• Co-authored with Sam Parker (Parker Consulting) the free online resource offers invaluable advice and guidance tailored specifically for music managers

• Download here 

• The guide will be discussed today at The Great Escape in a panel session moderated by Sam, and featuring Paul Craig (Nostromo Management / MMF Chair), Shikayla Nadine and Chrystal Lecointe (YMU)

The Music Managers Forum (MMF) have today re-published The MMF Guide To Mental Health 2021, updating a free online resource originally made available in 2017 in partnership with music charities Music Support and Help Musicians. 

This new expanded version, co-authored with Sam Parker of specialist music mental health consultants Parker Consulting and co-founder of Music Support, is tailored specifically at the well-being concerns of modern day music managers and includes detailed chapters on areas including Stress Management, Imposter Syndrome, Anxiety & Depression and Alcoholism & Drug Dependency and Healthy Boundaries. 

Featuring an introduction from MMF Chair and Biffy Clyro manager, Paul Craig, and closing words from David Joseph, Chairman & CEO, Universal Music UK, the guide also includes a full directory of professional support services and signposting to further reading and detailed expertise.

Paul Craig, MMF Chair:
“I’m really proud that the MMF continues to recognise the importance of mental health support for music managers and artists. Through initiatives like this updated Guide and our revised Code of Practice we continue to be part of a vital industry-wide conversation. Managers and artists often experience extreme stress, with a myriad of highs and lows, which has only recently been properly recognised and which the pandemic has exacerbated and placed immense focus on. The more we talk openly and candidly about these pressures, the better the safeguarding and guidance everyone will be able to provide in the coming years.”

Sam Parker, co-author of the MMF Mental Health Guide:
“Music has the power to educate, to break down cultural, social and economic barriers, to influence politics and promote cultural appreciation. As an audience member at a live show it can make you dance, sing and share a common experience with those around you that will be remembered forever. It enriches the human experience.

“What better job could there be than to facilitate this? But sometimes the level of intensity can take its toll.  This updated guide takes some of those challenges and presents solutions, which I hope will allow artist managers to successfully support the work and careers of their artists without sacrificing their own health and well-being in the process.  All whilst performing a job that is truly unique. I look forward to discussing the nature of this relationship and the guide at the Great Escape today.”

The guide will provide a focus for discussion at today’s Great Escape conference, with a panel session exploring the nature of artist-manager relationships, the dynamics of managing an act, and the challenges for managers in prioritising their own mental health requirements when tasked with looking after the needs of their clients. 

Starting at 2pm, and moderated by Sam Parker, speakers include MMF Chair Paul Craig; Shikayla Nadine, manager of Levelle London and Rebecca Garton; and YMU’s Chrystal Lecointe. 

More details here. 

The MMF’s recently revised Code of Practice commits our members to make reasonable efforts to address any issues around mental health and wellbeing for both themselves and the artists they represent, signposting appropriate support resources where necessary.