In 1999 I opened West Coast Classical Artists, a West Coast Arts Management company. I only managed singers, and one opera conductor. My singers were mostly singers that lived on in California and Oregon, though I eventually had a couple from New York and one from Illinois. At the time the West Coast was a management desert. There were a couple of managers out here, but most of them were neither ethical or qualified to represent singers, I felt. Then as now, it is almost impossible to get an audition with a regional company of any stature without representation, and most of the best singers in my area were not managed, and therefore unable to audition for places like Arizona Opera, Opera Pacific, San Diego Opera, and the other larger companies in the West. Oddly, I was represented myself in New York at the time, by Engdahl Artists International. A managed singer, and a Singer's manager at the same time. It was a unique perspective, and I learned a great deal about both sides.
As a singer I showed up at my auditions and had my managers speak to companies and represent me to them. And as a manager, I spoke to some of those same companies about my singers. It was kind of weird at times. Long before I closed WCCA in 2008 I had stopped being a managed singer myself. It was too complicated for me and I wanted to focus on other things including my own vocal studio. I did not make a much money being a manager though I enjoyed the process.. I am not sure "much" money is possible, unless you are dealing with enormous contracts of tens of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, even at the biggest of opera houses and the highest of levels, few singers make that kind of money. But management exists for a good reason, and it is necessary: It gives singers another level acceptance in the music industry, negotiates (hopefully) generous and fair contracts, and serves as a buffer between the artist and the organizations hiring the artists in case of contract disputes or misunderstandings about engagements.
Management is a major concern of singers at a certain level. Management is also a greatly misunderstood aspect of the career. Singers seem desperate to be represented by anybody, and are blind to the pitfalls of being managed by the wrong manager, or at the wrong time in their careers.
I hear singers say this phrase frequently-- “I just need to get management-- then I will be working.” Many of these singers assume that managers just get work for them effortlessly, and place them here and there at Opera companies or Orchestra jobs without auditions. They assume that managers are the great next step in a career, and with a manger the companies will simply hire them because they have the stamp of approval of a manager. Sometimes this is true, but most of the time management is just a level of approval that means a singer is good enough to reach the next level. Not that he or she actually will reach the next level. Singers sometimes assume that once they are managed their manager will do all the marketing and promotional work for them, and they can just sit back and wait for the auditions and calls. When singers assume things like this they tend to be sadly mistaken, and pay dearly for the assumption.
In this article we will examine each aspect of management from the time a singer is ready, until he is a fully managed and working singer.
To begin, when does one need management? When I was in my twenties I sang an audition for Matthew Epstein. At the time I was at the apprentice level and thought I was ready for the next step in my career. I asked Mr. Epstein if he thought I needed management, and he did not hesitate before saying no, I did not need management. He said I only needed management when I had a career to manage. I did not like this answer, because I was one of those singers who perceived that the key to the mystery of a great career was getting an great agent. Never the less, I listened to him and did not pursue an agent then, and rather continued to try and get my own engagements.
This was the right thing to have done, I realize in retrospect. Not only because I did not have a large career to manage, but also because of the implications involved in getting an agent. Singers underestimate the amount of money it costs to retain most agents, and if you are too green to get work you will merely be throwing your money away. Unfortunately, some opera houses have made it difficult for unmanaged singers to be heard, and as a result, singers ready to do small roles at those houses but not quite ready for management are not invited to audition. Anxious to get to the next level of opera houses those singers seek management and often languish expensively on rosters, despite the fact that they may be fine singers. Even if a singer is managed, if he or she does not have sufficient experience he may be passed over for an audition.
This is a catch 22 situation. Singers are ready for the small roles at larger houses, but they are not yet ready for management. In turn, the opera companies may not be interested in unmanaged singers. What should a singer do? Unfortunately there are so many apprentice programs in the country that most of the small roles are now given to apprentices. The professional comprimario is now a thing of the past. Instead of hiring a career Basilio/Curzio or Beppe, the young artists are given those roles. Young Artist programs last a couple of years at most. And after that, the former apprentices are dumped out into the market to make room for the new crop of apprentices, and they have to do auditions and find engagements like everyone else. What to do?
Things happen, good things and bad, that point us in the direction we should be moving. By getting an agent too soon singers may be solving the problem of opera singers not hearing unmanaged singers, but they may find themselves with new problems.
When will you be ready for management? You will be ready when you have several impressive engagements coming up with high profile organizations. You will be ready when you have placed well in major competitions, done some apprentice programs, and heard the news from a musical authority that you trust, not your best soprano friend. You will be ready when you are singing roles with companies that are paying you. You are ready when all of the above apply, and you hear from many different sources that you are progressing really well vocally and dramatically, and that you are ready for the next career step.
You are probably not ready for management if you are moping about not getting any work and you are not getting any of the auditions you do. You are probably not ready if you graduated from college five years ago and have done nothing but your church job and a few concerts since then. You are probably not ready if you are thirty-five and you are still singing small roles with community opera groups, or if all you have ever done is chorus work. You are probably not ready to be managed if you just got out of college with your bachelor’s degree.
If you are ready for management, and you know that it is true because you have considered it carefully with the advice of your support group then you are ready to look for a manager.
Finding the right manager
If you have never been managed, it is a good idea to ask some advice from singers who are managed. They will be able to inform you about their own experiences with their managers, and get you thinking about the questions you need to ask before you sign on the dotted line What does a manager do for you? What is the best kind of manager for you at your level? What kinds of managements are there? What is a contract like, and how much does it cost to be managed? Where should the management be located? What should you expect from a manager? What should you look out for?
How do I look for a manager? How do you know which agents to choose?
Invest in a copy of Musical America and a copy of Management The Book. Most of the agents that book opera and concert work are listed in both resources. Go through the agent rosters in Musical America. Do you know any managed singers? You could start by calling up singers you know and asking what they think of their management.
It is not a bad idea to check the number of singers in your fach on a given roster. If there are only a few or one in that agency it might be worth a try. At the beginning of the book there is an agent report. Check the report and see what agencies are getting their singers work with the kind of companies where you would like to work. Then go to Management, the book, and see how many jobs the agencies you have chosen have gotten for singers.
