How can artist managements capitalise on digital opportunities?

Two world wars effected dramatic developments in science and technology. The 2020 global pandemic has enervated a mind-blowing revolution in medical expertise. Will it also prove to have turbo-charged changes in the artist management landscape, prompting far-reaching developments in the way the profession explores the online/digital universe?

On the one hand, the impact of the virus reinforced the significance of time-honoured, bread-and-butter artist management. Managers worldwide have been engaged in a whirlwind of activity, dealing with the fall-out from concert/tour cancellations, negotiating compensatory payments where they can, rescheduling dates as best as may be done - and simply offering pastoral care to distraught musicians.

At the same time, artist managers have been engaging with the range of digitally based openings — from social media to online performances of various kinds — in enhanced fashion. Ben Rayfield of the Rayfield Allied office pays tribute to ‘the remarkable level of creativity shown during 2020 in developing performance opportunities in the digital domain. In the past, artists have regularly consented to the digital exploitation of their services for — at best — only token payment. With the Covid crisis has come the realisation that the digital sphere can be better monetised and that it truly can be developed in the future as a parallel experience to the live concert - not a replacement. And it’s an alternative that can be scaled up in a way a concert hall’s capacity can’t’.   

Back in the 1970s, the HarrisonParrott office was in the very vanguard of the shift towards a far more personal style of artist management, rooted in worldwide representation. Where HP led, so many others followed. Will this prove to be the case again, now the company has this year committed substantial resources to a serious gearing-up of the company’s digital media involvements? Internal restructuring, calm-headed financial management led by Ian Giddons and the involvement of staff at all levels in the development of ideas have been crucial. 

October brought news of a partnership between the HarrisonParrott Foundation and Google Arts & Culture. This aims, says the HPF webpage, to ‘introduce classical music and the arts to new and wider audiences through a hub of digitised culture’. All manner of content awaits the explorer, from composer profiles to video interviews with musicians.

However, this was but a prelude to early December’s launch of Virtual Circle, HP’s live-streaming/digital content initiative via the eMusic Live platform. This was pushed through by HP’s COO Lorna Aizlewood, heading up a team led by Fiona Livingston. Virtual Circle showcases not just classical music (and not solely HP musicians) but the arts in general. Subscribers are promised a vivid online concert experience combined with all manner of associated information and interactive possibilities. HP co-founder and executive chairman, Jasper Parrott, says the aim is ‘to provide exciting programming that then attracts increased funding — and hopefully inspires partnerships with talented individuals who will help grow the exercise into something that will be a significant part of the landscape of both classical music and the arts in general. In due course, we look forward to investing in our own productions’.

Related article: https://www.classical-music.uk/news/article/harrisonparrott-launches-new-livestreaming-platform-for-classical-music

The HP reorientation process and the setting-up of both the Google partnership and Virtual Circle mirror a 360° management approach which embraces digital/tech-based expertise and partnerships developed within the company’s multi-genre in-house partner Polyarts. This operates under Parrott’s daughter Moema Parrott, as CEO. The evaporation of so much live performance demanded a rapid expansion of alternative income-raising options for artists on the HP roster. Says Moema Parrott: ‘This meant focusing on digital performances, YouTube appearances, online masterclasses, podcasts, film/tv composition, radio presenting and so on. There are all manner of new opportunities, such as the placement of performances within video games from the likes of Fortnite or Electronic Arts. This content can accelerate streaming, sell online merchandise and be be pushed onto YouTube… all creating further income. There are so many platforms now which can be approached. The financial models for benefiting artists’ appearances on those platforms are still being finessed, but the important thing is that the models exist’.

Both Parrotts carry an optimistic air that belies the Covid gloom. ‘The crisis has greatly accelerated existing developments within the company,' observes Moema Parrott. ‘The digital/tech/pop/commercial worlds offer ways of seeing music as made up of many different strands beyond the live event, offering new approaches to working on developing each artist’s career. The digital possibilities aren’t a replacement for the participatory experience of live performance — what we’re talking about in the longer term are significant additional opportunities which benefit both performers and the public’.

If digital delivery now grants access to the arts for a wider public, Parrott Sr. remains convinced there’s also a broader clientele for the live classical music experience waiting to be enticed. However, returning to ‘normality’ in concert terms after Covid-19 just won’t do the enticing. He raises a familiar bugbear — the traditional concert hall. ‘This is a fundamentally bourgeois 19th century concept. It’s exclusive of too many, inclusive only to a particularly elite type of public. All this has to be turned upside down.' New — dramatically new — live performing spaces have to be imagined and explored, says Parrott, and he’ll be doing what he can to promote this via advocacy and collaboration. The outcomes will doubtless be reflected in the digital domain.

So, are HarrisonParrott again setting a course which other managements must follow or risk being left behind? ‘Not every company has the resources HP enjoys to explore these digital possibilities’, observes Atholl Swainston-Harrison, chief executive of the International Artist Managers’ Association, ‘but certainly there are more opportunities in this area even for small companies. Thus far the financial rewards aren’t significant, but you have to hope things develop from here. That will justify this bolder approach to the idea of what artist managements can do to further the interests of their clients’.