In this article, Randi Zimmerman from the Symphonic Blog gives us some useful tips on how to get started.

Great managers go above and beyond to secure the best business opportunities for their artists, and this includes having to:

• Be the connection between the artist and the rest of the team

• Develop itineraries and manage calendars

• Give advice, whether it's personal and professional

• Understand how royalties work

• Negotiate contracts and fees

• Guide artist's through the particularities of the music business

• Analyze data, set goals, and track and measure performance

• And, basically, handle all the things the artists you work with aren't the best at (that means the skills you bring to the table need to be top-notch)

There are two main ways to get into music management:

1.) Working for existing industry professionals:

You can learn a lot and gain professional experience from those who have already found success in doing the same. That could mean getting a position as an assistant to an established manager or finding a job on the ground floor of a big management company and working your way up. 

2.) Finding a promising unestablished band and offer to be their manager:

If you choose to find a new artist at the beginning of their career, you'll have the opportunity to grow and improve along with them before the big labels snatch them up. However, this means you'll be probably working harder and for less money, but it also pushes you to be as enthusiastic and motivated about the artist's achievements as they are. After all, once they are successful and making money, so will you.

Commission:

Before starting to work with an artist or band, you must have a signed contract specifying your commission (the percentage of the artist's earnings that will go to you). Commonly, the average fixed commission rate is 15 to 20%. However, music managers and management companies don't usually commission on the totality of a client's gross revenue. That's because the artist needs to reinvest a part of that income into tour transportation, fees to get songs on streaming platforms, publicists, and even commission fees paid to other professionals like lawyers and agents, to name a few.

Education:

Considering music managers are responsible for all the legal and business aspects of an artist's career, they usually must have a bachelor's degree in the music business (or business in general).

Several schools offer music management or business management degrees. To help narrow it down, we've chosen a couple of the best schools for music management:

• Full Sail University

• Berklee College of Music

• University of Southern California

• The National Association of Schools of Music (NASM)

Ultimately, the most significant skill you'll need to master is gaining the trust of your clients. As a music manager, you'll be required to make critical financial decisions and give advice on sensitive topics. So no matter who you end up working with, they'll need to trust what you have to say, and the only way they will is if you have the utmost honesty and respect for the artist and their career.