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Once you’ve progressed to a certain point in your songwriting career, you’re writing regularly, you have various entities interested in your songs, you may begin to wonder “Do I need an agent?”. Sometimes it’s a difficult question to answer, especially if you aren’t a “seasoned” songwriter with years of experience in the business.

With artists who have not yet been blessed with a wealth of experience, the idea sometimes forms that if you want to put your career on the road to success, you need to hire an agent. What some are surprised to learn is that actually, the very opposite is true. Some of the misconception is due to the simple fact that many individuals are really unfamiliar with what an agent actually does.

Conversely, there are those who experience some songwriting success, but don’t have agents because the idea of paying an agent 15% of their income is unpleasant, and often viewed as unnecessary (Why hire an agent when I can do it myself?).

What does an agent do? That’s a good question, the full answer of which would take more space and time than this article allows, but here’s the basics:

An agent essentially operates as a “go-between” or middleman between the artist and the entities he or she is marketing to. However, the agent’s duty and responsibilities don’t end there. An agent works as an advisor to the artist, providing creative advice as well as critique, making suggestions as basic but important as how songs should be submitted for consideration. An agent also provides career and professional advice. A good agent works to protect the artist and songwriter, to negotiate the best possible deal on their behalf, and to help direct the marketing of the songwriter’s work in the most advantageous and profitable way.

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What are the advantages of having an agent? Agent representation gives the world the perception that you are indeed a professional. But more importantly, and sometimes most importantly, it is evidence that an objective source (the agent) has enough confidence in your songwriting abilities and your career as to think that you have a marketable product. That can be a powerful statement.

Another advantage of agent representation is that agents are professionals at what they do; you’re not. They are familiar with industry and legal wrangling, certain protocols and intricate points of negotiation needed to obtain the best results for you.

In the second part to this article, we’ll look at several things you should do before hiring an agent.

(You might also be interested in reading our new article, “Do You Need A Record Label?“)

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Brian Cook is a published songwriter (with airplay… not alot though!) whose articles on music and songwriting have appeared in various books and websites.

You can find more of these at SongwritersGuide.com.

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