Why talent management is almost a myth in Kenya

In the Kenyan music industry, there are many who claim the title of manager, without the faintest clue of what exactly it takes to be an effective manager, but in developed markets, managers are a major driving force.

The Beatles were a shabby group of teenagers playing in small town bars until Brian Epstien polished them up and took them global. Paul Mcguiness took U2 from a garage band to a global brand grossing $736 million a tour.

Elvis would have lived the normal life of a talented teenager if it wasn’t for Colonel Tom Parker while Scooter Brown discovered Justin Beiber on YouTube, tracked him down, put him on a plane for the very first time and the rest as they say is history.

Jonathan Dickins did the same for Adele; on stage she is the queen but off stage, she cannot do anything to do with her brand or music unless Dickins says it.

He is famed to have turned down several lucrative endorsements because he doesn’t want to take away the brand from its deep musical identity. One may wonder then, why artistes need managers if artistes are the ones people pay for tickets and buy their music.

In a BBC documentary dubbed Music Moguls: Masters of pop, Bill Curbishley, manager of “The Who” while answering the role of managers explained that when God gives you a creative gift, he denies you something else. In his estimation, managers exists to fill that gap, every creative has a fundamental artistic flaw that makes them fantastic on stage but a disaster in ordinary life. In a sense, managers are the brains behind the operation putting everything together.

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

In Kenya, however, most artistes are their own executive producers, tour managers, booking agents... a situation that is definitely not working well for many of them. It is easy to see the difference a competent manager makes.

Popular music group Elani learnt the hard way when starting out and they had to get a team to handle the business side of their lives.

They advise artistes to first do everything on their own and with time build a team that works for them. Though they admit that it can be a frustrating process, they insist that every artiste has to find an arrangement that works. In the same breath, they also urge artistes to be vigilant and have solid contracts with their managers with key performance indicators and well laid out deliverables.

“In life it’s important to know what you can and can’t do,” explains the group’s Maureen Kunga. “You can sing, perform and wow crowds but you can’t do everything else on your own, so build a team around you.”

Marek Fuchs is arguably the most successful talent manager in Kenya, and the driving force behind the success of Kenyan boy band Sauti Sol. He admits that though artiste management is still a big challenge in Kenya, things are a lot better than a few years back.

This change, he admits, is allowing for increased and regular income for artistes and hence there is more work and money for management. However, he says that the quality of management is still relatively poor. This he attributes to the lack of platforms where managers can gain knowledge and lack of experience.

“The biggest challenge for management is funding, because the industry isn’t yet that developed,” he explains. There aren’t enough shows, enough venues hence one cannot charge too much for tickets and the crowds aren’t that large. Additionally, there isn’t much experience in the market and so we see less endorsement and advertising deals in music, sports and entertainment at large.”

In his experience, some artistes are easier to manage than others; there are those who listen and those who think they know it all. In the end, he advises that an artiste figures out what works best for him/her and at the end of the day team work is the secret to success.

When some aristes go out and get a management team around them, squabbles follow since they do not want to pay them their cut or they try to dictate to them what to do.

“These things happen a lot,” admits Emmy Simotowo, a talent manager admits. “You will walk with an artiste for two years then when he makes it he will pick another manager and move on without you. It is hard to invest much in an artiste if you are not guaranteed of a long term relationship.”

Simotwo is the Executive Director of Alfarasha, an artiste management, publicist and publisher outfit with extensive industry knowledge. Over the years she has managed several artistes and made several music millionaires especially in her home town of Eldoret. Some of her clients have included, LJay Masaai, Kevo Yout and Q-tasi.

ASSISTANTS NOT MANAGERS

“Sometimes artistes don’t listen to their managers because they get distracted by their competitors,” she admits. “Every manager believes in their artistes and has a vision and a game plan for them, but artistes have to stick to the plan for it to work.”

But some artistes have proved to be successful without a management team behind them.

With a career that spans almost two decades, Nameless is a prominent and ever present figure in the Kenyan music space who has over the years tried various ways of managing his own music career with varying levels of success.

“Management is good because it helps you focus on creativity, but I have never really found a person that we jell well with properly. Right now I just have personal assistants, who run errands for me, but if I could get a really good manager I would definitely go for it. A manager is someone who helps you with planning, conceptualising and guiding your career. Someone with industry experience who can take you to the next level,” says the Butterfly singer.

Though he says that the state of affairs has improved, he admits that we are still a long way to go.  Nameless started out under the management of Ogopa Deejays then started working with Robert RKay Kamanzi before branching out on his own.

“Artistes are also hard to manage, especially in Kenya,” he adds. “I think we have never really seen a successful manager so we find it hard to trust, we have more of assistants right now. Creatives can be stubborn and sometimes we want to but you have to trust your manager for it to work.”