How many agents should you approach? Quite a few! Fifteen is a good number. Like auditions, you win some and you lose some. Some of the agents may be very interested, and some may not wish to hear you. Don’t pester the ones who are not interested. Move on, and try someone else. When you have enough “yes” responses (about half, or 7) then you are ready to make your audition plans. If none of the original fifteen will hear you, then perhaps you are either aiming too high, or the agents do not think you are ready for management. In this case, maybe you should continue your career as planned without an agent for the time being, and try again in a year or more
Virtually all of the prominent arts managers are listed in Musical America, a publication which comes out each year. Musical America calls itself the “International Directory of the Performing Arts”. In it you will find listings and advertisements of opera companies, Choral Societies, Orchestras, Artist Representatives, Music Festivals, Music Schools and many other resources for the classical music professionals. Agents advertise their rosters in Musical America, and they usually list the singers in the advertisement. By looking through the book, you will gain familiarity with the managements and their singers. You will discover that some of the large management companies like Columbia Artists manage big, international opera stars, and some of the smaller companies may manage people that you know, singers that you have sung with in the past.
d probably wherever else there are singers. Common wisdom has it that the best place to be managed is New York, because New York singers are taken more seriously than singers anywhere else. Also, the Opera companies generally go to New York to hear auditions, and therefore the managers there will have access to most of the auditions in the country. This is great if you live on the East Coast, or in New York, but not so great if you live in Chicago, or San Francisco. If you don’t live in New York you will have to travel a long way for your auditions. It may make better sense to sign on with a manager in your own area, but since every singer and every case is different, it also might be better to sign with someone in New York. It is a personal decision, and one that each singer needs to make for himself.
As a singer new to management, you probably do not want to try to sign with a management that lists the great and famous opera stars unless, for example, you are currently an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera and have done leading roles with the company. Likewise, you should avoid rosters with many singers in your vocal category. It will be difficult to compete with twenty other seasoned sopranos when you are the new kid on the block. Better to look for a manager with less competition for you.
Go through the advertisements in the book and jot down the names and page numbers of some of the smaller agencies, preferably ones with few singers in your vocal category. Look through the ones you have written down, and see if there are people on the rosters that you know. If there are, try to contact the singers you know and see what they say about their manager. If the singers have nothing good to say about their manager and are about to leave, ask them if they will refer another singer on the roster to you, and see if you can chat with them. If they are both negative about the agent, it might be a good idea to leave that one alone. If they are both positive about the agent, and are getting some work, make a note of it.
Listen to the gossip about agents from the singers you know that are managed, and talk to many singers to find out what they have heard about the agents you are interested in. Narrow down your list scientifically and when you are down to about a dozen you are ready to start to make some calls.
Before you actually make a call, be sure that your resume is in great shape and ready to send off at a moment’s notice. It is also a good idea to round up your good reviews, and put down a list of references at the bottom of your resume that the agent can contact to discuss you if they want. Be sure you have a couple of tapes on hand that you can send out, and plenty of headshots. Make sure your materials are impeccable and that your resume is clear, consise and easily read.
Your initial call will most likely be short. You introduce yourself and say that you are a baritone, interested in finding management, and can you send your materials. Most of the time they say yes, and you just send your materials and wait till they have a chance to go through them. If they say no immediately don’t take offense. They may have a full roster, and may not be not looking for anyone at the moment. Rather than needlessly having you send your materials, they are doing you a favor by saying no, saving you time and money.
If they say yes, it is best to send your materials immediately. You’ll have best chance of having your phone call remembered when they receive your materials. Then you wait. If you have not heard back from them after about a week and a half, telephone again and say that you are just wondering if they had received your materials. They will probably say yes, but they have not yet had a chance to peruse them. Ask when they think they might have a chance. If they respond within the week, or two weeks, call again at the end of that period of time. Do not call every day, but keep calling every so often until they have a chance to at least look at your materials. If they are not interested they probably will send you a short note saying politely that they are not interested. If they like your tape they will ask you to audition in person.
Don’t stop at one management—Solicit a number of them and if possible, schedule auditions close together. That way you will have more than one option, and you can decide which one you really want to sign with if you have more than one offer.
The Logistics
Try to make arrangements well ahead of time. You may have to pay for accompanist or get a hall in which to do your audition. If you live out of town this might be difficult to arrange on short notice. You don’t know who all the accompanists are, and you don’t know all of the audition venues. If you are staying in a hotel you may be charged for every call you make from your room, and scheduling auditions can take a lot of phone calls. Even though it might seem cheaper to do things from New York once you get there, it isn’t. You could waste your entire audition week and sing for no one if you have not made plans in advance.
Plan your accommodations and dates carefully. Make sure you pace yourself and do no more than one or two auditions a day. If you try to cram all of your auditions in on two or three days you will probably be too tired and burnt out to sing your best at any of them. Give yourself time. It will be cheaper and less stressful to take a little more time in New York doing your auditions over a week than to blow all of your auditions and have to come back.
Once you have made your arrangements you need to decide your repertoire for the audition. You will want to sing your best arias. If the agent also books concert work, plan to sing some representative pieces from that repertoire. Make sure you are prepared like you have never been prepared before!
When I went to New York for my audition trip I made the mistake of going to the Village Vanguard to listen to some jazz. It was a cramped, windowless basement in Greenwich Village so thick with smoke that I could hardly see the stage. Two hours later I emerged from the place with the smell of smoke all over my hair and clothes and a scratchy, smoky throat. My audition the next day reflected my night out. The moral: This is a major business trip. This is not the time to party.
Each audition is the most important audition. You want offers from as many agents as possible so you can choose the best one for you. Don’t rate them in importance before you sing. You won’t sing as well at those auditions at the bottom of your list and there is no guarantee that the agents at the top of your list will want you. Always do your finest possible performance.
West Coast vs. East Coast
If you are a West Coast singer, and you are interested in getting New York Management, there are a few things to consider before taking this step:
First of all, you will be far away from your agent. Your agent is probably not hooked up to the audition scene on the West Coast-only the one in New York. As a result, the auditions your agent will be calling you for will primarily be in New York, and you will have to go there to audition. This can be very expensive! Lately companies have been rolling into New York without much notice, and if your agent calls you on Monday for an audition on Wednesday, you may not be able to make it. If going to New York frequently is financially possible, and you believe that New York is the best chance for a career (which it is, incidentally) then you want to do your homework even more carefully before choosing an agent.
