Questions for Three Composer Managers

Questions for Three Composer Managers

If you’re a non-performing composer, what can a manager do for you? How do you know when you need one? Three pros offer this look into what they have to offer.

Written By

Molly Sheridan



Jessica Lustig 21C Media Group

What do you do for composers who are not also performers, composers who are just writing music?

I would say it’s largely promotion—sending their music out, talking to performers and conductors about their catalog, looking for opportunities for commissions for them. And then all of the business details if they don’t have a major publisher. Some do and some don’t. For instance, negotiating the contracts and dealing with all of the details of the actual delivery of the materials.

How do composers know when they’re ready, that they’re at the level where they should look around and find someone to help them out with those kinds of details?

I think when they feel overwhelmed by the amount of details surrounding commission requests. Also when they have several major events that are maybe happening in a short period of time, and they’re not sure how they’re going to get through it. I think it just becomes obvious; it’s a critical mass of having too many requests to know which ones you should do and also feeling like there’s a lot of opportunity for exposure and not being sure how to take advantage of it.

There’s sort of a stereotype that artists are not capable of keeping that aspect of their work organized.

No, I don’t think that’s true. I think some can and some can’t. Some people do it very well—there are some extraordinary business people in our field, and some of those people would never really need a composer manager. Some people are capable of doing it, but simply don’t wish to spend their time that way. They would rather be writing music.

When composers come to you and ask you to manage them, do you take them on automatically, or is there an artistic compatibility issue that you also look at?

There’s definitely an artistic compatibility issue—without that, we can’t do our work effectively.

What sort of things do you look for?

I think fundamentally if we don’t feel like we really believe in the music, we’re not going to be good advocates for it. And that’s a very personal thing. I couldn’t put that into words. There isn’t a certain way that people have to write music. It’s much more personal than that. But if we don’t feel like we will do a good job for it, we’re not the right match. That doesn’t mean that they won’t find someone else who deeply believes and can go out and really go to bat for them and make a lot of things happen.

What if the composer does have a publisher? How do you fit in when composers have several people handling different aspects of their career?

Usually we interface pretty closely when one of our composers has a major publisher. We’ll do things like work together on promotion and follow-up. Oftentimes we’ll come in with a plan for promotion for a set period or specific engagements and work together on executing that plan. Rarely, but sometimes, the publisher will come to us and say, “This is what we’re thinking about doing. Are there pieces of this that you might be able to help us with?”

And what does something like this cost?

It’s a variable cost. Sometimes, it’s a flat fee and sometimes it’s a combination of flat fee and a percentage of commissions. There’s no one price fits all. And it also depends on where the composer is in his or her career.

Richard Guérin

You work for Philip Glass’s record label, but you’re also managing two composers right now?

My background in artist management comes from a year and a half at CAMI, where I was an assistant to a performing arts manager. I’ve just transferred the skill set I developed there to helping these composers. One is Evan Ziporyn, who is obviously affiliated with Bang on a Can, but he’s getting more and more known as a composer in his own right. And the other composer I work with is Giancarlo Vulcano, and he’s just a young composer trying to make his way. So our atypical, non-traditional relationship is basically that I’m trying to help them in any way I can, meaning performances, getting people to talk about them, know who they are, just working the industry circuit.

So when it comes down to it, what’s the checklist of things you have agreed to do for them?

Well, there’s all the traditional artist management stuff: scheduling, contracts, that sort of thing—the vulgar issue of dealing with money and negotiating a salary for a commission. But more than that, it’s grass roots soliciting. Forget about getting people to perform it, it’s hard enough in today’s climate to get anybody to just to listen to a demo CD. The reality is that the Boston Symphony won’t even play Philip Glass, so how are we going to get the Boston Symphony to play Evan Ziporyn? So it’s a unique relationship with a view toward the long term of getting young artists to establish working relationships with these composers, finding string quartets or conductors who might be music directors down the road who start appreciating what these composers do now. It’s bridging gaps. I’m basically an evangelist. People need champions no matter who they are. Without getting into the snobbery of certain demographics, basically what we’re trying to do is just get things going for these guys—get people to go to the concerts, hear the new CDs.

Are there things you can do more effectively than these composers, either because of your skill set or just because it’s more socially acceptable for you to push them in ways they can’t promote themselves?

