A changing of the guard is imminent at the Music Managers Forum (MMF). Paul Craig and Kwame Kwaten, who have served the organisation with distinction for the past six years as chair and vice-chair, respectively, will step down at the MMF’s AGM on September 17.
Working in tandem with CEO Annabella Coldrick, the double act (Kwaten likens them to Morecambe & Wise) have overseen a transformative period for the NPO. Membership has nearly tripled since 2018 to more than 1,500, encompassing startup managers to representatives of global superstars, with diversity at its heart (40% of MMF members are women and 30% are non-white).
Craig, who manages Biffy Clyro, was vice-chair to Deluxxe Management's Diane Wagg prior to succeeding her as chair. A former Warner Music executive, he also co-founded SuperVision Management in 1999 and has guided acts including INXS, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, Birdy and Bullet For My Valentine.
“My main ambition has always been to convey why the MMF is so important and to expand the membership so that the widest and the largest number of managers are involved in it, either passionately or just occasionally,” Nostromo Management founder Craig tells Music Week.
“Having the management community understand the power and strength in communicating and sharing with each other, transforms the business for their artists, because ultimately that's what we are here for. We are here to help our artists fulfil their dreams in the best possible way – creatively, financially and so on.”
Co-founder of non-profit Cre8ing Vision, Kwaten owns artist management and consultancy firm Ferocious Talent. He works with a roster including Blue Lab Beats, Hak Baker and The Halfway Kid, having previously assisted in the development of the likes of Laura Mvula, Rumer and Shola Ama.
When you have momentum within an organisation – and people don't just talk about change, they bloody mean it – that's when magic happens
Kwame Kwaten
Kwaten has also given evidence at two parliamentary hearings on the music business.
“If someone had told me that I would have spoken twice in parliament – once on grassroots venues, once on streaming – and both of those things would be taken forward, I would have said, ‘Nah,’” he adds. “But when you have momentum within an organisation – and people don't just talk about change, they bloody mean it – that's when magic happens. Annabella allowed that and Paul allowed me to be a mad hatter and to just be myself.”
The MMF, which established anti-touting campaign group FanFair Alliance in 2016, has also become more representative on a national level. In the past year, the percentage of members from the north has increased from 5% to 13%, while the percentage of members in London has dropped from 65% to 56%.
In addition, the MMF’s Artist & Manager Awards, staged in collaboration with the Featured Artists Coalition, has become an established fixture on the industry calendar and returns to Bloomsbury Big Top in London on November 21.
“The industry looks forward to the event and it has a unique character and nature, there’s a unique sensitivity within the room,” suggests Craig. “We've had an array of beyond amazing artists and teams who have collected awards deservedly, and some incredibly spine-tingling moments.”
The bodies also teamed up to instigate the #LetTheMusicMove campaign to fight for reductions in post-Brexit costs for touring in Europe. Perhaps the greatest legacy from Craig and Kwaten’s two terms in office, though, is the Accelerator Programme with YouTube Music. Launched in 2019, it offers grant funding of up to £12,000 to fledgling independent music managers, as well as an extensive schedule of expert-led training.
To date, 115 individuals have completed the programme, including managers who have worked with Joy Crookes, Shygirl, PinkPantheress, FLO, Eliza Rose, Joy Anonymous, Moses Boyd, Enny, Nafe Smallz, Squid, Wes Nelson, Shabaka Hutchings, Goat Girl, Bree Runway and Porridge Radio. Accelerator alumni represented five award nominees at this year’s Ivors.
My main ambition has always been to convey why the MMF is so important and to expand the membership so that the widest number of managers are involved
Paul Craig
“What I love with MMF is you can suggest something on a Monday in the first week of a month, and by the second week the thing is fully in motion,” reflects Kwaten. “As an organisation, it can react really well.”
Other MMF initiatives have included ReBuild – a support fund set up for UK-based managers impacted by the Covid crisis – as well as its groundbreaking Dissecting The Digital Dollar publication on streaming, partnerships with Creative Wales and Generator, entry level training and educational partnerships with universities and a retreat for advanced managers. It is also a founding member of both the UK Council Of Music Makers and the European Music Managers Alliance (EMMA).
“It's very important the MMF continues to have a very loud and significant voice in policy decisions,” reflects Craig. “It's not the sexiest side of management, and a lot of managers don't really understand how important it is to them and their clients. But without the MMF, trust me, it would not be happening. That's one of the reasons I get a bit frustrated with managers who don't join. We’re part of significant changes.”
The September 17 AGM will be followed by the MMF Manager Summit 2024 at 21Soho in London later that day. Following last year's AI focus, the summit will focus on the ever-changing landscape of music management.
Here, we join Craig and Kwaten to explore that very subject and look back at the various ups and downs from their half a dozen years at the MMF helm…
Take us back to the start. What did you hope to achieve when you took on the roles in 2018?
Paul Craig: “Kwame, didn't we say we wanted membership to be at 1,500 when we left?
