Advice with Catherine Haridy

25 September 2012 | 5:33 pm | Greg Phillips

What would attract Catherine Haridy to signing a new act? “The songs to begin with,” she tells. “Are they strong songs?

Long story short … Catherine Haridy began her route to artist management via this very magazine company writing for Inpress, while at the same time broadcasting on 3RRR and later doing great A&R for major record labels. Currently Cath manages Eskimo Joe, Jebediah, Adalita, and Bob Evans among a host of other talented local artists and producers. She runs a label, chairs the Association of Artist Managers, is an APRA Ambassador, board member at the Community Broadcasting Foundation, heads the Australian Music Grants Advisory and by the time this sentence finishes, Cath has probably allocated herself yet another role. The adage is so true, if you want something done, give it to a busy person!

Think back to the famous music managers of the past; Zeppelin's Peter Grant, Presley's Colonel Tom Parker, The Beatles Brian Epstein… dodgey, ruthless bastards who were as much about themselves as their artists. Turns out the best kind of manager today is one who simply loves your music, has their shit together and has the artist's best interests at heart. Catherine Haridy is as surprised as anyone that she fell into artist management. However on reflection, it all adds up. Working in A&R, she was basically an internal manger anyway, “managing expectations, enthusing people, working on strategies,” she says.

But what the hell is a manager and what do they really do? Haridy narrows the modern day artist manager's role down to four key areas. “Communication, creative and business and then there are a whole lot of peripheral things around that dealing with everyday enquiries and also managing my own business within that.”

But if you're a cocky young band just starting out and think your music is the best thing since the last thing, don't assume managers, media and even the public are going to naturally gravitate toward you. You first need to establish a reason why a manager would want to take you on or why the media would want to talk about you or why the public would be keen to see you play. What would attract Catherine Haridy to signing a new act? “The songs to begin with,” she tells. “Are they strong songs? Is there something in the music that you feel passionate about that you feel you could work with in terms of a bigger career?”

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One of the hazards of being over enthusiastic about your music is that you can sometimes introduce it to the wider world too soon. First impressions are long lasting and you want to ensure that you give yourself the best shot possible right from the beginning. Catherine agrees:  “I think if you are going to step out into a public forum in a recorded sense, then you want to make sure the recording is a good recording, sufficiently mixed and mastered and that it is potentially radio playable. You want to make sure you have a plan for what you're going to do with your music.”

In the digital age of music, the rule book is still being written. Management practices which worked in the past may not be applicable today and both artists and managers need to be more creative than ever before. Haridy herself, has been known to think outside the box when it comes to negotiating deals for her artists. One project Catherine is most proud of is the Basement Birds (a band which consists of Josh Pyke, Kav from Eskimo Joe, Kev from Jebediah and Steve Parkin) in which she managed to negotiate a deal freeing each member from the constraints of their label contracts in order to proceed with the project independently. What was most interesting however was the release method Haridy negotiated. “We did a deal direct with iTunes and released it in a way that no one else had in this country,” she says of the pioneering move. “ The guys financed it themselves, made back their money and a little bit more and had a fun time doing it and that's all you can hope for.”

OK, so your band has got the great songs down, they're recorded well and you've been playing some gigs and accumulating a fanbase via social network sites. You're at the stage where you need management, but where do you begin to look? Haridy believes your managerial needs may well be found within. “I think a lot of new bands feel they need to secure one of the top 20 percent of managers in the country when in actual fact, those managers are so busy that they generally don't have time to pick up anything else. My advice would be if they want to find a manager, they should look within their community and isolate a person who is passionate about their music and loves what they do, has initiative, is a good communicator and bring that person onboard to start with them from the very beginning and have them grow into their role as manager as the artist grows.”

Haridy has her hands full planning a path for releases by Bob Evans, Tiger Town, Eskimo Joe and The Chemists, recordings which will emerge in the coming months into next year and is both intrigued and excited about the future of the Australian music scene. “It still excites me,” she says, “I don't think it will ever not excite me.”