Interview: Allen Stone's Manager Dishes About the Business of Artist Management

In 2011 when I first began working on music showcases for SXSW in Austin, Texas, one of my clients that I worked closely with was Allen Stone and his manager BJ Olin. Stone is a soul and R&B singer from Seattle, Washington who released his first album, Last to Speak, in 2010, followed by his self-titled label released album in 2011/2012. It was after the release of his sophomore album that his career really began to take steam, landing him top spots on iTunes and Billboard. He performed as the headliner on an unattached showcase at SXSW 2012 then as the headliner on his management company's showcase in 2013, Red Light Management. 

Red Light Management is an artist management company with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, London and more. The represent acts such as Alicia Keys, Alabama Shakes, Rayland Baxter, Alberta Cross, and Natasha Bedingfield. 

BJ Olin has been with Red Light for a few years now, but has been artist managing in one way or another for approximately eight years. I jumped on the phone with him last week to pick his brain about his exciting career and to get advice from him for those out there who are pursuing artist management.

Olin graduated with a Bachelor's degree in marketing and public relations from Texas Tech followed by some communications classes in grad school but ultimately dropped out to pursue artist management full time. He first began by tour managing a friend's band as well as Missouri to Nashville based singer, Matt Wertz. Ultimately these relationships fizzled and Olin went on to work with Def Jam Recordings, followed by a brief stint working with Seattle indie rock band, Barcelona. After some hardships post-Barcelona, Olin landed his now job working for Red Light Management. 

He is now currently living and working in LA, but travels very frequently with his clients. Outside of Allen Stone, Olin manages a budding rapper whose name I cannot disclose at this time, American Idol season eight contestant Jackie Tohn, Swedish singer-songwriter Tingsek, and singer-songwriter/actress Stacie Orrico. 

When I asked Olin what some of his most important responsibilities are in managing his artists' careers, he explained that it is his job to "coach" his clients. Starting from the ground up, Olin goes through the growing pains with his acts and assists in developing their craft. The other large aspect of his career, he said, was to cultivate relationships with other entertainment entities and professionals on behalf of his artists in order to create opportunities for them. 

I asked Olin what, in his mind, are the most important characteristics an individual must embody to build a career as an artist manager. Without hesitation, he said "resourcefulness and tenacity." These qualities combined with a lot of hard work and a little bit of elbow grease, he said, will without a doubt multiply your victories in your artists' careers. 

As far as advice for aspiring artist managers go, Olin said to never put all of your eggs in one basket. He explained that oftentimes people want to pigeonhole themselves to only work with one act or one type of act. Broadening your horizons, even if it's out of your comfort zone, will ultimately make you a more successful and more versatile artist manager in the longrun.  

I closed the interview by asking Olin what he most loved about being an artist manager. He said, "No day and no artist is ever the same. Seeing each individual artist as a new project keeps me on my toes and keeps me guessing. It creates new and exciting situations. Life is always interesting as an artist manager."

Negotiation from the Professional's Perspective

I am currently enrolled in a Negotiating and Deal Making course for my Master’s program. One of my first assignments in the course was to view three different podcasts and/or videos that discussed or showcased various elements of negotiation.

The first material I used for this assignment was a YouTube video. This was posted fairly recently on November 1, 2012 and is entitled People & Power: America’s Prison Problem. It discusses the fact that America imprisons more people than any other nation in the world and the amount of money the nation uses to keep prisoners behind bars. In relation to negotiating, the video came out during election time and discussed Proposition 36 in relation to the “three strikes law” and the various stances of voters, lawyers and politicians. Michael Romano, a lecturer at Stanford University Law School helped to write the reform initiative and has been helping those who are locked up under this law. Romano explains a couple of the cases he has helped with and I believe his preparedness overall is what aided in him negotiating prisoners’ time to be served. I learned from this video how important it is to acquire all the background information, and to have relevant and meaningful positioning before going into a negotiation. This video especially showed me how important it is to use objective criteria such as statistics, and to separate the person from the problem for the good of everyone involved overall.

People & Power: America's Prison Problem

The second resource I used was a podcast from Slate.com that is entitled Your Salary, and How to Raise It from the Slate’s Negotiation Academy series. I specifically chose this podcast because the subject matter happens to be relevant to my current career situation. They discuss how important to back up your reasoning with facts and figures so that an individual doesn’t come off as being greedy and also so that person can show their rationale behind what they’re looking for. They also interview a businesswoman who explains how important it is to come off as professional and to not be perceived in a negative light (i.e. rude) through personal presentation, body language, and an individual’s overall tone. This podcast explained to me how important it is to focus on interests, not positions. Especially when it comes to a subject such as salary that personally affects an individual, it is really important to ask questions and gather information from whom you’re speaking with in order to get what you ultimately want.

Your Salary, and How to Raise It

The third and final resource that I used for the purposes of this assignment was a podcast from Stanford University where investment banker Stan Christensen lectured about The Art of Negotiation. I think the thing I enjoyed most about this lecture was Christensen’s willingness to discuss his past mistakes in negotiating. I also enjoyed his emphasis on how important listening is when negotiating, and how persuasive it can actually be to just stop and listen to those who you’re negotiating with. He also described how important it is to build relationships; not in terms of necessarily getting along, but rather to come to effective agreements for negotiating purposes. Christensen also expressed how important it is to find things that you have in common with others. This I think was the biggest lesson to me from this podcast because it shows how the door can be opened for mutual gain. Finding common ground and mutual interests aids in broadening options so that both sides can benefit.

The Art of Negotiation 

All three of my resources were extremely helpful and relevant to this week’s negotiating techniques that my course covered. It is amazing how many negotiating tactics I had yet to take into consideration, but I am thrilled that this course has already begun opening my eyes to negotiating tactics that I know I will use in my future as my career continues to grow.