You will want to go through Musical America and select likely candidates for the kind of roster you would like to be on. You need to go through the steps of calling the Agents, sending your materials etc. You also need to schedule a definite time when you will be in New York auditioning and make every effort to get the agent to understand that you want a date and time for your audition before you leave the West Coast for your audition trip. This may seem unimportant now, but when you are scrambling around an unknown city looking for a pianist and a venue to hold your audition on one day’s notice it won’t seem unimportant at all. You will wish you had set it all up in advance. Try to get as many definite audition times as possible. Some agents will ask you to just phone them when you get to New York. This is definitely not advisable as they may not be available or may be too busy to bother hearing you.
You are not the only singer eager to be heard by the agent and your audition is far more important to you than it is to them. Get them to commit to a date and time.
What makes a good manager?
Since the reason for becoming a represented singer is to further your career, a good manager is one that takes an interest in doing just that. Having an agent cannot guarantee that you will be a successful singer, but a manager who is actively trying to get his singers auditions at the level where they are singing and knows how to develop the careers of his singers as they progress is a good manager.
A good manager looks after all the members of his or her roster, and does not neglect the least of his singers. He or she needs to believe in and stand by all of the members of the roster, and make an honest attempt to put the singers in the path of the Opera Companies most likely to hire them.
A good manager pays attention to his singers, and when they ask him to submit them for something he acts on it quickly. A good manager is knowledgeable about his singer’s individual repertoire, and knows which companies are having auditions when and where, and what the upcoming season repertoire will be, and where his singers could fit into it.
A good manager is in frequent contact with his singers, and does not let months go by before his singers hear from him. A good manager does not charge an exorbitant retainer fee, nor let a singer linger on a roster for the sake of the monthly retainer when the agent is no longer interested in the singer and has stopped actively working for him. A good manager is one that is constantly looking for new opportunities for the members of his roster, and is always pleasant, always professional and is never too busy with other clients to talk to his singers.
What does a manager do?
An Artist’s Representative, Agent, or Arts Manager is kind of a middleman between you the singer and the Opera Companies or conductors looking to hire singers. An agent represents a level of approval. You, the singer, have proved that you are worthy of being managed, and in theory, the agent wants the directors of Opera Companies to recognize that level of excellence and consider you more valuable than your unmanaged counterpart.
Agents often are former singers or musicians that for whatever reason left the performing side to work another aspect of the arts. Sometimes agents are not musicians, but are business people with excellent sales and marketing skills.
The agent’s job is to find out about potential job opportunities, and to attempt to secure that work for the members of his or her roster by promoting his artists to the company or conductor looking for artists. The agent is kind of a salesperson, and his wares are his artists. He tries to package them professionally and make them look desirable to the persons seeking to hire artists.
Agents advertise. They have ads in Musical America, Opera America and other
publications, send out brochures to Opera Companies, put up websites touting their roster and talk with Opera Directors and musical authorities about their artists. Agents negotiate contracts for you and act as a buffer if a problem arises between you and the company you are working for. They can smooth over a problem and intervene for you if something is not satisfactory with your situation at a company.
Agents spend a lot of time making contacts. They spend a lot of time on the phone finding out about auditions, chatting with directors and making themselves known in the musical community. In a sense, the agent’s job is to promote themselves so they can promote you. An agent with a good reputation can be an asset both to the Opera Company and to the singer. Likewise, an agent with a bad reputation can be a detriment to both the Opera Company and the singer.
How much does it cost to be managed?
Each and every manager has a different fee structure. Many agents have some kind of retainer fee, which may be paid monthly or billed to you at intervals. The retainer can vary from almost nothing to outrageous amounts of money. For singers starting out, paying outrageous amounts of money is ridiculous. You have to do a lot of auditioning, and most auditions don’t lead to work. Suppose that your retainer is $400 per month. You are working at the early regional level and have gotten your first regional role in an opera that will pay $3000. At first glance, $3000 looks pretty good for three weeks of work. But it is May, and the Opera is not till next February. You will pay $4000 for your retainer between May and February, get paid $3000 and lose 10% or $300. In light of this, you will have paid $1300 for the privilege of singing that opera. Not a good deal.
One problem is that there are too many singers desperate to get management. Another problem is the singer’s real or imagined perception that the Opera Companies are only really interested in managed singers. This gives the agents a great deal of power over the singers, and also gives them the ability to charge big fees. If a singer is desperate to get management at any cost, some manager will probably take him and make him pay through the nose because he knows he can.
Despite the fact that it can cost a lot to be managed, it does not need to. Some managements charge nothing except commissions. This is, however, somewhat rare. A typical retainer is somewhere around $100 or $150 per month. Be suspicious of anything more than that. Going back to $400 a month, if the entire roster of 25 people is paying $400 a month in retainer fees, the agent is making $10,000 each month, or $120,000 per year without even getting anyone a job. This agent does not really need to get anyone a job. He or she will not be working any overtime for you, so avoid this scenario.
What should I watch out for?
As in any business, there are ethical agents, and unethical agents. Singers are notorious bumblers when it comes to business, and the agents know that. Singers are also saddled by some common misconceptions about both the business and the agents, and in order to be savvy and aware of the pitfalls they need to understand what to watch out for.
Being aware of common misconceptions is the first step. If you are not ready for management or don’t need it yet, you will merely be paying to be on a roster without benefiting from it. If you are under the impression that once you are managed you no longer have to seek out your own opportunities, or help your agent get work you will be unpleasantly surprised that this is not the case. If you are one of those singers who think that you will have a great career if you could just get managed, you are sadly deceived. And if you are impatient, and decide that anything is better than being unmanaged, you will pay dearly for your impatience. Unethical Agents prey on singer’s misconceptions and use them to their advantage.
