Here’s a fascinating read. It’s an interview with Danny Goldberg, onetime manager of Nirvana, Bonnie Raitt, Belinda Carlisle, Steve Earle and others.

He talks about reputation and the differences in small business and big business experience. Also, of course, he talks about the complexity of the artist-manager relationship.

The word manager is a little… misleading, because some people think we’re somehow the boss of our client, or in charge of the situation. It’s the opposite; they’re the boss. We manage on their behalf, we don’t manage them, we manage things for them.

On taking a senior role at Atlantic:

I loved the job of running record companies, I loved making choices about who signs, who to spend money on, who to focus on; I didn’t love the politics of the big companies. I was ill equipped for it, my feelings got hurt too easily.

It’s quite a long read, but a worthwhile one.