Indie Managers Association

The Indie Managers Association was created in 2002 in Washington D.C. to promote independent managers. The website links to an artist management resource site which further links to a pretty heft resource links page that has a treasure trove of information for aspiring managers. Though the point of the blog was to find peers, I have sifted through many search engines to find my niche only to find that the group website is out of date and so is the information. I am inspired by IMA to create my own association here in south Fort Worth, Texas region and promote independent managers here. There is plenty of young and aspiring talent that needs management in this area and it would be beneficial to network with the metroplex.

What I would do differently from IMA is to keep a simple website and keep it updated on a semi-regular basis, or pay someone to do that for me. The copyright says 2010 but it looks dated and unkempt. I would tie in social media. I would not necessarily keep a fan page or twitter account but I would add in the feature to share on networking sites with one click.

"Faking it until you make it" is a cliche way of saying to put some effort into it. With a network of new, seasoned, or aspiring independent managers we can have a strength in numbers to push forward our artists in the area. We can create effective line ups, gigs with bands that showcase similar music, tour in areas that we are unfamiliar with more easily and we can share our own experiences. We can help others avoid areas where we have failed.

National indie management associations are difficult to find for music groups. I think if we can set up a community of managers that are starting out, we can create an open, creative, and social system to manage music to replace the current system and move the music industry in a more productive direction.

What Happens At Work...

In today’s blog I will cover material from a new source that has been brought to my attention in class. TED.com is a site dedicated to community and communication through sharing knowledge on a user-created content site. TED.com offers discussion and enlightenment on many topics.

I have watched a segment from Jason Fried on why work doesn’t happen at work. I think this is an important topic as my generation moves from being in a classroom to being in an office environment. Jason narrates a situation on a typical office situation where companies build offices with all the necessary items and expect people to work in these spaces. He proposes that typical workers want a different, environment like a basement, coffee shop, or library and even at different times to get work done.

Another important point Jason makes is that the distractions we face that takes away from work are voluntary distractions. Offices ban Facebook and Twitter to keep workers off, but Jason points out that these are modern day smoke breaks. Tiny breaks to take a breather. The real problems Jason points out are meetings and mangers. “You don’t find managers and meetings at the places you prefer to do your work because they interrupt your time while you are trying to work,” Jason points out. Meetings aren’t work, they are time taken out of your day to plan work you could be doing.

What can managers do instead to turn around the anti-office mentality? Jason suggests things like No-Talk Thursday, a day where once a month no one talks to each other. Quite time at the office is valuable. He also suggests replacing meetings with email and instant messaging. They might be distracting but you can be interrupted on your own schedule.

I completely agree, I have spent over two years of work in an office environment and honestly, did not get meaningful work done. It even stretches into my homework. My creative thoughts happen when I am thinking about something else. It’s not quite a House moment where I stare at a cup of coffee and think “it’s not Lupus,” but I’ll look at that cup of coffee and think about the fluid interaction if I were to knock it off the table and how I can make that feel translate into a website. Abstract, but it always works for me. I also think that I had more work done when I was not involved with interruptions, meetings, and being micromanaged. As an intern it was easy to worm my way out but I fear that this is not a choice when working for other companies. The office is not an enemy but sometimes it can feel like a battlefield when trying to compete with a deadline.