Agents can be unethical in different ways. One way is to charge a huge retainer. If everybody pays a huge retainer every month, the agent doesn’t have to put much energy into finding work for the roster. Since everyone is so anxious to be managed, if a singer leaves the roster after six expensive months the agent knows that ten singers will be in line to take his or her place. It doesn’t matter if the whole roster deserts the agent—there will be a new roster lurking close by to take it’s place, and so on, and so on.
Another way an agent can be unethical is within the contract. Singers need to read the contract very carefully before they sign. It is probably best to have a lawyer look it over with you before you sign, to make sure that things are in order. Not being familiar with the language of law, singers may miss additional fees and charges couched in rambling lawyer-speak, designed to confuse the unwary.
Singers should look out for a clause that states that the agent will sign contracts with the musical organization and then pay the singer himself. Singers must insist that the contracts are made between the musical organization and the singer. Otherwise the following scenario could happen:You auditioned for a conductor, and he wants to hire you for the Mozart Requiem. Your unethical agent negotiates a $5000 fee, and makes a contract with the orchestra reflecting that. The agent calls you and says he was only able to get you $2500. If you agree to this, your agent will make $2500 and then charge you a 20% commission on the $2500, or $500. The agent will make $3000 for the engagement, and you will only make $2000, and not ever know that you have been cheated.
Watch out for contracts where there are other fees attached to the monthly retainer. The monthly retainer should take care of everything except perhaps the Musical America ad and other advertising that may come up over the course of the year. Some managers charge their roster for conference fees. Watch out when they are high—remember how many people are on the roster and multiply the fee by the number of people. If you come up with $20,000 or $30,000 of conference fees your agent is living it up and you are paying for it. Ask if you can see a typical bill from one of the members of the roster. Make sure it represents a figure close to what the agent has led you to believe will be your typical bill.
When you meet an agent make sure that you use your judgement and intuition about what kind of person he or she is. Don’t be blinded by your own impatience or desperation to get a real sense of what the agent’s true interests and ambitions are. Ask them personal questions like “Why did you decide to become an agent?” and “Do you think that you are an ethical agent?” Size him up as a person the way you would anybody, and take careful note of your impressions. If he strikes you as a wheeler-dealer, a bit slimy or slightly shady, maybe you should get a second opinion. You might be wrong, but you might be right. Ask him if you can call some members of his roster. If he says no, thank him for his time and walk away fast.
Knowing when you have a bad or unethical manager after you have signed the contract
Well, this may be self-explanatory. You have a bad manager if you are paying huge retainer fees, getting no work and getting no auditions. If your manager ignores you for long periods of time this is a bad sign. If you frequently show up at auditions and your materials have not been sent ahead your manager is not doing his job. You have a bad manager if she does not want to talk to you on the phone during business hours because she is talking with “clients”. If large, unexplained and unexpected fees keep showing up on your bill, you probably have an unethical agent.
There are no restrictions or licensing procedures that an “Artist representative” has to conform to or abide by in order to hang out his or her sign. Your cat could become an agent. The management business is entirely unregulated by any outside agency, government or otherwise. The members of its ranks are governed entirely by their own conscience or lack thereof. It is an area of business where pirates can and do lurk, as well as law abiding and ethical managers who abhor the stories they hear of the unethical ones.
Unethical agents are unfortunately a part of the business. Singers and musical Organizations need to look out for them carefully, as they can be expensive mistakes. Though there are sharks in the water, we do need managers, and the best way to protect yourself from them is to ask a lot of questions and listen to what singers say about their agents.
Choosing a Contract
Let's look at the following scenarios:
You sang for 8 agents and they all offered you a contract. Congratulations! You can choose the one you want, and even perhaps negotiate some terms if one contract has features better than another does. Read all the fine print carefully and make an educated choice.
You sang for 8 agents, and four offered you a contract. Great! This is a good position to be in! Three of the contracts are from small managements, and one of them is from the largest, most prestigious agency. At first glance, it might look as if you should automatically sign on with the most famous agency. But Wait! There is other information to be considered before you choose. How many singers of your voice type are on the roster? If there are twenty other baritones already on the roster, you will have a lot of competition for your agent’s attention. Who is on the roster? If everyone is famous and singing at the Met and you are still singing with the Amato Opera, then you are probably not going to get noticed in this roster, no matter how good you are. Also, is there a retainer? How much? If it is extremely high, you might just be filling out the roster’s budget requirements, not artistic requirements.
Look at the three smaller agencies. If there are only a few baritones on these rosters, you might stand out a little better, and the agent might have more time for you. Before you sign with anyone find out what kind of jobs it got it’s artists and what kind of companies it frequently works with. Read the contract carefully and decide what you can live with in terms of longevity of commitment, retainer and fees.
You sang for 8 agents and one small agency offered you a contract. This is not as good a position to be in. After having gone to the trouble and expense of going to New York to audition for agents you may feel compelled to take this agent no matter what. Singers have an almost compulsive urge to be managed by almost anyone as long as they are managed. If only one agent offered you a contract you should go about the process as carefully as if they all had. If you heard good things about the agency and there are no hidden fees or huge retainer, you probably should consider it. However, if this agency has an unusually high retainer or you have an uneasy feeling about DON’T SIGN! No management is better than a bad one.
Singers, when confronted with only one choice often panic and trick themselves into believing that no one else is going to ask them to be on their roster. Therefore they MUST choose this one and only agency, because no one else is going to be interested in them ever again, and if they don’t take this one that offered they will never have a career. This is completely untrue, and is the utterly wrong reason to choose a manager. The impulse to sign on with just anyone needs to be stifled until you can make a rational decision. If one agent offered you a contract, chances are that another will too. It might be better to try and sing for a different group of agents at a later date. Next time you might have better options, and the six months or a year between audition trips is not going to make or break your career.
You sang for 8 Agents and no one offered you a contract. If you are not asked to be on a roster there may be a very good reason or reasons. One reason might be as simple as an already full roster. This is no reflection on your singing. Obviously if you were a Thomas Hampson Clone the agent might take you on despite the full roster. But if you were similar to another artist already on the roster, the agent would probably not be able to justify finding a place for you.
Another reason for not inviting you to join the roster might be that you are not yet ready vocally or artistically to be a managed singer. This is a bitter pill to swallow. A singer auditioning for management must be pretty well convinced of his or her talent. It will not be easy to admit that you need to continue working and try again later when you have improved.
