The Management Agreement: What's Fair for a Developing Artist

Most management relationships at the developing level start with a handshake, and quite a few of them end badly for the same reason. The agreement isn't there to protect either party from the other's bad faith — it's there for the far more common case where both people are decent and remember the deal differently.

Here's what belongs in one, and what should worry you.

Term

One to three years is right for a developing artist. Longer than three is hard to justify when nobody yet knows whether this partnership works.

Watch for options: a "one year plus two one-year options" structure where the *manager* holds the options is effectively a three-year deal that only the manager can exit. If there are options, they should be mutual or tied to performance.

Commission and what it applies to

15-20%, with the gross/net question answered explicitly and carve-outs listed. See how much a manager takes for the standard shape.

State the payment mechanics too: does income flow through the manager, who deducts and forwards? Or to the artist, who pays commission on receipt? The first gives the manager security and the artist an audit problem; the second reverses it. Either is workable if it's written down.

The sunset clause

What happens to commission on deals signed during the term, after the term ends. Without one, a manager can commission income from a record made during their tenure forever. With a good one, commission steps down over two to three years and stops.

This is the clause most likely to be missing from a template and most likely to cause litigation. Sunset clauses covers the standard tapers.

Key person

If the artist is signing with a company rather than an individual, the agreement should name the person they're actually getting. Without a key-person clause, the manager you signed with can hand you to a junior and the deal continues unchanged.

Termination

Both sides need a way out. Reasonable triggers: material breach with a cure period, extended inactivity, or a performance threshold that wasn't met. Notice periods of 30-60 days are normal.

A deal that can only be terminated by the manager, or that requires the artist to buy their way out, is not a deal a developing artist should sign.

Expenses

Which expenses is the manager allowed to charge back, and is there an approval threshold? A common structure: expenses under a stated amount at the manager's discretion, above it requiring artist approval in writing. Without a threshold, an artist can end up funding travel and entertaining they never agreed to.

Exclusivity and roster

Is the manager exclusive to the artist? Almost never at this level, and pretending otherwise is unrealistic — managers build rosters. But the artist is entitled to know how many acts, and whether there's a conflict (two artists competing for the same support slot, for example).

Red flags in a developing-artist deal

• Term longer than three years with manager-held options.

• No sunset, or a sunset that never reaches zero.

• Commission on gross with no carve-outs, especially on touring.

• Rights transfers. A management agreement should not assign copyrights, masters or publishing. A manager who wants your publishing is doing a different deal and should say so.

• Power of attorney broader than signing routine bookings.

Put it in plain language, and sign it

The alternative to a written agreement isn't freedom — it's a dispute with no reference point. Musavise's agreements tool generates a management agreement in language both parties can actually read, with commission basis, carve-outs, term, sunset and termination as explicit fields, and e-signs it free with the signed version frozen so both sides can reproduce exactly what they agreed.

This isn't legal advice. A management agreement is one of the documents genuinely worth a lawyer's eye — typically $500-$2,000, against a deal that shapes years of income.

All of it lives in one free Musavise account — free means free, within honest limits, and your data exports whenever you want it. Create your free account; it takes about two minutes.