Artist managers: the global recovery

As everyday life here inches towards normality, artist managers and those they represent are still some way off enjoying the benefits of a return to fully functioning concert life in the UK, never mind in a host of other prime territories. However, in some countries which have managed to keep a lid on Covid-19 cases, venues have been open for (strictly regulated) performances for some time, granting artist managers there at least some income, some boosting of morale.

Dongjin Yoon runs The Bridge Company from a lofty office block near the centre of Seoul in South Korea. Out and about on the streets (suitably masked) he feels that ‘life is normal, apart from small things like restaurants not being able to stay open as long as they like. Individually, people remain very cautious. You’re very conscious of Covid case numbers - currently it’s around 500-600 a day, which is very low compared to the UK, Germany or France. If it goes up to 1,000 a day, that would freak people out.’

Concert life in Seoul (if not in parts of the country) is busy once more, albeit with venue capacity reduced to 50% - all audience members wearing masks. ‘Many halls are funded by public money,’ Yoon observes. ‘Budgets, many of which have been cut, have to be spent or that income might not be there in future. Audience members are temperature-tested on entry into venues and have to submit a simple form showing they haven’t been outside Korea in the previous two weeks or had contact with anyone known to have contracted the virus.’

Performers at these concerts are far more home-grown than is usual - at least something of an opportunity for Yoon as an artist manager. ‘Foreign artists can appear, but they have to go through a strict two-week quarantine. So that essentially rules out busy, well-known names. A few foreign conductors have been willing to quarantine, but they do so because they hold positions with Korean orchestras. The plus side is that Korean artists have had a very busy time. A number have come back here from living abroad. So yes, some commission is coming in from the concerts that have happened involving my artists, but it’s not been that much money. And of course my artists can only perform elsewhere in the world with the greatest difficulty.’

Like many in his profession in Asia, Yoon runs artist management hand-in-hand with concert promotion to make a viable income. ‘I feel really lucky that we have all these concerts, but the 50% audience capacity is a real handicap. A concert I promoted recently sold out. I was super-happy… until I saw that I hadn’t done much more than break even.’

The further difficulty regarding Yoon’s income from concert promotion is that he specialises in presenting foreign ensembles and orchestras - an almost impossible proposition in the current Covid climate. ‘It’s tough to predict when things will change. I’ve had discussions with French and Austrian orchestras keen to visit in the spring of next year, but venue managers in Korea aren’t confident things will be fully normalised by then. So I’m planning for the second half of 2022 as the earliest opportunity.’

Meanwhile, Yoon keeps busy with promotional work for the artists he represents despite the ongoing uncertainty. ‘For example, I send round a regular newsletter to contacts in Europe. OK, there aren’t many concerts going on, but it’s important to keep the flow of information going.’

On to Australia, where again an air of normality has largely surrounded ordinary people’s lives for much of the last year, depending on local circumstances. Concert life has been vibrant since last autumn, albeit with a range of permitted audience capacities in any one situation or locality.

Through the crisis, Sydney-based Patrick Togher Artists’ Management has benefited from the Australian government’s JobKeeper funding scheme. ‘This meant we were able to maintain our staff of four,’ says PTAM director, Patrick Togher. ‘Our priorities changed during the total lockdown at the start of last year, however. Artists on the roster needed a great deal of pastoral care in a situation where their income had collapsed. A major task was negotiating where possible partial payments of fees to artists when concerts had been cancelled in force majeure situations. That money dried up as the situation improved.’

Togher estimates that his company’s income stands now at around 70% of normal, the missing 30% largely relating to lost work for artists working outside Australia: a significant reduction, but of a scale many a UK management might envy. ‘There’s been more business to be done in Australia given that our opera companies, festivals and orchestras have generously used Australian and Australia-based artists — our roster’s mainstay. A number of our artists who’ve been based abroad decided to return here permanently.’ A decision made easier by the rapid development of the Australian concert scene in recent decades — including the creation of a range of excellent new venues.

As with South Korea, it has been rare for foreign musicians to go through a rigorous quarantine process as the price for being able to perform in Australia. ‘The one exception concerns singers appearing with Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne,’ Togher observes. ‘The company management has insisted on continuing its recent practice of importing international singers, quarantine included, in preference to using home-grown stars. This has caused consternation and great disappointment within the Australian vocal community.’

Collaborating with venues where his company’s artists have been appearing has involved Togher and his colleagues in ‘around four times the normal amount of work, ensuring that all safety arrangements are as they need to be. But of course state governments can shut things down at the shortest notice if there are Covid cases.

‘On the other hand, a silver lining to the situation has the reduction in travel, hotel and subsistence costs involved in business travel around the world. All things considered, I’m optimistic for the future, not least given the development of vaccination programmes. If the point of comparison is how things were a year ago, the situation is very healthy.’