2.0 Scope of the Agreement

2.1 Territory

A typical management contract will grant the manager the exclusive right to represent the artist in all areas of the entertainment industry throughout the world. Sometimes, the agreement may be territorially restricted in some way (most typically when a separate manager is engaged for America). If, for example, there are two managers (one for each of two territories – perhaps North America and the rest of the world) usually each manager will earn commission only upon earnings arising in his or her territory. However, a UK based manager, for example, would usually object to America (or any other territory) being excluded. The income from the territory to be excluded may well make the difference between financial success and failure. Also, there are practical difficulties with having two separate managers in that they may pull in different directions and each manager will have a vested interest in persuading the artist to concentrate his or her attention on the one territory to the detriment of the other. A practical means of dealing with this is for a UK manager to insist upon worldwide rights but to agree to appoint a separate US manager. However, the US appointment will be made by the UK manager so that, effectively, the US manager reports to the UK manager. The UK manager will still expect some financial reward from the US activities so that if he or she is entitled to, say, 20% commission on worldwide earnings he or she may agree to pay perhaps 10% (i.e. one half of the entitlement) of the commissionable earnings originating in the US to the US sub-manager (so that he or she still enjoys the remaining 10%).

2.2 Non music activities

Apart from territorial restrictions the scope of the manager’s appointment may be limited in other ways. Ordinarily, the manager will wish to represent the artist in relation to all of his or her activities in the entertainment industry. The artist may wish to restrict the appointment only to the artist’s activities in the music industry. In the case of a new artist this would probably be unfair to the manager because in all likelihood any opportunity on the part of the artist to profit from other activities will arise only as a result of the artist’s success in the music industry. For example the artist may be offered a part in a film or may decide to write a book of some kind. If an artist already has a career in another area of the entertainment industry (for example if he or she is an actor and already has a theatrical agent) then the management contract would need to recognise this. Sometimes, a manager will agree that if at some future stage the artist becomes involved in acting or literary endeavours then the manager will appoint a theatrical/film agent and/or literary agent of the artist’s choice. In order that there may be one focal point the manager might insist that the appointment of agents of this kind must be made by the manager, so that the agent will be a subagent of the manager rather than employed direct by the artist. As with an overseas manager, the manager may agree that all or part of the subagent’s commission is to be borne out of the manager’s commission.

2.3 Areas of Responsibility

It is difficult to be too precise about the respective duties and obligations of the parties under a management contract apart from certain obvious matters (for example the manager’s obligation to account to the artist for any money in the specified manner). Each artist has his or her own view of what a manager should do and how the manager should go about it. Likewise, each manager will have a different approach to his or her work and will attach different priorities to the various aspects of what a manager is required to do. Some artists expect the manager to be at the artist’s beck and call day and night to sort out every problem big or small and whether that problem is a professional one or purely personal. Some managers accept that “babysitting” an artist is part of the job. Others do not generally take kindly to being pestered outside normal business hours (whilst accepting that in the music business “normal” does not mean 9:00am to 5:00pm). It is not really the manager’s job to pay the artist’s domestic bills and generally deal with any personal crises. Nevertheless, a successful (and therefore busy) artist will often expect this kind of service from his or her management company. The best answer for the manager is to provide the artist with access to a personal assistant employed by the management company but available to do the artist’s bidding on the basis that the cost of employing the person involved is recoverable from the artist’s earnings. Often, the personal assistant’s job specification will be complex. Some of the assistant’s responsibilities will be “managerial” and others will be of the “nannying” variety so that a sensible compromise is often that part only of the assistant’s salary is recoverable.

There is no recognised set of standards in terms of exactly how a manager’s role is to be defined. This will probably never be achieved because so much depends upon the particular requirements of the artist and the very personal nature of the arrangements worked out between that artist and his or her manager. Whilst a formal management contract will make some attempt to specify the respective obligations of the parties, in practice the contract is likely to be of little help in this area. Sometimes an artist (if in a strong enough position to insist upon this) may require the manager to spend a minimum number of hours or a minimum percentage of the manager’s overall time in relation to his or her affairs as opposed to those of any other artists represented by the manager.

2.4 The MMF Approach

Some years ago an MMF working party, after a process of consultation, formulated a suggested form of management contract and in this the manager’s duties are specified as follows:-

2.4.1 to use the manager’s best endeavours to advance and promote the artist’s career and to ensure the artist gets paid.

2.4.2 to consult regularly with the artist and keep the artist informed of all substantial activity undertaken by the manager

2.4.3 to maintain records of all transactions affecting the artist’s career and to send the artist a statement within a given number of days at the end of each calendar quarter disclosing all income, sources of income, expenses, commission and other debts and liabilities arising during the preceding three months.

2.4.4 to obtain the artist’s approval for any expenditure over a given amount for a single cheque or over a higher given amount over a period of one month.

Separately, the artist’s duties are specified as follows:

2.4.5 to carry out to the best of his ability and in a punctual and sober fashion all reasonable agreements, engagements, performances and promotional activities obtained or approved by the manager.

2.4.6 to attend promptly all appointments and to keep the manager reasonably informed of the artist’s whereabouts and availability at all times.

2.4.7 to reveal to the manager any income such as PRS, PPL or touring overages etc paid directly to the artist.

2.4.8 to accept that this is a job and that it involves hard work and a professional approach.

2.4.9 not to engage any other person to act as the artist’s manager or representative in connection with any aspects of the artist’s career.