Management can be useful and necessary. Knowing when you need it and what you need is important, and knowing a good manager from a bad manager is crucial. If you go about this process well informed and with a clear head you will make educated and sane decisions. If you are desperate and intimidated you will make bad decisions. The choice is always yours.
As a singer I showed up at my auditions and had my managers speak to companies and represent me to them. And as a manager, I spoke to some of those same companies about my singers. It was kind of weird at times. Long before I closed WCCA in 2008 I had stopped being a managed singer myself. It was too complicated for me and I wanted to focus on other things including my own vocal studio. I did not make a much money being a manager though I enjoyed the process.. I am not sure "much" money is possible, unless you are dealing with enormous contracts of tens of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, even at the biggest of opera houses and the highest of levels, few singers make that kind of money. But management exists for a good reason, and it is necessary: It gives singers another level acceptance in the music industry, negotiates (hopefully) generous and fair contracts, and serves as a buffer between the artist and the organizations hiring the artists in case of contract disputes or misunderstandings about engagements.
Management is a major concern of singers at a certain level. Management is also a greatly misunderstood aspect of the career. Singers seem desperate to be represented by anybody, and are blind to the pitfalls of being managed by the wrong manager, or at the wrong time in their careers.
I hear singers say this phrase frequently-- “I just need to get management-- then I will be working.” Many of these singers assume that managers just get work for them effortlessly, and place them here and there at Opera companies or Orchestra jobs without auditions. They assume that managers are the great next step in a career, and with a manger the companies will simply hire them because they have the stamp of approval of a manager. Sometimes this is true, but most of the time management is just a level of approval that means a singer is good enough to reach the next level. Not that he or she actually will reach the next level. Singers sometimes assume that once they are managed their manager will do all the marketing and promotional work for them, and they can just sit back and wait for the auditions and calls. When singers assume things like this they tend to be sadly mistaken, and pay dearly for the assumption.
In this article we will examine each aspect of management from the time a singer is ready, until he is a fully managed and working singer.
To begin, when does one need management? When I was in my twenties I sang an audition for Matthew Epstein. At the time I was at the apprentice level and thought I was ready for the next step in my career. I asked Mr. Epstein if he thought I needed management, and he did not hesitate before saying no, I did not need management. He said I only needed management when I had a career to manage. I did not like this answer, because I was one of those singers who perceived that the key to the mystery of a great career was getting an great agent. Never the less, I listened to him and did not pursue an agent then, and rather continued to try and get my own engagements.
This was the right thing to have done, I realize in retrospect. Not only because I did not have a large career to manage, but also because of the implications involved in getting an agent. Singers underestimate the amount of money it costs to retain most agents, and if you are too green to get work you will merely be throwing your money away. Unfortunately, some opera houses have made it difficult for unmanaged singers to be heard, and as a result, singers ready to do small roles at those houses but not quite ready for management are not invited to audition. Anxious to get to the next level of opera houses those singers seek management and often languish expensively on rosters, despite the fact that they may be fine singers. Even if a singer is managed, if he or she does not have sufficient experience he may be passed over for an audition.
This is a catch 22 situation. Singers are ready for the small roles at larger houses, but they are not yet ready for management. In turn, the opera companies may not be interested in unmanaged singers. What should a singer do? Unfortunately there are so many apprentice programs in the country that most of the small roles are now given to apprentices. The professional comprimario is now a thing of the past. Instead of hiring a career Basilio/Curzio or Beppe, the young artists are given those roles. Young Artist programs last a couple of years at most. And after that, the former apprentices are dumped out into the market to make room for the new crop of apprentices, and they have to do auditions and find engagements like everyone else. What to do?
Things happen, good things and bad, that point us in the direction we should be moving. By getting an agent too soon singers may be solving the problem of opera singers not hearing unmanaged singers, but they may find themselves with new problems.
When will you be ready for management? You will be ready when you have several impressive engagements coming up with high profile organizations. You will be ready when you have placed well in major competitions, done some apprentice programs, and heard the news from a musical authority that you trust, not your best soprano friend. You will be ready when you are singing roles with companies that are paying you. You are ready when all of the above apply, and you hear from many different sources that you are progressing really well vocally and dramatically, and that you are ready for the next career step.
You are probably not ready for management if you are moping about not getting any work and you are not getting any of the auditions you do. You are probably not ready if you graduated from college five years ago and have done nothing but your church job and a few concerts since then. You are probably not ready if you are thirty-five and you are still singing small roles with community opera groups, or if all you have ever done is chorus work. You are probably not ready to be managed if you just got out of college with your bachelor’s degree.
If you are ready for management, and you know that it is true because you have considered it carefully with the advice of your support group then you are ready to look for a manager.
Finding the right manager
If you have never been managed, it is a good idea to ask some advice from singers who are managed. They will be able to inform you about their own experiences with their managers, and get you thinking about the questions you need to ask before you sign on the dotted line What does a manager do for you? What is the best kind of manager for you at your level? What kinds of managements are there? What is a contract like, and how much does it cost to be managed? Where should the management be located? What should you expect from a manager? What should you look out for?
How do I look for a manager? How do you know which agents to choose?
Invest in a copy of Musical America and a copy of Management The Book. Most of the agents that book opera and concert work are listed in both resources. Go through the agent rosters in Musical America. Do you know any managed singers? You could start by calling up singers you know and asking what they think of their management.
It is not a bad idea to check the number of singers in your fach on a given roster. If there are only a few or one in that agency it might be worth a try. At the beginning of the book there is an agent report. Check the report and see what agencies are getting their singers work with the kind of companies where you would like to work. Then go to Management, the book, and see how many jobs the agencies you have chosen have gotten for singers.
