West Coast, East Coast....GOLD Coast Management

Gold Coast management group is awesome new artist management company that is right here in Orlando, FL. The CEO and owner of the company is "Sean Sheahan" who is also the assistant to the very popular A&R Rep at Atlantic Records "Steve-o Robertson" founder of Paramore. Sean was very awesome about letting me come meet him and ask him a few questions about what it really takes to be an artist manager and everything I may need to know if I choose to follow this as a career.

Here are the questions that, I asked him during our meeting:

How long have you been an artist manager for?

Sean has been an artist manager for about 4 years now. Sean moved down here from Boston, MA to attend Full Sails Entertainment Business program. Shortly after graduation, Sean meet Steve from Atlantic Records and began meeting his connections through him. Sean made sure that I knew how important "networking" is. It was how he meet Steve in the first place. He just recently started Gold Coast Management this year and is doing very well.

How did you meet your connections?

NETWORKING!!!! It is honestly the best thing that you can do, Sean said. He always has a business card ready and is ready to give them to anyone who might be good for his career. He has worked and interned at many local events to make a lot of these connections.

How do you go about picking out a band that you would like to manager?

Sean said that it is slightly a long process. You have to make sure that the artist has some sort of a fan base already so that it is an easier transition when getting the management deal in place. Also he likes bands that use a lot of social networking sites, and really engages with there fans. "It really is the best thing you can do these days, fans love the emotional connection" (Sheahan) I totally agreed with that one. The best marketing for a band is word of mouth, if your great with your fans they will tell there friends and on and on...

How many bands are you managing now?

Currently Sean is managing 3 bands. All from different states. The newest member to the Gold Coast family is a band from Iowa, called 'The Anytime" whom has a really great "club rock" sense to there music, it is very catchy and he believes they will go really far. He is currently working on re-branding the band. Getting them a new photo-shoot and new layouts for there social networking sites. This is all to go along with there new album "Crave" that was just released on i-tunes. He is also currently booking them shows for a tour that will come through FL later this year.

If me and example of some of your duties as an artist manager?

Sean says you must have a true passion for this, because it is a lot of hard work. Most artists know nothings about branding themselves, getting there merch, booking tours, dealing with finances, booking hotels on the road, dealing with contracts of potential labels or other clients such as MTV, that may want to use a song on a TV show. So since the artist knows nothing about any of this it is all up to the artist manager. It can be very time restraining and stressful he let me know. "You are the go-to guy" Sean, said. He let me know that you got to be ready to work hard and be keept on your toes at all times.

This was a really great experience for me to sit down with Sean, and learn a little more about the management process. I am really glad that I now have him as a contact and will be able to ask him any questions I may have about the management process. I am really excited to continue to learn more about this, because I am really hoping to be an artist manager one day.