By and large, the artists I’ve come into contact with don’t enjoy the business part and unfortunately the business part needs to take place. And just to have them wasting their time, in my opinion, on that part of it is a real issue. So a lot of what I try to do is alleviate all of that from their mind. As long as they have an interpersonal relationship with somebody they can trust, they can be free to create and do what they’re supposed to do as artists.

In these two cases, how did you connect with these gentlemen and agree to work with them?

I independently contacted Evan Ziporyn. It was really a matter of recognizing talent. They’re not going to be able to jump to the next level on their own.

Both of your composers are self-published, so you’re not interfacing with the PR departments of other companies. Do you see not being part of such an entourage as a hindrance or a good thing?

Well, there’s this very old, functional system in place which has served everyone very well for a very long time, and it employed millions of people. That old model works for some people. For my part, I don’t mind—part of my other job in obviously working with publishing companies and trying to get things recorded and so forth—but I think in Evan’s case it certainly helps that he’s self published. It’s one less thing that you have to think about. I don’t think it necessarily matters beyond just trying to have a situation where everybody, including the artist manager, has room to think outside the box, and in that way Evan is more flexible and so am I.

When a composer decides to get help of this sort, what does it cost?

Well, traditionally the relationship is a percentage of whatever sort of deal a manager cuts, whether it be a recording or commission. They just take a chunk. In the case of both of the composers I am working with, I didn’t want that traditional relationship, and we discussed this at length. We wanted it to be more flexible. So basically I’m working on retainer—I get a certain fee for always being on the clock rather than take a percentage of their activities.

Elizabeth Dworkin
Dworkin & Company

When you have a composer on your roster who is not also a performer, what do you do for them?

We do management and PR, and whether you’re a performer or a composer, in my book you need both. They work hand in hand, and it’s ideal when it’s all under one roof because everybody’s on the same page. We do all the nuts and bolts stuff, obviously, dealing with the performance and publishers, but we’re inundated with so much stuff in this business today that you really need to be a composer’s advocate. Even if it’s somebody who’s more known, there are always orchestras or conductors who don’t know their work.

So you would also be a link between performers and the composer in a performance situation?

Yes, very often we’ll be contacted if they’re interested in commissioning one of our composers. Then the composer will deal with it artistically, but they need someone else who can put some of it together, put a consortium together maybe. We’ll call three orchestras that we think might be appropriate for whatever it is, or chamber ensembles or festivals or whatever the case may be, and help try to make it happen.

How do composers know when it might be time to get someone to help them out in this way?

Well, I think there comes a point with composers when they know that they can’t push quite as hard as somebody like me can push. Also, once a lot of calls or performances start coming in, they need someone who can take care of this stuff so that they can concentrate on what they should be concentrating on, writing music.

In what areas do you think you are better equipped than they are, especially when you consider the social prerogative you have to speak more freely and push harder because it’s your job?

Even though they may know a lot of people and may be in a lot of places, we’re in a position to be out there and talking to twice as many or four times as many people than they would normally be. And they can say, “God, I’d love it if the Cleveland Orchestra would play my music,” but they just don’t have a contact there, and there may be people there that we work with regularly.

So you become the agent as well as the manager?

Yup.

How do you fit in, then, when the composer already has a publisher and maybe a publicist? Sometimes it can be quite an entourage.

There are publishers who are really wonderful, but when you’ve got a large roster, it’s impossible to catch absolutely everything. We work closely with the publishers and we can help each other with that. So we can kind of cover all bases and make sure everything gets done.

Do you automatically take a new composer client on, or is there an artistic consideration factored in when making that decision?

It has to be the right fit at the time and the right chemistry. And if you take on too much or if it doesn’t fit in for some reason or if you really don’t believe in the music, I don’t think you can sell it. I know that there are plenty of publicists/management-industry types that do things for other reasons, but in our case, it’s all about the music. My big problem with what’s going on in our field today is that we’re getting away from that and it’s becoming about so many other things. I’m convinced that you can find a way to combine everything, get the marketing and the PR done that you need to get done and still make it about the music.

So, what does this cost?

Well, it varies.

Come on. Ballpark it for me.

Sometimes composers will come to us and we can’t take them on fulltime, but they’ve got this great CD and need to get the word out there. So that may be a one-time project fee, which will be a few thousand dollars. Ongoing management and representation is usually around the $2,000-a-month range.