My sister asked me once " Doesn't your agent help you promote your career?" Well, yes and no. Booking agents primarily book gigs, and that's about it. The manager, which is really the quarterback of the team, helps to create overall demand. In short, they take care of the day in day out tasks, that really facilitate the artists vision and help to bring the music to the people that want to hear it. Jenn and I have worked with some good booking agents, but the day to day managing tasks are things that we have split up between us, to this point. In many ways I think that has been a good thing (to this point), there's no better way to learn the music business. It's non-linear and ever changing and although there are books on the subject, you'd better read fast, because they are likely to be outdated soon.

If you are curious about the music business check out this video of Bruce Allen, he talks about learning the business and his early days with Bachman Turner Overdrive; up to his present day work with Michael Buble, Martina McBride and others. It's interesting to note that in his opinion the main ingredient for a good manager is to be passionate about what they are doing. If your interested in the music biz at all, it's pretty entertaining as well as educational.