How we work
The spotlight belongs to the artist.
Management is the part that keeps working when nobody is watching. Here is what we do, what we run on your behalf, and exactly what it costs, published in full before you ever speak to us.
- 20%
- commission on gross income
- Net
- touring commissioned after its costs, never on the gross
- 3 years
- then year to year, with ninety days’ notice
- £0
- for the website, booking desk, diary and invoicing
Commission and terms
Every term, on a public page.
We work on commission, agreed in writing before we start, so that we only do well when the artist does. Twenty per cent is the industry standard for an artist at the stage we usually come in at, and it is what we charge. We would rather say so here than open a conversation with a number nobody expected.
of gross income
of net touring income, after costs
Live, recording, publishing, sync, merchandise and brand work
Three years, then continuing year to year, with ninety days’ notice on either side
20%, then 10%, then 5% across three years, and only on work contracted while we were managing. Nothing after that
Recording and video budgets, tour support, session fees for playing on other people’s records, and anything agreed before we started
At cost, with anything over £250 agreed first
The platform, your website and its upkeep. No separate charge for tools, and no cut of anything we did not help bring in
Why touring is on the net
Live is commissioned on what is left after the tour has paid for itself, not on the gross. A show that sells out and still loses money is not a success, and commissioning the top line would mean we got paid for one regardless of the other.
The sunset, read it twice
It exists so that an artist can leave without us continuing to earn from records and shows we had nothing to do with, and so that we still see something from the work we did that pays out after we have gone. Three years, tapering, then it ends. Some managers ask for longer. We do not.
Nothing on this page is a contract or legal advice. Terms are set out in the management agreement, and we would always rather an artist had it looked at independently first. More on that in Before you sign a management agreement and Management commission, explained.
Try it
What would you keep?
Choose the kind of work and put in your own figures. Touring costs come off before commission; for everything else the 20 per cent is on the fee.
The work
What management covers.
- 01
Strategy
Choosing the work. We start from where an artist wants to be in five years and plan backwards, which usually means declining more than we accept. The shape of a career is made mostly of turned down opportunities.
- 02
Deals
Negotiating terms and then holding them. Fees, splits, riders, releases, sync and brand work. We sit alongside specialist entertainment lawyers and accountants rather than in place of them, and we will tell you when something needs a solicitor rather than a manager.
- 03
Day to day
Promoters, labels, publishers, producers, press and the people around an artist. Travel, logistics, and the unglamorous scheduling that decides whether a tour is survivable.
- 04
Release and campaign
Singles, EPs and videos on a calendar that holds together, with the assets, dates and paperwork ready before they are needed rather than during the week of release.
- 05
The long view
Careers are measured in decades, not seasons. We would rather build something durable than take the fastest opportunity in front of us.
Included for every artist
The platform.
Most artists lose hours every week to admin that lives in a mailbox and a spreadsheet. We run our own platform so that work has somewhere to go. It is included in management, not a separate product, and not something you pay extra for.
Your website
Designed, built, hosted and maintained by us, and kept current as releases, dates and press change. The artist owns the domain and the content. No template subscription, no plugin that breaks the week of a release.
Booking desk
Every enquiry, hold, offer and confirmed date in one pipeline, with the terms attached. Promoters get a straight answer on availability, and nothing falls between two inboxes.
Scheduling
One diary for shows, travel, sessions, rehearsals and press, shared with the band and crew so that everyone is working from the same version.
Billing and invoicing
Fees, deposits, invoices, chasing and statements. The artist can see what has been agreed, what has been invoiced, what has been paid, and what is late.
Data stays the artist’s. If we ever part ways, you leave with your website, your contacts, your dates and your financial records.
The sequence
Starting out.
