Jay Foley, a radio and television personality, has revealed that he left his work in artist management owing to a variety of causes, including the musicians’ vanity and shortsightedness.
Jay made the disclosure during a one-on-one interview with George Quaye on Joy FM’s Showbiz A – Z, where he outlined his reasons for leaving a job he previously loved.
According to Jay Foley, musicians must gain a deep understanding of the music industry and its associated dynamics.
“Some [artists] have failed me because of ego, vision, and trust.
“A lot of these geniuses are myopic and want things to happen overnight, in 24 hours, which does not work,” he explained.
According to Jay Foley, musicians must gain a thorough awareness of the music landscape, including its accompanying dynamics.
He contrasted artiste-manager connections to procedures in the corporate world where corporations “hire professionals to do the work for them, and trust these professionals to get the job done.
Trust, which is crucial”.
Unfortunately, “a lot of these skills are blind,” he lamented.
Jay Foley argues that because he has a lot of knowledge and expertise that other artists haven’t yet gained, he has learnt that managing artists are all about managing people, which takes time to get the desired outcomes.
It looks like turning things around in a short amount of time is practically impossible.
Jay, in other words, is not a magician.Failure to meet the needs of these musical abilities contributes significantly to the rift between musicians and their managers.
“Artists, after 10, 20, retweets on Twitter…they feel on top of the world, some of them feel like they’re there.
“And then the ego comes into play,” Jay explained.
Money never seems to leave the equation.
In this regard, an experienced former artiste manager disclosed that due to the structure of compensation received from their works, some musicians eventually become complacent.
“Of course, the money comes in the artiste’s name, so if he checks his balance and he’s got a $100,000 in there and he feels you have just 15% of that, he feels like ‘I have the money so I call the shots’, and it’s always the case”.
Jay Foley is well-known in the artiste management industry for his many years of hard work and experience.
