By Germaine Smith, Staff Reporter 
Bennett
ARTISTE MANAGEMENT is a complex issue which our music industry players are often bitterly divided over, having varied views of the requirements for the job and the actual day to day duties they are expected to perform.
In earlier dancehall years, the managers were predominantly the gold chain touting, loud-mouthed dons who handled the large chunks of cash that the artistes received for stage shows, dub plates and exclusive specials. They had to wield tremendous influence in the music business to ensure that their artistes were not swindled and that they lived comfortably.
Not much has changed now, but with the increased international splashes our music has made, what has become increasingly obvious is that good management is the key to unlocking the international doors of success.
Good management is like the lubricant inside blazing 300 horsepower engine, the engine being the artiste, who will initially fire without the lubricant, but after time is bound to stop functioning as the pressures of wear and tear increase.
HARD WORK
In The Sunday Gleaner of February 22 last year, deejay Predator said that writing his songs and recording them was hard work, so he needed a manager to take care of everything else in his life, especially when he goes on overseas tours. This ranged from food, to the 'per diem' and hotel bookings, to even co-ordinating shopping and sleep times.
Musician, songwriter and producer Mikey Bennett feels that the qualities a manager should display will vary based on who that manager has to manage in the first place.
"It depends on the artiste," he notes. "At our company (the E-Logic Music Group), our philosophy is that the artiste is the product. We are a management company with studio facilities, so we develop the artist as a whole being, as an entity," Bennett said.
This means that a manager will have to tend to several aspects of the artiste's life.
"As a manager, you want to ensure that a creative environment is always around them, so you have to provive motivation," Bennett continues.
This motivation takes many forms and varies from person to person. Artiste managers have been known to go to great lengths to ensure the comfort of their precious charges. Whether it be buying that new sports cars, moving their families from their former communities and putting them into uptown apartments or making sure their refrigerator stays stocked with food and liquor, it has been done.
In an earlier interview with THE STAR, dancehall group TOK's former manager Richard 'Shams' Brownie stated that before they had cars he used to pack the four-man team into his car and travel from Kingston to rural areas for certain shows, before they were stars.
MOTIVATION
Though some consider some of the perks that managers hand out as 'babying' the artiste, Bennett calls it motivation and sees it as necessary if the manager beieves in the talent of the artiste. He considers it an investment, which should yield fruit in the future.
"Its not babying; people need motivation. Some need it for one day, some for one week. Some need a drink, some a spliff, whatever. Whatever allows them to focus on the creative side of the business, the manager is to facilitate this... It is an investment which you believe in, but you know you have to recoup later on."
He lists the qualities that should allow the manager to facilitate the flow of the creative juices from the artiste.
"That person has to be intelligent and organised, because on the road is disorganised. He has to command respect from the public and from the artist he manages. He has to be flexible, have integrity and have the ability to think quickly on his feet to find solutions fast. His job is to take the pressure off the artiste, to maintain the atmosphere on the road to let them remain creative."
Bennett's descriptions are backed up by his musical colleague, Desmond Young, the president of the Jamaica Federation of Musicians (JFM). Young feels that in Jamaica's situation, a manager has to be almost everything, just to ensure that the artistes remain creative.
"It is the manager's responsibility to know the artiste first," he argues. "Know what they need, whether it be an image change, food, a different environment to live in, anything that may distract them from the music, remove it. Anything it takes to bring out the best in the artiste, he (the manager) must create the atmosphere to get the artiste working creatively. He is a planner, organiser, a strategist in this regard."
PEOPLE SKILLS
Added to this, Young feels that with Jamaica's music situation, a good manager simply needs to have people skills.
"The music business is wide and every day somebody new is getting into it," he argues. "You need someone with the skills to go out and meet people to find the centre of the business and go there. He has to know that in the industry he needs to develop a good reputation, because when you stick by your word people know you positively for that. You need this good reputation, becasue word spreads about you in the business fast," he said.
When comparing the state of the Jamaican music business to say 20 to 30 years ago, much has changed both in the corporate attention and support given to the music and the way in which managers have handled themselves. Both men agree with the changes and give a positive outlook for the music for 2005 and beyond.
"Fifteen years ago it was very different, but the only way forward now for companies is proper management and based on what I see happening, it looks good in the long term," Bennett concludes.
POWER OF OUR
POPULAR CULTURE
According to Young, "we are doing well compared to say 20 to 30 years ago. This image of the big chain man who used to be the artiste manager was part of our musical story. In the early days, certain sectors of the society did not believe in the power of our popular culture. These men were the ones who had the courage to put on live shows for the people. They gave a lot of youths the chance to achieve their dreams."
"Now, more middle class youths are getting into the business. They used to do it before, but more are into it, so a different level of communication has to be there for the artistes to believe that this manager can help them. There must be a natural trust which exists. With the courses available now coming from HEART, where I act as a consultant, though I have not seen the people who do these courses, it is designed to bring the best out. The business is therefore getting better personnel, so I see that it can only get better," Young said.