How many agents should you approach? Quite a few! Fifteen is a good number. Like auditions, you win some and you lose some. Some of the agents may be very interested, and some may not wish to hear you. Don’t pester the ones who are not interested. Move on, and try someone else. When you have enough “yes” responses (about half, or 7) then you are ready to make your audition plans. If none of the original fifteen will hear you, then perhaps you are either aiming too high, or the agents do not think you are ready for management. In this case, maybe you should continue your career as planned without an agent for the time being, and try again in a year or more
Virtually all of the prominent arts managers are listed in Musical America, a publication which comes out each year. Musical America calls itself the “International Directory of the Performing Arts”. In it you will find listings and advertisements of opera companies, Choral Societies, Orchestras, Artist Representatives, Music Festivals, Music Schools and many other resources for the classical music professionals. Agents advertise their rosters in Musical America, and they usually list the singers in the advertisement. By looking through the book, you will gain familiarity with the managements and their singers. You will discover that some of the large management companies like Columbia Artists manage big, international opera stars, and some of the smaller companies may manage people that you know, singers that you have sung with in the past.
d probably wherever else there are singers. Common wisdom has it that the best place to be managed is New York, because New York singers are taken more seriously than singers anywhere else. Also, the Opera companies generally go to New York to hear auditions, and therefore the managers there will have access to most of the auditions in the country. This is great if you live on the East Coast, or in New York, but not so great if you live in Chicago, or San Francisco. If you don’t live in New York you will have to travel a long way for your auditions. It may make better sense to sign on with a manager in your own area, but since every singer and every case is different, it also might be better to sign with someone in New York. It is a personal decision, and one that each singer needs to make for himself.
As a singer new to management, you probably do not want to try to sign with a management that lists the great and famous opera stars unless, for example, you are currently an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera and have done leading roles with the company. Likewise, you should avoid rosters with many singers in your vocal category. It will be difficult to compete with twenty other seasoned sopranos when you are the new kid on the block. Better to look for a manager with less competition for you.
Go through the advertisements in the book and jot down the names and page numbers of some of the smaller agencies, preferably ones with few singers in your vocal category. Look through the ones you have written down, and see if there are people on the rosters that you know. If there are, try to contact the singers you know and see what they say about their manager. If the singers have nothing good to say about their manager and are about to leave, ask them if they will refer another singer on the roster to you, and see if you can chat with them. If they are both negative about the agent, it might be a good idea to leave that one alone. If they are both positive about the agent, and are getting some work, make a note of it.
Listen to the gossip about agents from the singers you know that are managed, and talk to many singers to find out what they have heard about the agents you are interested in. Narrow down your list scientifically and when you are down to about a dozen you are ready to start to make some calls.
Before you actually make a call, be sure that your resume is in great shape and ready to send off at a moment’s notice. It is also a good idea to round up your good reviews, and put down a list of references at the bottom of your resume that the agent can contact to discuss you if they want. Be sure you have a couple of tapes on hand that you can send out, and plenty of headshots. Make sure your materials are impeccable and that your resume is clear, consise and easily read.
Your initial call will most likely be short. You introduce yourself and say that you are a baritone, interested in finding management, and can you send your materials. Most of the time they say yes, and you just send your materials and wait till they have a chance to go through them. If they say no immediately don’t take offense. They may have a full roster, and may not be not looking for anyone at the moment. Rather than needlessly having you send your materials, they are doing you a favor by saying no, saving you time and money.
If they say yes, it is best to send your materials immediately. You’ll have best chance of having your phone call remembered when they receive your materials. Then you wait. If you have not heard back from them after about a week and a half, telephone again and say that you are just wondering if they had received your materials. They will probably say yes, but they have not yet had a chance to peruse them. Ask when they think they might have a chance. If they respond within the week, or two weeks, call again at the end of that period of time. Do not call every day, but keep calling every so often until they have a chance to at least look at your materials. If they are not interested they probably will send you a short note saying politely that they are not interested. If they like your tape they will ask you to audition in person.
Don’t stop at one management—Solicit a number of them and if possible, schedule auditions close together. That way you will have more than one option, and you can decide which one you really want to sign with if you have more than one offer.
The Logistics
Try to make arrangements well ahead of time. You may have to pay for accompanist or get a hall in which to do your audition. If you live out of town this might be difficult to arrange on short notice. You don’t know who all the accompanists are, and you don’t know all of the audition venues. If you are staying in a hotel you may be charged for every call you make from your room, and scheduling auditions can take a lot of phone calls. Even though it might seem cheaper to do things from New York once you get there, it isn’t. You could waste your entire audition week and sing for no one if you have not made plans in advance.
Plan your accommodations and dates carefully. Make sure you pace yourself and do no more than one or two auditions a day. If you try to cram all of your auditions in on two or three days you will probably be too tired and burnt out to sing your best at any of them. Give yourself time. It will be cheaper and less stressful to take a little more time in New York doing your auditions over a week than to blow all of your auditions and have to come back.
Once you have made your arrangements you need to decide your repertoire for the audition. You will want to sing your best arias. If the agent also books concert work, plan to sing some representative pieces from that repertoire. Make sure you are prepared like you have never been prepared before!
When I went to New York for my audition trip I made the mistake of going to the Village Vanguard to listen to some jazz. It was a cramped, windowless basement in Greenwich Village so thick with smoke that I could hardly see the stage. Two hours later I emerged from the place with the smell of smoke all over my hair and clothes and a scratchy, smoky throat. My audition the next day reflected my night out. The moral: This is a major business trip. This is not the time to party.
Each audition is the most important audition. You want offers from as many agents as possible so you can choose the best one for you. Don’t rate them in importance before you sing. You won’t sing as well at those auditions at the bottom of your list and there is no guarantee that the agents at the top of your list will want you. Always do your finest possible performance.
West Coast vs. East Coast
If you are a West Coast singer, and you are interested in getting New York Management, there are a few things to consider before taking this step:
First of all, you will be far away from your agent. Your agent is probably not hooked up to the audition scene on the West Coast-only the one in New York. As a result, the auditions your agent will be calling you for will primarily be in New York, and you will have to go there to audition. This can be very expensive! Lately companies have been rolling into New York without much notice, and if your agent calls you on Monday for an audition on Wednesday, you may not be able to make it. If going to New York frequently is financially possible, and you believe that New York is the best chance for a career (which it is, incidentally) then you want to do your homework even more carefully before choosing an agent.
