This post digs into what an agent looks for in an artist before they sign them at Midnight Mango.
The process of making music can be taught and should always be valued, but that doesn’t mean that everyone who makes music is going to be able to find an audience.
Consequently choosing the right artists to approach is complicated.
At the start of an artist’s career, live fees are low and the percentage the agent makes from their live bookings is a small fraction of that. This means two things, firstly an agent can only work with a few emerging artists at any one time, and secondly, taking on emerging talent is a big investment in time – and since time is money – money too!
The need for the agent to generate commission makes it more complicated still.
There is an intangible quality to music that makes it difficult to judge if it will go on to become successful. The opinions of the listener are always subjective and the zeitgeist of the moment changes all the time.
And so the decision becomes yet more complicated.
Then there is the question of whether the agent is best placed to work with a particular artist. Everything else may be right – except the agent. They just might not have the knowledge or the network to help the artist. So the agent needs to be honest about that too.
Really freakin’ complicated then!
But it doesn’t have to be. Let’s break it down…
Rationalising who to approach
In order to make some sense of this, we have to rationalise how we choose who to approach. let’s look at how we do that at Midnight Mango. Of course very frequently, the approach will come from the artist’s side – that doesn’t change anything here – the agent still has to do their homework.
Firstly, the agent asks themselves a subjective question.
Is the music unique?
By this I mean, does the agent think the music could grow an audience. Bound up in the answer to this is; Do we think the artist will produce more of it? Do we like it enough? Could we get enthusiastic about it? Is it worth the effort?
To do this properly the agent really needs to see the artist play live.
After that it gets more scientific, the agent applies the following test…
Is the artist popular already?
If the answer to the first bit is yes; That’s all the agent needs to know!
As long as they’ve time, and everything else above aligns, they should be happy to work with the artist! The agent, after all, is in business and businesses are in the business of making money! We celebrate that!
If the artist is not already popular, then the agent has to ask the next question
Does the artist have the potential to become popular?
To answer that requires deeper analysis, they consider the following…
- The Source – Who suggested the artist to the agent. For example labels, journalists, publishers, managers, promoters, showcases bookers, etc. Agents value the opinions of other professionals.
- Live work – Has the artist booked and played their own shows?
- Image/Brand – Does the artist have a consistent image across all their channels? Does it look exciting and will it align with a particular music scene?
- Self-promotion and engagement – Does the artist take every opportunity to push their brand? Do they engage directly with their fans? Do they promote their shows successfully? Are they are active on their channels, do they produce merch and sell it to their fans.
- Statistics – The agent will consdier the artist’s streams, monthly listens, followers, likes, etc
- Persistence – The first few years of a career are always tough, so the agent will consider the artists resilience – do they really want success. Do they have proven ambition. This is the agents full-time job, the artist needs to aspire to that as well.
- Team – An artist does not exist in isolation, the agent wants to know who else is involved. For example manager, label, publisher, promoter, PR etc. Check out this post on “Building a Team” for more about that.
No one expects all of these criteria to be met, but the more that are, the more likely the agent will be successful in helping them with their live career.
And finally, the agent asks themselves these two questions
- Are they well placed to do a good job?
- Do they have time to do a good job?
It’s rare an agent will take emerging telent without watching them for some time first. If the agent’s overall assessment is not quite hitting the mark, they may wait and see how the artist develops.
But if it is hitting the mark, the agent will write to the artist or their management and ask…
Would you like to open a discussion about representation?