Kwame Kwaten: “We had no bleeding idea! I think that if somebody would have told me then that the MMF would be in the position that it is now, I would have said there's no chance.”
PC: “You would have said the chair and vice-chair would have done a bloody good job.”
KK: “He's a great advertiser. This Morecambe & Wise combo works really well, as you can tell. I think both of us could see there were areas where it couldn't be as it was before, and it moved with the times and then some. So you're looking at 500 managers in the beginning all the way through to where we are now, which is over 1,500. You're looking at much more diversity, and it's not just about London either – the reach is a lot wider now. Accelerator has been an incredible thing as well. There have been a lot of successes, I'd love to say, 'Oh yeah, I predicted it.' But no.”
PC: “My objective was just to continue the great work. I joined when Brian Message and Jon Webster and people were transforming the MMF and like all organisations, they go through different life journeys that represent the times they're in. I'd seen a big transformation under Brian, and then I'd been vice-chair under Diane, and [my aim] was just to not screw it up, keep evolving and keep progressing. Annabella had probably been there for about a year before and was very innovative and dynamic.”
KK: “Annabella was next level. Other organisations, especially at board level, will sometimes say the person has to be from the actual business that they are speaking on behalf of, but I think Annabella proved you can come from somewhere completely different and use that to massive effect. I think it felt fresh and it still does.”
PC: “The MMF is a wonderful organisation for managers to stay separate from each other from a business perspective if they so desire, but also to join each other in a collaborative environment. By talking to more managers and being open to asking questions, one becomes a better manager and increasingly, a lot of managers get this. There are still some islands out there who don't want to be part of it, which is totally fine. But as Kwame said, we've gone from 500 managers to 1,500 managers. That's a pretty proud achievement.”
How would you describe the dynamic between the two of you?
KK: “Our characters are opposite, but I think that works well in meetings, because I'm likely to get impassioned and go off on one, and Paul's very good at going, ‘Okay, let's pull that in… But you've got a point.’ Although Paul's been known to get quite passionate himself and at those points I go, ‘Well, hold on Paul,’ and I think that that works really well. Also, the central force of Annabella saying, ‘Where are we going? What are we going to do? How are we going to get it done?’ I know we are heaping a lot of praise upon her, but that is one hell of an engine to be around.”
PC: “Without a doubt. I can't believe it has been six years. We put governance in that we couldn't do more than two terms and I think it's the right decision. I'm very proud to have been chair. I think it's for other people to judge how well we've done or not, or how the MMF has evolved over these six years. We're not leaving the MMF – we're still managing, we're going to have a loud voice and we're going to work positively, constructively and, hopefully, helpfully with whoever becomes chair and vice-chair moving forward, as Brian has done, as Diane has and Stephen Budd did. Dennis Muirhead, who was the first chair, still comes to events. There's a whole bunch of custodians that we'll be part of.”
If somebody would have told me in 2018 that the MMF would be in the position that it is now, I would have said there's no chance
Kwame Kwaten
Has the definition of what a manager does changed in your tenure?
PC: “It depends who you ask. I think the role and responsibilities and remit of a manager have definitely changed. But asking two managers what other people define us as is probably the worst thing to do...”
KK: “I'm not surprised the MMF grew the way it did because of the reliance on managers to be the central force with regards to an artist's career. Before, the manager was like the side branch and now it is seen a lot more as the middle part of the tree, with artist careers springing from it. The shift to streaming was huge because the fact is, saying that you were an independent act back then was something that people did if they were dropped. Now, it's a thing that people say very proudly and as a first means of getting their stuff out. A manager is right there at the start, so you are helping forge an artist's identity – and you are creative partners. You've only got to look at places like Tap to see that not only does it have publishing, but also data and research and its masters end. Right now, a modern management company is a modern music company.”
PC: “The breadth of responsibilities of a manager has widened considerably while we've been doing this, but that doesn't in any way demean the role of managers prior to that. A great manager, in whatever environment they operated within, was always key in breaking that act, and in developing a long term career for that act.”
KK: “It's a lot more like a Rubik's Cube because right now, as a manager, you don't just sit there and negotiate a contract. You're doing A&R, you're looking over the mixer, mastering, single choice and order, photo shoots, artwork, design, biography, PR, setting up accounts, TikTok, Spotify, preview terms, release dates, presaves, confirming release, social media health-checking… I could go on, there are probably another 30 things that I can hit you with. That's where we are now.”
What brings you the most pride from all you’ve achieved in the last six years?
PC: “Dissecting The Digital Dollar Guide is the spine that everything comes out of. We've done books on mental health. We talk about transparency of royalty flows and we've done books on that. When we talk about the complexities of a licensing system, we've written about it. We did a book on data. We've done a publishing royalties guide. We've done a record royalty guide. We've done a Managing Expectations guide. So on all these aspects we’ve put out informative, educational books to help develop the business. And we know it isn’t just managers that read them; they're in universities; they're in libraries; some labels give them out to their staff. So while people want to sometimes say, ‘Oh, the MMF, they're a bit of a pain…’”
KK: “It’s for all the right reasons.”
