Artist Managers: Mirror or hammer?

Springtime in Bruges would seem an attractive proposition to me, and the International Artist Managers’ Association will be hoping the global classical music industry reckons likewise. The 2024 IAMA conference is centred on the historic city’s striking Concertgebouw, completed in 2002 at a time when Bruges was the European Capital of Culture. The Minister-President of the Flemish government and the Mayor of Bruges, no less, will be present to see the three-day event launched on the afternoon of 29 April. Also there at the opener will be distinguished artist management veteran, Stephen Wright, to receive an IAMA Life Membership award. As it happens, Wright is domiciled in Belgium these days. ‘Appreciation from one's professional colleagues is always very welcome,’ he tells me, ‘and so I’m honoured to have been given this award.’

Always expect a snappy conference title, of course. In this case it’s Mirror or Hammer: How should we shape the future? This references Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.’ Future opportunities in, and threats to, the world of classical music will thus be examined, not least in the conference’s keynote speech from composer and technological innovator, Tod Machover. The focus here will be on the challenges and opportunities presented to the musical community by AI. Says IAMA chief executive Atholl Swainston-Harrison: ‘The role of AI may seem distant to our world, but new things technological often appear quite quickly in the foreground of the music profession… and then we wonder what we should do with them. Take the arrival of social media. We may have taken to it with some reluctance, but now that the mirror has had time to focus and reflect, new attitudes are being adopted. There’s now a more mature approach to this new piece of apparatus in the toolbox.’

‘Appreciation from one's professional colleagues is always very welcome' (Image courtesy of Stephen Wright)

Elsewhere in the conference schedule there’s a panel examining opportunities in the mixing of art forms, featuring the adventurous approaches taken by cellist Matthew Barley and Belgian violinist Jolente De Maeyer. A session on sustainability will examine the effect which the climate change agenda may have on international touring, especially by larger groups, in the future. A peer-to-peer session, The Thin Line, will be, says Swainston-Harrison ‘an exploration of the difficult situation artist managers can find themselves in today when it comes to big ideological agendas. Whether hammers or mirrors, artists are now having to take sides like never before… and the judgment of the press is ready and waiting. How do the artist manager and the profession in general equip themselves in these circumstances? Doing the right thing in a very complicated world isn’t easy.’

On the other hand, there will be a look back to the future, as the conference hears detail on the robust and growing market in early music found in the Low Countries, outlined by a range of leading musical figures.

The 2023 IAMA conference at the Vienna Konzerthaus saw the significant add-on to the annual event of a parallel offer – Audio Classique – hosted by IAMA for the classical recording industry. At short notice, freelance consultant Mark Pemberton was brought in to pull the schedule together. Such was the event’s success that Pemberton has been deployed to run a follow-up Audio Classique in Bruges.

Composer and technological innovator Tod Maschover will give the conference’s keynote speech © Sam Ogden

Vienna saw a heartwarming turnout from major recording labels, says Pemberton. ‘These included representatives from Universal Music and Apple, as well as from independent recording labels and distributors. There was a hugely positive reaction to the choice of venue, topics and speakers, but what delegates from the industry most valued was the direct contact with artist managers. After all, the classical recording industry relies on artists for sales. Being in the same room as their managers at the sessions enabled conversations about such areas as the fair remuneration of artists. But Audio Classique also provided simply the ability to meet up, network and explore business opportunities.

‘All this meant it was an easy decision to stage a second edition of Audio Classique in Bruges. This time there’ll be even better integration with the IAMA conference, which will make for a still more productive experience. Topics will include the state of the recording industry one year on, issues surrounding rights, what the word ‘recording’ means today, and an ‘In Conversation’ with Charles Andriaenssen of Outhere Music. We’re delighted that Gramophone, BBC Music magazine and PRS for Music are among our partners.’ With the likes of representatives on panel line-ups from the Warner Music Group, Naxos, Pentatone and the PRS, plus Radio 3 controller Sam Jackson, this IAMA conference dimension is clearly making a case for becoming a permanent feature.

‘Perfect pitch – and tone!’: The parrot who could mimic human song © Adobe Stock

Thank you to the individual who drew my attention to a correspondence thread in the Daily Telegraph concerning parrots blessed with the gift of (‘human’) speech. Not something I’d normally explode off the starting blocks to investigate, but one letter to the editor entered the territory of parrots blessed with the gift of (‘human’) song, in intriguing anecdotal fashion.

The story as relayed concerned a classical music ‘impresario’ whose pet parrot was indeed possessed of an extensive song repertoire. On a certain occasion in the 1970s, the said impresario was apparently giving conductor Bernard Haitink a lift home following a concert, the parrot sitting in majesty on the back seat. Suddenly, unbidden, the bird burst into the Toreador’s song from Carmen. Unfazed, Haitink astutely remarked, ‘Perfect pitch – and tone!’

So who was the ‘impresario’? An artist manager, one guesses? Attempts to contact the individual who offered the tale to the Telegraph have come to naught. So answers, please, to this journal, if you will. CM readers have a right to know… etc, etc.

I write this from Fremantle, my favoured winter destination (tried & tested formula: scrape air fare together/sponge board & lodging off relatives). Together with neighbouring Perth, this is a regular top-tenner in lists of best places to live globally. The musical and artistic life in this part of the world is exceptional, whether it’s the quality local symphony orchestra and opera company, the international arts festival, fabulous music on offer at St George's Cathedral, loads of touring musicians… and so much more. All part of the country’s vibrant musical scene which has made the profession of artist manager feasible in Australia over recent decades, when once it simply wasn’t a realistic financial proposition. However, no-one based over here...yet. Aussie east-siders can be terribly sniffy about the ‘isolated’ west. Hrrmph.

 So what are you waiting for, Poms? Founding a company (with local staff) would guarantee a visa, I'd have thought. Paradise awaits...