You will want to go through Musical America and select likely candidates for the kind of roster you would like to be on. You need to go through the steps of calling the Agents, sending your materials etc. You also need to schedule a definite time when you will be in New York auditioning and make every effort to get the agent to understand that you want a date and time for your audition before you leave the West Coast for your audition trip. This may seem unimportant now, but when you are scrambling around an unknown city looking for a pianist and a venue to hold your audition on one day’s notice it won’t seem unimportant at all. You will wish you had set it all up in advance. Try to get as many definite audition times as possible. Some agents will ask you to just phone them when you get to New York. This is definitely not advisable as they may not be available or may be too busy to bother hearing you.
You are not the only singer eager to be heard by the agent and your audition is far more important to you than it is to them. Get them to commit to a date and time.
What makes a good manager?
Since the reason for becoming a represented singer is to further your career, a good manager is one that takes an interest in doing just that. Having an agent cannot guarantee that you will be a successful singer, but a manager who is actively trying to get his singers auditions at the level where they are singing and knows how to develop the careers of his singers as they progress is a good manager.
A good manager looks after all the members of his or her roster, and does not neglect the least of his singers. He or she needs to believe in and stand by all of the members of the roster, and make an honest attempt to put the singers in the path of the Opera Companies most likely to hire them.
A good manager pays attention to his singers, and when they ask him to submit them for something he acts on it quickly. A good manager is knowledgeable about his singer’s individual repertoire, and knows which companies are having auditions when and where, and what the upcoming season repertoire will be, and where his singers could fit into it.
A good manager is in frequent contact with his singers, and does not let months go by before his singers hear from him. A good manager does not charge an exorbitant retainer fee, nor let a singer linger on a roster for the sake of the monthly retainer when the agent is no longer interested in the singer and has stopped actively working for him. A good manager is one that is constantly looking for new opportunities for the members of his roster, and is always pleasant, always professional and is never too busy with other clients to talk to his singers.
What does a manager do?
An Artist’s Representative, Agent, or Arts Manager is kind of a middleman between you the singer and the Opera Companies or conductors looking to hire singers. An agent represents a level of approval. You, the singer, have proved that you are worthy of being managed, and in theory, the agent wants the directors of Opera Companies to recognize that level of excellence and consider you more valuable than your unmanaged counterpart.
Agents often are former singers or musicians that for whatever reason left the performing side to work another aspect of the arts. Sometimes agents are not musicians, but are business people with excellent sales and marketing skills.
The agent’s job is to find out about potential job opportunities, and to attempt to secure that work for the members of his or her roster by promoting his artists to the company or conductor looking for artists. The agent is kind of a salesperson, and his wares are his artists. He tries to package them professionally and make them look desirable to the persons seeking to hire artists.
Agents advertise. They have ads in Musical America, Opera America and other
publications, send out brochures to Opera Companies, put up websites touting their roster and talk with Opera Directors and musical authorities about their artists. Agents negotiate contracts for you and act as a buffer if a problem arises between you and the company you are working for. They can smooth over a problem and intervene for you if something is not satisfactory with your situation at a company.
Agents spend a lot of time making contacts. They spend a lot of time on the phone finding out about auditions, chatting with directors and making themselves known in the musical community. In a sense, the agent’s job is to promote themselves so they can promote you. An agent with a good reputation can be an asset both to the Opera Company and to the singer. Likewise, an agent with a bad reputation can be a detriment to both the Opera Company and the singer.
How much does it cost to be managed?
Each and every manager has a different fee structure. Many agents have some kind of retainer fee, which may be paid monthly or billed to you at intervals. The retainer can vary from almost nothing to outrageous amounts of money. For singers starting out, paying outrageous amounts of money is ridiculous. You have to do a lot of auditioning, and most auditions don’t lead to work. Suppose that your retainer is $400 per month. You are working at the early regional level and have gotten your first regional role in an opera that will pay $3000. At first glance, $3000 looks pretty good for three weeks of work. But it is May, and the Opera is not till next February. You will pay $4000 for your retainer between May and February, get paid $3000 and lose 10% or $300. In light of this, you will have paid $1300 for the privilege of singing that opera. Not a good deal.
One problem is that there are too many singers desperate to get management. Another problem is the singer’s real or imagined perception that the Opera Companies are only really interested in managed singers. This gives the agents a great deal of power over the singers, and also gives them the ability to charge big fees. If a singer is desperate to get management at any cost, some manager will probably take him and make him pay through the nose because he knows he can.
Despite the fact that it can cost a lot to be managed, it does not need to. Some managements charge nothing except commissions. This is, however, somewhat rare. A typical retainer is somewhere around $100 or $150 per month. Be suspicious of anything more than that. Going back to $400 a month, if the entire roster of 25 people is paying $400 a month in retainer fees, the agent is making $10,000 each month, or $120,000 per year without even getting anyone a job. This agent does not really need to get anyone a job. He or she will not be working any overtime for you, so avoid this scenario.
What should I watch out for?
As in any business, there are ethical agents, and unethical agents. Singers are notorious bumblers when it comes to business, and the agents know that. Singers are also saddled by some common misconceptions about both the business and the agents, and in order to be savvy and aware of the pitfalls they need to understand what to watch out for.
Being aware of common misconceptions is the first step. If you are not ready for management or don’t need it yet, you will merely be paying to be on a roster without benefiting from it. If you are under the impression that once you are managed you no longer have to seek out your own opportunities, or help your agent get work you will be unpleasantly surprised that this is not the case. If you are one of those singers who think that you will have a great career if you could just get managed, you are sadly deceived. And if you are impatient, and decide that anything is better than being unmanaged, you will pay dearly for your impatience. Unethical Agents prey on singer’s misconceptions and use them to their advantage.
Agents can be unethical in different ways. One way is to charge a huge retainer. If everybody pays a huge retainer every month, the agent doesn’t have to put much energy into finding work for the roster. Since everyone is so anxious to be managed, if a singer leaves the roster after six expensive months the agent knows that ten singers will be in line to take his or her place. It doesn’t matter if the whole roster deserts the agent—there will be a new roster lurking close by to take it’s place, and so on, and so on.
