Personal managers--
let's talk about personal managers first.
They are crucial to an artist's success.
Many people think that the personal manager's job is to
get the artist work--
to get the artist more work than they probably had before.
Well, that really isn't the case.
And I'm going to tell you a story to kind of illustrate that.
I'm going to go back to the middle of the '60s, '67 or so.
And at that time, it kind of got out in the music industry world that Berry
Gordy had discovered this great act of the five brothers in Gary, Indiana,
and that he had taken them to California.
And he worked with them from '67 to '69 just on recording and performing--
recording and performing.
He wanted to cut a hit album.
He wanted to make sure the act had a dynamic stage show to be able to be
the equal of all of the other great Motown acts.
And everybody in the industry was hearing about this group, but they
never saw the group.
What a lot of people don't know is that Motown had a 360 degree deal
model way back in the '60s before it became the current rage that it is now
in that Motown artist's songs were published by
Motown's publishing company.
All of the acts were managed by their in-house management company.
And this story is about the head of the management
department at Motown Records.
His name is Shelly Berger.
Shelly Berger had come from a background of a new medium at that
time, a new technological innovation--
television.
They were only in the second decade of that new medium at the time he came on
the scene and decided to work with the Motown artists.
And he wanted to use that medium to really expose the artist to a broad,
vast audience that many of the Motown artists had never achieved.
So I remember back in 1969 when their first record was
released, I Want You Back.
It went right to the top of the charts.
And the hype was starting to build.
Once again, no one had ever seen this act perform.
And then it was announced that in September the Jackson 5 would make
their debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Now, the Ed Sullivan show was a huge television show at the time.
There were only three television networks at the time, and this was
really the primary program for the CBS network.
It came on every Sunday night.
And just to put it in perspective, the Ed Sullivan show reached 90 million
people in the United States every Sunday--
90 million people.
Now let's put that in perspective.
Most recently over the past decade, I think, the highest ranking prime time
television show in the United States was an episode of American Idol that
might have reached 35 million people.
Of course, it doesn't reach that currently and their numbers are
decreasing.
But the Super Bowl reaches 110 million worldwide.
The Ed Sullivan show reached 90 million people.
So on that particular Sunday, Ed Sullivan comes out and he says, now
ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to introduce an act that was discovered
by Diana Ross.
And Diana's in our audience today-- stand up Diana.
Diana Ross stands up, waves her hand.
She really didn't discover them, Gladys Knight did.
But it was a better story to say that Diana Ross did.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Jackson 5.
And the Jackson 5 came out on the stage--
totally captivated both the audience there and the viewing audience all
across the United States.
They were everything that everyone had been hearing about this great group.
Their choreography was precision choreography--
dynamic.
They had all of the latest garb that the kids their age were wearing--
suede fringe vest, paisley shirts with cuff sleeve, bell-bottom pants,
platform shoes.
And as they were moving to the music, they had the five inch afros that
we're bobbing in time.
Anyway, they loved it.
Everyone in the United States loved them.
They were immediate stars.
They recognized this young lead singer, Michael Jackson, who was like
a man in a boy's body.
So the next day, the booking agent for the Jackson 5 calls Shelly Berger.
Shelly, Shelly, Shelly, you were right.
You and Barry were right.
This act is everything you said it was going to be.
Shelly, you aren't going to believe this.
I've gotten calls from about 25, or 30 promoters across the country.
They're willing to pay $5,000 a night Shelly.
$5,000--
can you believe it?
Most of these acts are working six days a week for $2,500 a night.
But I've got one nighters, $5,000 a night.
Come on Shelly, bring them out.
Shelly said, no.
We're not coming out until we get $25,000.
The booking agent is, what?
What is Shelly thinking?
The Beatles barely get $25,000 a night.
Shelly Berger's out of his head.
Well, during that period of time, singles we're big.
And new singles were released every six weeks.
And six weeks later, Jackson 5's next record comes out,
ABC, One, Two, Three.
Boom-- right to the top of the charts, the hot 100.
Next day--
booking agent, Shelly.
