In Conversation With : Maria Torres
Having started a career in artist management after leaving university, Maria went on to form her own artist management company before joining the ranks at Mother Artists. She’s successfully signed artist record deals to labels including Partisan and has has worked on Number 1 album campaigns.
We caught up with her to find out how made her way in the business...
How did you get started in artist mgmt?
I studied Music Industry Management at BIMM in Bristol. I didn't have the actual idea to become a manager at the time – it was more of an overall music business degree where I learned about all sectors of the business, but in one of our modules we had to manage our own artists. I really liked the fact that as a manager you oversee all sectors of the business, whether it's the legal side, the events, promotion, or creative. That's what I really enjoyed, but while I was at uni I did lots of work experience in different areas. I was at Dice for a bit doing ticketing, I worked at a venue in Bristol, and I did a lot of festival work experience. I got a taste for quite a lot of different areas and when I graduated I just knew I wanted to do artist management. I got a job in London straight away as a management assistant and it all went from there really. I've now been doing artist management for seven to eight years.
Did you find studying music business at university helpful?
That's a good question. I think it's really hard with music uni because a lot of it is about what you put into it. I think having the experience of doing it at the same time gave me that extra education. We learned a lot in the artist management module – one of my lecturers used to be Robbie Williams's manager back in the day, and it was really cool because she was a female manager. So for me I really looked up to her and I learned a lot from her stories and anecdotes. I learned a lot but unless you do it for real I don't think you will learn it to the full capacity. Have a go see how it goes. If it's not for you it's not for you, but you won't know unless you try.
What inspired you to start your own management business Sakura Artists and what did you learn on the way?
I learned a lot! I was at a management company but they had to let go of quite a few managers during COVID because the live income had completely gone. It was a bit of a scary moment. I loved my roster of artists and didn’t want to just let it go, so I just thought I would do something myself. So while lockdown happened I built my roster a bit more and managed to secure some funding through Saffron who were doing a springboard grant through Youth Music at the time. They gave me some money so I could create a brand and build the business. It was really funny because I'd hear from people like ‘my gosh Maria's doing so well’ but I was literally just in my living room working every day on my own. So it was quite funny that people could see things happening but just from a remote angle. It really gave me the push I needed and I learned a lot from how to run a management business myself.
I then applied for the accelerator grant through the MMF which allowed me to be an independent manager for a year. I managed to get to a really good point with all my artists, but it also got to the point where I was like ‘I can't do this on my own anymore’. All my artists were developing or just at the cusp of one album, and it's sort of a fact that you don't really make money for the first three to five years so I wouldn't have been able to hire any more hands. It was a moment where I had to just be realistic and say to my artists ‘I can't cope with the capacity – you need a team to be able to support you to those next levels because I can't do that myself.’ And that was such a painful hard decision at the time but I'm really glad where I got everyone.
Do you think working independently has given you a broader perspective than if you had just gone straight into a company?
Definitely. I think I can understand the importance of going under a structure, especially after COVID. Managers have had to cut down their rosters to prioritise the artists that are making them income, so instead of having five or six developing artists, they’ll now have one or two. But having the structure of a company allows you to have the resources to take on those developing artists which is really important because the music industry wouldn't be what it is without having developing artists. I joined Mother Artists just over two years ago now. I took a bit of a break out of management and then Mother came to me and said they needed someone to fulfil an assistant role. I'd done all this independent managing for a while and I felt like I needed to work on someone else's roster for a bit to give myself some headspace. Now I've taken on my own artist again which is really exciting. The support from Mother Artists has been really great.
What artists are you working with at the moment?
I'm working with a new artist called TTSSFU who I took on earlier this year. She's from Manchester and just signed to Partisan. So yeah, really really excited about that. Then I also work across Mother's roster. So I work on IDLES, 86 TVs, Blair Davie and now The Maccabees come back, which is very exciting. We all chip into the roster because we're quite a small team which is really nice. So we know what's going on and everyone's very aware which is good.
Walk us through your day-to-day
Every day is very different. It depends what happens and what fires you need to put out! But, I'd say you just get online at 9:00 am and see what's come in overnight. Management is very admin heavy. I have to stress that. I think a lot of people see it as a very glamorous job because you're at the gigs, you're at the festivals, but actually you are behind your screen a lot of the time as well. So yeah, it's a lot of emails, a lot of calls in terms of liaising with artist teams, the label, and the artists themselves. When there's a release, it's a lot of coordination between teams. Then obviously there's the other end of the spectrum where you've got a gig day, say go to London, pack in loads of meetings during the day so you can see everyone and then go to the show in the evening, make sure you're with the artists and stuff. That's always the fun part of the job – being out and about and seeing everyone face to face.
Where are you currently based?
I'm in Manchester now so it’s all worked out nicely as I've got an artist based here as well. I moved home for a bit as I wanted to actually be able to buy a house as opposed to rent. So I did that, started my business, and saved up and then got to the point where I could actually afford to do that up in Manchester which was very exciting. One of my colleagues is in Leicester, one is in Reading. We’re all over the country which is quite nice as it means we can cover different territories.
What’s your favourite part of the job?
I love being at a show and seeing the crowd singing the songs. Being there for the artist that you've worked so hard with to get to that point. That's always quite a nice validating experience for the artist and then for the manager as well. Also, when you release a piece of music where you've been part of that whole journey from the beginning. 86 TVs album came out in August which was really rewarding. Those tangible experiences make you realise what you’ve achieved.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your job?
I think it’s sometimes still really hard to be taken seriously as a female manager. A lot of people do, which is great, but sometimes you're in a room where people don't make eye contact with you and they act as if you don't understand what's going on or something, which is really frustrating. Overall I find more and more people are respectful but there is still an imbalance between the old school male managers versus the new generation. I think it will be interesting to see how the next 5 to 10 years will change because there's a lot of female managers that are doing good things.
Another challenge with the job is just being on top of everything. Being really organised and making sure that you have systems in place and communicating properly. It's important that everyone knows what's going on because as soon as one thing slips it's like a domino effect and that's when it all goes wrong. When I was an independent manager I spread myself too thinly whereas now at Mother, everyone’s very considerate as to what our roster is and who we take on so we're less stretched. I’ve realised it's quality over quantity at the end of the day.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Try out as much as you can, which I know I did. Always say yes to opportunities and make contacts from the get go. Just know that there’s no right way of doing things in the music industry. As long as you’ve got the passion for it, you’ll get along fine. Also, not worrying too much over essays for uni and stuff like that – at the end of the day, they’re probably not very relevant to what I’ve achieved.
What’s been your career highlight so far?
I think achieving a number one album with IDLES in February. I didn't think I'd ever be part of a number one album campaign at this age so that was amazing. It’s been a pleasure to work with every artist. Signing a record deal in lockdown as an independent manager was quite a big moment, as it was my first album deal as a manager. Getting to the point of working at such a great management company and with a really good team has been quite a big highlight as well.
Finally, what are you listening to at the moment?
I’ve been really listening to Amyl and The Sniffer's new album today.
motherartists.com