The secret to a successful music banker? Embrace the chaos.
What’s a word that can sum up what it’s like to bank some of the biggest names in music?
Chaotic.
It’s an extremely competitive market. Our client relationships are crowded with a whole team of partners to please. We’re always on call. And it’s all in service of an unpredictable business.
So yes, it’s chaos. But the best kind of chaos.
Working in music and entertainment is not like any other kind of banking. Everything we do is to support the artist and give them to tools to succeed. That’s what keeps us centered in the eye of the hurricane of the music business. And when the person is the business, the line between personal and business can disappear.
This is what it takes to make it on one of the most successful music banking teams in the nation.
I’m on a team, and I need to be a team player.
Artists have a small army supporting them to make their art and deliver it to audiences around the world. Being part of that team can feel like herding cats, and some of us have pretty funky personalities.
But we’re all total pros, and we’re all focused on the client.
As a banker, I want to be as involved as possible. So I need to build strong partnerships with everyone on the team: agents, business managers, labels, publishers, personal assistants – not to mention the artist themselves. We need to earn each other’s trust, so we make decisions as a group knowing that each of us has the client’s best intentions at heart.
When the team trusts me, they can bring me into business decisions to help weight the risks and benefits to their finances. When I trust them, I can confidently join the team of someone just starting out. It’s a lot of work but little financial reward, but if I trust the team, I know we can all build a successful act.
This is a 24/7 job with no borders.
Artists don’t stay in one place for long. They live one place but record somewhere else. They tour and promote their work around the world.
They learn to live without time zones or boundaries. Their bank has to do the same.
An average Joe client spends a predictable amount of money at predictable times in predictable places. Banks prefer that because it makes it easy to forecast balances and spot fraud. It helps us know where to put offices and ATMs.
Artists spend money everywhere and could need any amount at any time. They need cash in places we can’t reach and spend suspiciously huge amounts at strange places.
We have to be flexible and nimble to keep up. We have to make decisions quickly and answer the phone when they call. $600 at a gas station in Texas? No problem. Hotel won’t take your credit card at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday? Let me make a call.
If I can anticipate (or at least be prepared for) the unexpected, I can give them what they need when they need it.
Consistent inconsistency is the rule.
Typical large relationships between a person and their bank are built on cash: big time deposits and investments backed up by regular paychecks. We start with that and get into lending as needed.
Artists don’t always have that luxury. They could cut a record this month that won’t pay off for another year or more. They have deals structured with backend payments. They get money from licensing and royalties based on streams that go up and down.
It’s up to me to make the unpredictable predictable and turn inconsistent income into consistent cash.
Lending and credit cards are critical. They’re often how we start a relationship, especially with up and comers. Younger artists just starting out may not tick all the right boxes for more traditional banking, but we have to find ways to make things work so they can live while they make their art and build their careers.
Working on an artist’s team is a lot like a family, and we have to promise to honor one another in sickness and in health. We do it because it’s fun, something our funky personalities are drawn to. We love our clients and want to help them make a living sharing their gifts.
Is it chaotic? Absolutely. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
