Most of the time, the question artists should be asking is not “Do I need a manager?” but instead, “When do I need a manager?” For example, do you need a manager to help you get a record deal, or do you need one to handle the complex business arrangement after signing a contract?
The truth is there is no steadfast answer to when getting a manager will help you as an artist, as it all comes down to your situation and business plan. If the band can take care of all business duties themselves, there’s no point in giving away part of their income to a manager. However, there will come a point in even the most business savvy band’s career if they become successful that they will have to have someone to take over the business aspects of that career.
What a Music Manager Does
Put simply, a music manager takes care of the aspects of a band not related to writing and performing music. This ranges from negotiating booking rates to paying taxes to setting up the band as a business and much more.
The actual role of the manager will vary depending on the artist and what they need done. For example, larger artists will have multiple managers (tour managers, business managers, etc.) to take care of various career aspects. Smaller artists typically will use managers to book shows (or connect with booking agents) or take care of all financial matters.
Typically, managers charge a percentage of income, and the standard amount varies from 15-20 percent. Therefore, they will take a cut of what they are responsible for bringing in.
When it comes down to it, few musicians are also great business people. Even the ones that are, will eventually run out of time to not only write, record and perform music, but also to handle the business aspects of their career. This is where a manager will come into carry the business portion of the load.
Can a Manager Get Me a Record Deal?
In some cases managers are brought on pretty much specifically to try and get the artist a record deal. In fact, this is often the best way for a manager to make money, as if the artist is given money by a record label after landing a deal, then the manager gets his or her percentage as a reward for the contract.
However, that doesn’t mean that it is necessary to have a manager to get a record deal. Again, it comes down to your situation as an artist as to whether this can help you, but it often can as you bring someone with business experience to work with the labels and obtain the best deal possible.
It should be remembered, however, that whether you have a manager or not, you should be sure to involve a lawyer in the process of reviewing any contract to make sure you are signing exactly what you think you are signing.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
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2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
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4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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