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At some point, most independent artists ask the same question: do I need a manager, an agent, or can I keep doing this myself?
There’s no universal answer, and there’s no finish line where you suddenly “graduate” from DIY. The right choice depends on where you are, the career you’re building, and what kind of help you actually need right now.
Whether you’re doing it yourself or leveraging help, you’re still an independent artist. The question is, what caliber of artist are you?
When DIY Is the Right Move
For any artist, DIY makes the most sense early on, when you’re still learning what works and what doesn’t. You’re developing your sound, audience, and habits. Doing it yourself forces you to understand the mechanics of your career. You’re handling responsibilities yourself, like booking recording studios and shows, releasing music, marketing it, managing finance and more.
A lot of DIY artists thrive on building leverage and clarity by themselves. You learn how releases perform, how fans respond, and where your energy is best spent. That knowledge is valuable for the future of your career and knowing when it’s time to bring in help.
Until there’s consistent demand for your music, a manager or agent won’t help you. When you’re juggling success with your daily admin and creative work, that’s when it’s time to look into an agent or manager. Your momentum must exist before it can be amplified.
When a Manager Makes Sense
A manager is focused on the big picture. They help guide your career, make long-term decisions with you, and coordinate the moving parts around releases, branding, partnerships, and strategy. A good manager doesn’t replace your vision, they help you protect and execute it consistently.
Managers are useful when your business decisions start stacking up faster than you can handle them. You might be releasing music regularly, growing an audience, or fielding opportunities that require more long-term thinking.
The key question isn’t “Do I want a manager?” It’s “Is there something to manage?”
When there’s growing movement around your brand, a manager can help you keep priorities straight. They help you avoid bad deals and think beyond the next release. But they can’t replace your discipline, consistency, or creative direction. That’s the end of the deal you must uphold in any partnership, especially in the music industry.
When an Agent Makes Sense
An agent is focused on helping you handle bookings and PR opportunities. Their job is to secure shows, tours, appearances, and sometimes brand or performance-based deals. Agents usually step in once there’s proven demand for your music. They don’t build your momentum from scratch, they help scale it.
An agent usually enters the picture once there’s clear demand for you to hold live shows or make public appearances. If people are asking for you, an agent can help meet that demand with a sustainable touring or booking strategy.
If you’re struggling to get shows on your own, it’s probably too early for an agent. Agents respond to artists with traction. For many new artists, booking their own shows builds relationships and insight that can make working with an agent easier later.
No one will save you; a manager or agent isn’t a rescue plan. They’re partners who work best when you already have clarity, momentum, and direction. If you don’t know what you want your career to look like, no one can build it with you. And if you haven’t learned how to move your own work forward, you won’t know whether someone else is actually helping the process.
A Better Way to Decide
Instead of asking who you need to help, ask what problem you’re trying to solve.
If you need clarity and long-term direction, a manager might help. If you have demand and need better bookings, an agent is good. If you’re still learning, experimenting, and building from the ground up, stay DIY.
Being independent doesn’t mean doing everything alone forever. It means understanding your career well enough to accept help intentionally. DIY builds knowledge, managers help give direction, agents help scale your demand.
The right choice is the one that supports the stage you’re in, not the one that sounds “best” on paper. If you’re still unsure whether to go it alone or hire a manager or agent, staying DIY might be your best option.
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Your annual review, created with Shane Parrish
Behind every successful year is a moment of honest reflection. This workbook, written by Shane Parrish and reMarkable, will guide you through that process, helping you pause, reflect, and pick out patterns.
Most annual reviews look at adding more. More goals, more tasks, more pressure. This one does the opposite. It helps you strip everything back to see what worked, what didn’t, and what to change in the year ahead.
Ready to identify what matters?