Today I watched an interview with the former head of
Columbia Records, Michael Mauldin. He managed several successful artists during
the golden age of hip-hop. Many of the artists that he worked with are still
making music today. In this interview Michael Mauldin spoke about his many
experiences and discoveries. He managed several highly successful artist
including, Destiny Child, The Fugees, Alexia Keys, Bow Wow, Jermain Durpri, and
many others. I felt that the interview was very insightful. It is important for
me to learn from people who have more experience.
As an artist manager is it vital to find an artist that has
star power. Throughout Michael Mauldin’s career he has worked with many of
today’s elite artist in the music industry creating tours including TI, T-pain,
Jay Z, P-Diddy, Wycleff Jean, The Brat, and Maxwell to name a few. Today, live
performance is stronger than ever. So it is vital for an artist to be able to
deliver a performance. He spoke of how critical it is to plan touring,
marketing, and promotion in advance when handling an artist career. Especially
when dealing with an artist’s career today because of the Internet and album
leaks. He stated that the launch is the most critical moment for an artist.
The record business is dwindling down, and it is important
to make sure that money is being spent the right way. It takes a lot of money,
and today record labels don’t have the money to launch an artist successfully.
This is why it is important for managers to start building relationships with
other companies looking to market their brands to the hip-hop community. The
hip-hop industry has become more of a culture and lifestyle. So it is important
to understand everything that is going on in business. The more that you know
the more opportunities will become available. In his final remarks he spoke of how it is important to handle business, but we must remember music is about the art.