- 1A conversationAn hour, no obligation. What you are working on, what is not working, and where you want to be in five years. It starts with the application.Free
- 2A written planBefore anyone signs anything, we set out what the next twelve months should look like and what we would do first. If the plan is wrong, this is a cheap place to find out.Yours to keep
- 3Terms in writingA management agreement covering commission, term, scope and what happens if either side wants to end it. We recommend you have it reviewed independently before signing.Signed online
- 4The first ninety daysWebsite live, booking desk and diary set up, invoicing in order, and introductions started. Housekeeping first, because everything after it depends on it.Then the plan
Who we are
Founded by Andrew Collins.
He scaled Service Industries Ltd from $15 million to $220 million before its acquisition by NCR Corporation, and in 2009 founded Grant & Graham, the advisory firm he still runs. Its work is placing former chief executives and finance directors into companies that need something fixed rather than admired, now across thirty eight countries.
- $220M
- scaled from $15M before acquisition
- 2009
- Grant & Graham founded
- 38
- countries with an active presence
None of which qualifies anybody to hear a song. Music was the constant running alongside all of it, and Emberlight exists because at some point the two stopped being separate.
Coming to this industry from outside it, what struck me was how much of it still runs on memory and goodwill. Contracts that arrive after the show. Invoices nobody chases. Terms an artist signs because somebody said they were standard. In any business I have worked in, that would be a failure of management. Here it is treated as the character of the trade, and artists are expected to accept it as the price of being taken seriously.
It is not the price of anything. It is just the old way, and the old way survives because it suits the people who benefit from an artist not knowing where they stand. A career is a business. Nobody trains an artist to run one, and most of the managers offering to run it for them have never run anything else.
The creative part cannot be systematised and should not be. That is the artist’s, and it is the entire point. Everything around it can be, and thirty years of fixing companies says the same thing every time: talent is rarely what fails. What fails is the machinery around it. Cash nobody is tracking. Deals agreed and never papered. Decisions taken because somebody was in the room rather than because they were right.
So the commission terms are printed on this page instead of waiting for a conversation you have to ask for, and we built our own software rather than buying something that half fits. An artist should be able to see how their manager gets paid before they sign anything. A manager should never be the reason a career stalls in administration.
Andrew Collins, Founder and Chief Executive
Who you work with
The team.
Andrew Collins
Founder and Chief Executive • London and Amsterdam
Sets the strategy and the terms, and manages artists directly. Thirty years of running and fixing companies, including scaling Service Industries Ltd from $15 million to $220 million before its sale to NCR, and founding the advisory firm Grant & Graham in 2009.
LinkedIn →Queenie Cestaro
Director of Content, Social and Media • Cambridge
Leads content, social and media across the roster: the plan for each artist’s channels, the content calendar around releases and shows, and the relationship with press.
Victoria
Commercial Lead
Leads the commercial side of the roster: bookings, partnerships and the deals that follow from them, and making sure what was agreed is what gets paid.
Amelia
Research
Leads research: markets, venues, audiences, partners and opportunities, so that decisions about where an artist goes next are made on evidence.
Alongside the team we work with specialist music lawyers, accountants, agents and publishers, chosen for each artist rather than one firm for everyone.
How much commission does Emberlight Artists charge?
20 per cent of gross income across live, recording, publishing, sync, merchandise and brand work. Touring is the exception: it is commissioned at 20 per cent of what is left after the tour’s costs, not on the gross.
What is never commissioned?
Recording and video budgets, tour support, session fees for playing on other people’s records, and anything agreed before management started.
How long is the management agreement?
Three years, then continuing year to year, with ninety days’ notice on either side.
What happens to commission after the agreement ends?
It tapers: 20 per cent, then 10 per cent, then 5 per cent across three years, and only on work contracted while we were managing. After that it stops completely.
Do I pay extra for the website and the platform?
No. Your website, the booking desk, the shared diary and invoicing are included in management. If we part ways, you keep your website, contacts, dates and financial records.
How do I start?
Send the application. If there is a fit we have an hour’s conversation with no obligation, then write a twelve month plan before anybody signs anything. We reply to every application.
Considering representation?
Tell us what you are working on and where you want to be in five years. We read every application properly and we reply to everyone, including when the answer is no.