Another way an agent can be unethical is within the contract. Singers need to read the contract very carefully before they sign. It is probably best to have a lawyer look it over with you before you sign, to make sure that things are in order. Not being familiar with the language of law, singers may miss additional fees and charges couched in rambling lawyer-speak, designed to confuse the unwary.
Singers should look out for a clause that states that the agent will sign contracts with the musical organization and then pay the singer himself. Singers must insist that the contracts are made between the musical organization and the singer. Otherwise the following scenario could happen:You auditioned for a conductor, and he wants to hire you for the Mozart Requiem. Your unethical agent negotiates a $5000 fee, and makes a contract with the orchestra reflecting that. The agent calls you and says he was only able to get you $2500. If you agree to this, your agent will make $2500 and then charge you a 20% commission on the $2500, or $500. The agent will make $3000 for the engagement, and you will only make $2000, and not ever know that you have been cheated.
Watch out for contracts where there are other fees attached to the monthly retainer. The monthly retainer should take care of everything except perhaps the Musical America ad and other advertising that may come up over the course of the year. Some managers charge their roster for conference fees. Watch out when they are high—remember how many people are on the roster and multiply the fee by the number of people. If you come up with $20,000 or $30,000 of conference fees your agent is living it up and you are paying for it. Ask if you can see a typical bill from one of the members of the roster. Make sure it represents a figure close to what the agent has led you to believe will be your typical bill.
When you meet an agent make sure that you use your judgement and intuition about what kind of person he or she is. Don’t be blinded by your own impatience or desperation to get a real sense of what the agent’s true interests and ambitions are. Ask them personal questions like “Why did you decide to become an agent?” and “Do you think that you are an ethical agent?” Size him up as a person the way you would anybody, and take careful note of your impressions. If he strikes you as a wheeler-dealer, a bit slimy or slightly shady, maybe you should get a second opinion. You might be wrong, but you might be right. Ask him if you can call some members of his roster. If he says no, thank him for his time and walk away fast.
Knowing when you have a bad or unethical manager after you have signed the contract
Well, this may be self-explanatory. You have a bad manager if you are paying huge retainer fees, getting no work and getting no auditions. If your manager ignores you for long periods of time this is a bad sign. If you frequently show up at auditions and your materials have not been sent ahead your manager is not doing his job. You have a bad manager if she does not want to talk to you on the phone during business hours because she is talking with “clients”. If large, unexplained and unexpected fees keep showing up on your bill, you probably have an unethical agent.
There are no restrictions or licensing procedures that an “Artist representative” has to conform to or abide by in order to hang out his or her sign. Your cat could become an agent. The management business is entirely unregulated by any outside agency, government or otherwise. The members of its ranks are governed entirely by their own conscience or lack thereof. It is an area of business where pirates can and do lurk, as well as law abiding and ethical managers who abhor the stories they hear of the unethical ones.
Unethical agents are unfortunately a part of the business. Singers and musical Organizations need to look out for them carefully, as they can be expensive mistakes. Though there are sharks in the water, we do need managers, and the best way to protect yourself from them is to ask a lot of questions and listen to what singers say about their agents.
Choosing a Contract
Let's look at the following scenarios:
You sang for 8 agents and they all offered you a contract. Congratulations! You can choose the one you want, and even perhaps negotiate some terms if one contract has features better than another does. Read all the fine print carefully and make an educated choice.
You sang for 8 agents, and four offered you a contract. Great! This is a good position to be in! Three of the contracts are from small managements, and one of them is from the largest, most prestigious agency. At first glance, it might look as if you should automatically sign on with the most famous agency. But Wait! There is other information to be considered before you choose. How many singers of your voice type are on the roster? If there are twenty other baritones already on the roster, you will have a lot of competition for your agent’s attention. Who is on the roster? If everyone is famous and singing at the Met and you are still singing with the Amato Opera, then you are probably not going to get noticed in this roster, no matter how good you are. Also, is there a retainer? How much? If it is extremely high, you might just be filling out the roster’s budget requirements, not artistic requirements.
Look at the three smaller agencies. If there are only a few baritones on these rosters, you might stand out a little better, and the agent might have more time for you. Before you sign with anyone find out what kind of jobs it got it’s artists and what kind of companies it frequently works with. Read the contract carefully and decide what you can live with in terms of longevity of commitment, retainer and fees.
You sang for 8 agents and one small agency offered you a contract. This is not as good a position to be in. After having gone to the trouble and expense of going to New York to audition for agents you may feel compelled to take this agent no matter what. Singers have an almost compulsive urge to be managed by almost anyone as long as they are managed. If only one agent offered you a contract you should go about the process as carefully as if they all had. If you heard good things about the agency and there are no hidden fees or huge retainer, you probably should consider it. However, if this agency has an unusually high retainer or you have an uneasy feeling about DON’T SIGN! No management is better than a bad one.
Singers, when confronted with only one choice often panic and trick themselves into believing that no one else is going to ask them to be on their roster. Therefore they MUST choose this one and only agency, because no one else is going to be interested in them ever again, and if they don’t take this one that offered they will never have a career. This is completely untrue, and is the utterly wrong reason to choose a manager. The impulse to sign on with just anyone needs to be stifled until you can make a rational decision. If one agent offered you a contract, chances are that another will too. It might be better to try and sing for a different group of agents at a later date. Next time you might have better options, and the six months or a year between audition trips is not going to make or break your career.
You sang for 8 Agents and no one offered you a contract. If you are not asked to be on a roster there may be a very good reason or reasons. One reason might be as simple as an already full roster. This is no reflection on your singing. Obviously if you were a Thomas Hampson Clone the agent might take you on despite the full roster. But if you were similar to another artist already on the roster, the agent would probably not be able to justify finding a place for you.
Another reason for not inviting you to join the roster might be that you are not yet ready vocally or artistically to be a managed singer. This is a bitter pill to swallow. A singer auditioning for management must be pretty well convinced of his or her talent. It will not be easy to admit that you need to continue working and try again later when you have improved.
Management can be useful and necessary. Knowing when you need it and what you need is important, and knowing a good manager from a bad manager is crucial. If you go about this process well informed and with a clear head you will make educated and sane decisions. If you are desperate and intimidated you will make bad decisions. The choice is always yours.