PC: “The quote I have always used about managers and about life in general is that an educated population is always the most annoying to the people ruling the people. And what we've tried to do is make managers and the creative community more educated through the Dissecting The Digital Dollar Guide, so that questions being asked will be better and therefore the answers will be more precise.”
KK: “Speaking in parliament was a bit of a trip. The grassroots venues campaign has been one [highlight]. Dissecting The Digital Dollar has been another. The Council Of Music Makers is a brilliant thing as well.”
By speaking with the same voice, that voice is heard so much louder and listened to with so much more respect and gravitas – and that has the ability to change things for artists
Paul Craig
And what about the lows?
PC: “Obviously Covid, in the sense of the decimation it created. Our business comprises many freelancers and it was so stressful, so worrying, so upsetting. A lot of artists had their hopes and dreams set up for album campaigns and tours ahead, and obviously the whole thing came to a massive halt. I had hundreds of phone calls; I chaired Zooms of agents and managers, and no one knew what to say. That was a low, but the high of it was the fact that we got the Rebuild Fund to happen. We built a community out of it and showed that good stuff can come out of those despairing times. It's been a blessing to see the community grow and understand the power of unity. By speaking with the same voice, that voice is heard so much louder and listened to with so much more respect and gravitas – and that loud, united voice has the ability to change things for artists.”
Do managers now get the respect they deserve from the industry?
KK: “I think it's changed a lot. I always used to say we were cockroaches. By that, I just mean we were a pain in the ass and that was reflected in the deals and the conversations that used to happen. Managers were [seen as] replaceable and it was just about the act. Whereas I hear a lot more now, especially with label services companies, that if an artist just comes to them by themselves and hasn’t got the correct team around them, they're less interested in the artist.”
PC: “It's very difficult to explain what a manager does. We can talk about it, but most people who aren't managers have never really worked directly with artists over a period of time so it's very difficult to understand what that dynamic really is. The business model has changed, and therefore people are interacting with managers on a wider range of activities, but it's quite an intangible role to explain.”
What part has Accelerator played in producing new managers?
PC: “Accelerator is unbelievable. Shout out to YouTube and PPL, who are great partners. What's it done? It's brought through 120 managers, educated them and helped finance them. Some of those people will leave the business. Some of them will work for labels and so on and so forth. But they've basically spent a year with cohorts of people, bonding, learning together as they go through their journey in the music industry, whatever that may be.”
KK: “We used to think of ourselves as miniature islands, and it was true. But now we've turned a set of islands into a continent. If two weeks have gone by and I haven't been on an MMF Zoom, I get a bit itchy because I know that there's a whole new load of info I could be being plugged in on.”
PC: “We've transitioned. The organisation that started 30 years ago was rightfully angry at that time – and we owe a lot of thanks to those people because managers getting together, talking and then achieving something as a united thing seemed like such a ludicrous idea. But we now sit in all the main meetings; the MMF is part of those conversations and it must never be underestimated how significant that is. Before, people didn't like sitting in a room with even one manager because it was always going to be a bit frosty.”
KK: “Cockroach, that was literally it!”
PC: “We need to maintain a little bit of our cockroach side to be a little bit edgy – we don't want to be too nice. But the thing that is so important is the journey the MMF has been on to be respected, valued and appreciated enough to be part of these very significant conversations, whether it be related to streaming, whether it be the CMA report. These things were unthinkable not that long ago, and I believe that's a testament to the whole team.”
So what would you like to see from the next generation of artist managers?
PC: “Never lose your fight. Build businesses. Be independent where possible. Always be morally good, fighting for your artists. I think the difference with the new generations is we looked at artist management as artist management, they look at an entrepreneurial business, whereby so many more things are part of their business model. I think we're at an incredibly exciting time for the industry. There are hurdles, but there always have been.”
KK: “The music business has always been hard, but this whole thing about effectively being in a creative business with your artist is the way forward. Do not be afraid of a new-style deal. Tailor the deal and present it to legal. It suited the establishment for artist management deals to have been stuck for 40 years at the same rate. Without being funny, but which business on this planet do you know that stuck with exactly the same remuneration scheme for 40 years? Not many. It's a different business, so make your deal make sense for you and for your artist.”
PC: “I always say about managers: the first word you've got to say to yourself is, can you tolerate and accept the word ‘No’? Because if you can't, you're not going to be a very good manager. What makes managers annoying – and this whole FanFair thing is an example of that – is that the founders were told, ‘You're never going to change the ticketing practice.’ And you know what? They have, and we continue to strive to do so. I've been proud to play a very small part in that.”
Finally, do you have a message for your successors?
PC: “Just keep up the great work, keep evolving the organisation and keep moving the MMF forward.”
KK: ”Bring your own personality to it – don't be afraid of that. You've got to commit time to the position, for sure, but the more time that you put in, the more you'll get out. The other thing is that change really is possible. Also, keep up the diversity work because that has been massive. The change in membership within the MMF speaks volumes.”
WORDS: JAMES HANLEY
