Some people say in regards to bands that stage presence is everything, or that appearance is everything, or that attitude is everything, or that the venue is everything, or that the volume is everything. All of these “everythings” CAN help or hurt a band’s success, but there is one thing that surpasses the aforementioned: MANAGEMENT IS EVERYTHING!

In her informational book, The Real Deal: How to Get Signed to a Record Label, Daylle Deanna Schwartz gives aspiring musicians resources to help develop their talent into a career. The book discusses the importance of building relationships and making contacts with people “higher up” in the music chain. The business definitely has a lot to do with who you know and who you meet. Schwartz stresses the fact though that you only need ONE person at ONE label, ONE manager, and ONE agent to become known and accomplished. It’s not necessarily a matter of how many networks a band has, but if they have ONE good one, they can make it.

A personal manager should do whatever it takes to promote the band. They need to be willing to spend countless hours making fliers, lining up interviews with local newspapers or news stations, booking gigs, and so on. If a band neglects to find a good manager, they most likely won’t accomplish these goals. Self-promoting without management typically can’t get a musician very high up the chain.

An unfortunate example of this very scenario plays out in singer/songwriter Brandon Henderson’s life. If his name is “googled” one might find the “official” Brandon Henderson website which consists of a green header bar with Brandon’s name, a broken JPG link, and absolutely nothing else. The most hope a fan has for finding out information about Brandon is a site that is set up on Angelfire (a free, advertising-based webspace provider). Upon looking closer at this site, one finds a link to another site which looks hopeful, tallesttree.net. Once again, disappointment sets in when this page is just as full of tiled background images and broken links as the first two.

Brandon Henderson’s musicianship is definitely not reflected by his websites. I blame this solely on the premise of poor management. Either he is self-managed (which is what I believe after doing some research), or his manager has no experience. Perhaps around Colorado (where he plays most of his shows) he is fairly well known, but elsewhere if you mention his name, it fades into the background. His promotions are seemingly non-existent, his CDs only sell on one or two websites, and the production quality of his CDs is absolutely terrible. With a little remixing and mastering, they might sound alright, but apparently no one is taking charge of this. This guy’s music is genuine and passionate. You can tell he loves what he does and has the talent to do it and “make it big.” He's got plenty of talent, however it is hidden in the cracks. Someone needs to take responsibility, to be willing to manage this guy, to be willing to stick their neck out for him and do what it takes to get him noticed.