Hiring Career Consultants: A Guide
10 Tips for Artists on Hiring Career Consultants
Musicians, beware of classical music consultants.
“You have to pay me a retainer if you want me to REALLY do something for you.” — Ruth the Consultant
This was a bad sign. I ignored it. I own it now.
Hiring a career consultant was a mistake.
“Isn’t it what successful people do,” I thought. It really only served my young conductor ego.
Ineffective artist management, shallow pockets, low self-esteem, and lost time in building business relationships was all I gained.
Let’s call her Ruth
Ruth stands for fidelity, devotion, loyalty, trust, and faithfulness. She’s friend in Hebrew.
When both her husband and father-in-law died, Ruth stood faithfully by her mother-in-law’s side in the Bible.
“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Ruth 1:16–17
Ruth was some lady!
Ruth’s is the antithesis of my consultant (ruthless).
A fast ride to no where
Working with Ruth was meant to drive faster into the future. I needed advice on marketing, network expansion, and gaining effective artist management.
Ruth helped find a manager. He garnered only two engagements in two-years. Typical questions of insecurity surfaced.
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Am I good enough?”
“Am I marketable?”
Two-years later, I fired him. My confidence came back. I received six engagements, while kicking myself for wasting time.
I began communicating my career convincingly with contagious, passionate authenticity. [Maybe that’s you too?]
Lessons learned: Believe in yourself. Some will like you, others won’t. Get to the one’s that do, and discard the rest.
Killed instincts
“She’s not invested,” my instincts said.
I heard them…and promptly choked them out. I was too ashamed to admit I was wrong, even when she said,
“You have to pay me a retainer if you want me to REALLY do something for you.”
— Ruth 10/26/17 A.D.
Was a 1700 € monthly retainer — for a six-month period — going to bring better results? Why couldn’t I continue paying €175 per session?
Ignoring these questions, I kept clocking visits and transferring the money.
10 Tips for Hiring Consultants
Us creative artists are a sensitive bunch, thus these tips on working with consultants are universally applicable.
1. Define your own vision
Only you can author your vision. It’s a force in and unto itself.
Don’t trust them to chart your course without having your own map. You might land in a ditch. People put you where they feel most comfortable. Use your vision as a compass to check how far off they are.
My vision is to connect people through music towards acceptance. What’s yours?
2. Ask for References
Don’t buy based on reputation. Find the right consultant for you. It’s the same with personal relationships.
Only you will bare the longterm consequences of your decision.
3. Confidentiality Agreement
Aha! I got this one right!
Assuming you’re a human being, consultants must get personal to advise you. Legally insure that your private information won’t be shared without consent.
Ruth did break my our agreement, but being the nice (Stupid!) guy I am, I shrugged it off.
4. Race specific advice
Presenters, orchestras, audiences, the police, — and White women alone with me in elevators — certainly know I’m Black! Race effects my perception on the podium. Consultants must be acutely aware of my experience as a Black man.
If you’re a person of color (POC) working in a White dominated field (who doesn’t!), White consultants — imbued with White fragility — may ignore your race, and thus a large part of who you are.
RUN AWAY!
If they’re uncomfortable discussing your race, they’re uncomfortable with you.— BKB
Discussing gender discrimination (#Metoo) is getting comfy (GOOD!), but racism remains a purple elephant. You’ve got only one option if they feel uncomfortable.
Leave the table!
Consultants have held lower expectations for me than White artists. Upon reporting racism, one blurted,
“I know LOTS of Black conductors that have very successful careers!”
For those unfamiliar with conducting, this statement is quite problematic.
- How many are “LOTS” of Black conductors, and is there parity with White conductors? [No]
- What does “very successful” mean? Is it Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, or eking out a living conducting LMNOP level orchestras? [The latter]
- It smacks of the soft bigotry of low expectations and standards. [Yep!]
- She’d never say it to White conductors. They dominate the field. [DUH!]
White opportunity hoarding defines classical music. You can’t ignore race when consulting POC’s.
[They should also know that if Flint MI were Lake Forest IL, they’d have potable water by now.]
This tip warrants it’s own article. Let’s leave it for now.
5. Personally Invested
The mommy/daddy level of invested interest money can’t buy may be impossible, but they must be fervently dedicated to your career. Together, you can build and maintain a well-oiled machine of mutual trust, intrinsic motivation and productivity.
6. Brave Communication
Free, fearless, and unbridled communication is the foundation of a healthy relationship. Present all of yourself — in all your pieces — for professional assessment.
Ruth wasn’t comfortable around me. Quick hand motions — while passionately talking — made her jump. I would leave my sessions spent from self-editing to appease her. Smiling made her less anxious.
[Hmm. If I were Italian instead of Black, would she’ve been so startled?]
7. Getting Connected
Consultants should hook you up with contacts. Some withhold them until you pay a certain amount of money. [Run!] They’re mostly invested in their pockets, not you.
Ask how they talk about you (email, in person, mailings etc.), who they speak with, and what about.
8. Through thick and thin
Consultants shouldn’t dip out when the going gets tough.
Ask them how they’d handle a client’s career crisis.
Ruth advised silence — out of White fragility — after my extremely racist firing from Brown University. To my detriment, I listened. Now through podcasts and interviews, I’ve endeavored to set the record straight.
When sh*t hits the fan, you need a Ruth to face it with you. [Not my Ruth. The one in the Bible.]
9. Demand Criticism
Welcome harsh and open criticism. Ruth was afraid to give me feedback, like I’d hit her or something [threatening Black man stereotype much?].
Like a freshly cleaned mirror, consultants must give you a clear reflection of your career’s past and present. Only then can they walk you into your future.
10. Don’t accept promises. Ever!
This is an obvious no no. Consultants should NEVER promise you anything. Your mom wouldn’t do it, but she’d certainly try harder than the rest.
Conclusion
Artists are commodities.
Music is spiritual. The music business is not. — Van Morrison
People may swarm like vultures over you. Without a strong vision, legal protections, and individual advice specific to your totality, they’ll swallow you whole.
Thank you very much for reading!☺️
Noted conductor, educator and social justice advocate Brandon Keith Brown seeks to engineer society from the podium by decreasing the racial stigmatization of underrepresented minority classical musicians. Brown is a prizewinner and the audience favorite of the 2012 International Sir Georg Solti Competition for Conductors, and guest conducts prominent European orchestras including the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester-Berlin, Badisches Staatskapelle, Staatskapelle Weimar, members of the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Jena Philharmonie among others. Upcoming debuts include the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, WDR Funkhaus Orchestra Köln, Cape Town Philharmonic, the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra. He is a student of David Zinman, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur and Gustav Meier, graduating with a master’s from Johns Hopkins University. Initially trained as a violinist, he attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music studying under Roland and Almita Vamos.
A noted social justice advocate, Brown’s writings on race and education have been featured on The Medium and in the Berlin Tagesspiegel. He is a frequent podcast guest and speaker on the intersection of race in music and education.
For speaking request: info@brandonkeithbrown.com
Website: www.brandonkeithbrown.com
Instagram: @brandonkeithbrownconductor