OK Shelly, I see what you're seeing.
You've got two number ones in a row.
The act is hot.
I'm getting calls.
We can get $7,500 a night Shelly.
$7,500 a night--
bring them out Shelly.
Shelly says, no.
We're not coming out until we get $25,000 a night.
Click.
Six weeks later, the third single, Stop The Love You Save-- number one,
same call-- $10,000.
This went on for two or three singles, or four singles, as a matter of fact.
This act had four or five number one singles.
The only debut act to have that in number of consecutive number one
singles at all.
And eventually after the fourth or fifth single went number one, the
talent agent calls and says, Shelly, I don't believe this.
I don't know how you did this, but you got what you want Shelly.
You've got $25,000.
Will you please bring the act out, and perform, and get out on the road.
Yes, we'll be out.
Thank you--
click.
That illustrates the difference between a personal manager and a
talent agent.
A personal manager's job is to build the artist's career and take it from
one level to the next.
That's what a manager does.
They counsel and advise to build the artist's career from one
level to the next.
The talent agent's job, very important as it is, is to procure employment.
Every offer that comes in, they're going to pitch to the manager.
It's up to the manager to determine which jobs the artist should take
depending on what the personal manager's strategy is for building the
artist's success.
So Shelly used that new medium at that time--
television--
to really reach a broad audience.
And he wanted to make it clear to the world that the Jackson 5 were the
biggest band in the world--
as big as or even bigger than The Beatles.
And he achieved his goal at that time.
As you know, the Jackson 5 went on to have a stellar career.
And of course, the great Michael Jackson became the King of Pop as a
result of that.
Once again, it's the personal manager's role to build relationships
between the artist and the fans in order to take the artist's career from
one level to the next-- not only the relationship with artists and fans,
but many times relationships with other types of companies, record
companies, publishing companies, sponsorships, and endorsements.
So we talked about a 1960s story, the second decade of that new
technological innovation television.
Well, we're currently in the second decade of what I
call The Digital Age--
new technology, the internet.
Let me tell you a story about a current manager in the music industry
who happens to be a graduate of the music business department at Berklee
College of Music.
His name is Ethan Schiff.
Ethan is a new-age manager, but the same thought.
He recognized that he had to use this new technology to build a relationship
between artist and fans that could inure to the benefit of his client.
And her name is--
she goes by the name of Betty Who.
Her real name is Jess Newham, who was also a Berklee student.
He recognized her talent, and he decided to record her and put her
songs up on SoundCloud so that people could download them for free.
He was trying to build up an audience.
At the same time, he used the new method of reaching a mass audience
through social media.
He picks the bloggers with her story and her songs and said, this is an
artist that you really need to pay attention to.
And he got the attention of bloggers--
first, in Europe.
And he used that success to pitch bloggers here and saying, look,
they're recognizing Betty Who--
that she's going to be a major artist.
So you need to really listen to her music and think about
blogging about Betty Who.
And he picked up other bloggers here in the United
States slowly but surely--
bloggers that reached a limited market, and then bloggers that reached
even more people, all the way until the point that he got Perez Hilton,
the biggest blogger in the world, to recognize her music and to say Betty
Who is going to be the next big act.
Billboard Magazine was the next media outlet to pick up on it and said she
was really an act to watch out for.
As a result of that, they started to get interest of publishing companies,
and publishing companies started to court Betty Who.
And Ethan continued to work on that.
He had very strategic plans.
He had her perform in clubs in New York in the Brooklyn section of
Williamsburg, which is really the hot area of the music business right now,
to rave reviews.
And the hype started to build.
But then a couple in Colorado decided to use Betty Who's single in the
background of a flash mob proposal that went up online and went viral.
And millions and millions of views later, RCA records came into the
picture and said, we believe in Betty Who too.
We want to sign her and move her forward.
I think it's important to note that Ethan recognized--
and it's also important for personal managers to have an understanding of
the dynamics of the industry.
He recognized that while sales of digital copies may not be increasing
as they used to increase, streaming and giving away music for free is
very, very important and can really help an artist go from one
level to the next.