The Art of Artist Management: Insights and Stories from Martha Earls

Buzz Knight:

Our series of Nashville, Taking a Walk episodes continues with someone who is on an incredible journey. I’m Buzz Knight, your host, and today I’m with someone at the center of one of the country format’s fastest rising stars. Martha Earls is the manager of Kane Brown, owner of Neon Coast, and I’m so grateful that you’re taking a walk with us today.

Martha Earls:

Thank you for having me.

Buzz Knight:

Well thank you for being here. Describe where we are first of all, this is a pretty remarkable spot.

Martha Earls:

It is, we’re in the middle of Nashville right now at Centennial Park, which was built when Nashville turned 100. And they have a replica of the Parthenon because I believe Nashville’s the Athens of the South. And yeah, it’s a beautiful park and there’s a lot of people, and it’s kind of a breezy afternoon.

Buzz Knight:

It’s nice. Well thank you.

Martha Earls:

Yeah I love it.

Buzz Knight:

Thank you. So what are the trials you went through as you began your career as a female in this business?

Martha Earls:

I mean, I think-

Buzz Knight:

And I expected you to go, how much time do you have?

Martha Earls:

No, I mean, I think the music industry, and if it’s too windy, we can just… I’m going to follow you where we’re walking. But no, I think the music industry is challenging regardless of who you are. Because you’re trying to figure out where you fit, how you can contribute, how you can add something meaningful to people’s careers. And I think honestly, when I first started out, I started in music publishing and it was the wrong fit for me, and I did it for a decade. And it wasn’t until I got into artist management that I really found my niche and what I was good at doing.

Buzz Knight:

But did it take some real trial and error there? I mean-

Martha Earls:

Oh yeah, for sure. And there were failures and there were times when it was just like, wow, this business is so challenging and disappointments and people will let you down. And it’s hard when the product that you’re working on is a person. And that sometimes makes things a little bit more complicated. For sure, makes things more complicated. Then also, I have two children and I have a family, and I also have all those things trying to navigate and balance them as well.

Buzz Knight:

But were there people early on that really in a good way, got inside your head to be helpful as you were starting out?

Martha Earls:

Definitely. I think when I first started, I was… Tim Wipperman is the first person that hired me. He hired me at Warner Chapel, and I remember whenever I wanted to do something, sign an act, work with an artist, whatever it was, he would just say, “Go be great. Go be great.” He didn’t second guess his staff, he didn’t try to pull rank on us. He was just a really great supporter and believed in us and our talent. And I think that shaped me because I started working there when I was 20 years old. And so his belief in me and everyone else that worked there, Chris Lacey worked there with me, now she runs Warner Brothers records. His belief in just young executives was really a powerful thing.

Buzz Knight:

Who were some of the other folks that were really key to you then?

Martha Earls:

Karen Conrad hired me at BMG. When I first got into the industry, Karen ran BMG, Donna Hilly ran Sony, Francis Preston ran BMI, Connie Bradley ran ASCAP. There were a lot of heavy hitting female executives, and I do think there’s a little bit of a, you have to see it to be it kind of thing, it helps. And so having all of those women in these high ranking positions when I was 19, 20 years old, starting in the music industry, that was really inspiring.

Buzz Knight:

Were you comfortable at being able to meet up with one of these folks and ask them at a particular moment, “Hey, I got this problem, I need your advice on something.” I mean, were they always willing to give advice then?

Martha Earls:

Yeah, I would say I really started searching for advice from other people when I started management. And I remember Kerri Edwards, who manages Luke Bryan was really somebody that I went to early in my management career and just said, “How did you navigate this?” Because she started working with Luke as his publisher, in the same capacity that I started management was through music publishing. One of the clients we published, I became his manager. And that was what happened with Kerri and Luke Bryan. And so she definitely was a great person for me to model after and just gave a ton of advice. And every now and then she and I will talk, I’ll just say, hey, have you ever seen this or that? Virginia Davis is another manager who’s an incredible resource, and these are people that have tremendous success, but are also very forthcoming with their advice, which I appreciate that very much.

Buzz Knight:

So where is the business today? First of all, when it comes to executives and female executives, where is the state of it in terms of the way people are promoted and treated? And additionally, what’s your view of the state of females as recording artists in the business as well?

Martha Earls:

Yeah, that’s an interesting question because you would think we would say, “Oh, there are so many more females in leadership positions at these corporations than there were when I started.” But that’s not really the case. I mean, other than Chris, who’s the co-head of Warner Brothers records, Chris Lacey. She’s really in Nashville, the only female… There’s no female heads of major publishers, right? No female heads of labels except for Chris. So what I noticed is a lot of women getting out of the corporate environment and moving into becoming entrepreneurs. So I would say there are as many incredible female managers in Nashville as there are male managers, Marion that manages Miranda, Janet that manages Marin, Kerri that manages Luke and Cole, Virginia that manages Thomas Rhett. I mean, I could kind of go… And there’s a bunch more, I could go on and on. So I think it’s really interesting how I think that a lot of the females in Nashville sort of branched out on their own and become artist managers and have created this direct artist manager relationship bond. I think that’s where they’ve really found their space.

Buzz Knight:

And what about from the artist standpoint?

Martha Earls:

From the artist standpoint, again when I came to Nashville, it was Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Jodi Messina, Jamie O’Neal, the Dixie Chicks. I mean, it was all of these female acts, Shania of course, were the biggest artists in the format. And then I don’t know that musically the times changed a little bit, and obviously stylistically things changed. And I’m very hopeful that female artists can find their moment again. I don’t manage a female artist, but I would love to. That’s the next thing that I really want to find and sign and work with, is a female artist.

Buzz Knight:

So my sense about you is, maybe your motto on things is go big or go home.

Martha Earls:

Certainly.

Buzz Knight:

Who taught you that?

Martha Earls:

I don’t know. My friend Rusty Gaston, who runs Sony Publishing and Mike Molinar, we had this thing even in our twenties where we’d be like, “We’re zero or we’re 10.” We’re either zero or 10, there’s no middle ground. And for some reason, I think that feels like the way that a lot of people in the music industry operate. But I don’t know, I like to take those big swings and I like to work with things that I think are culturally impactful. Obviously Kane Brown, is culturally impactful, and I’m really interested in that kind of stuff. And that’s what gets me going, a purpose that’s a little bit larger than myself. So I’m just naturally drawn to that kind of stuff. I always have been.

Buzz Knight:

It seems like that’s been who you are.

Martha Earls:

Yeah, that’s just in my nature.

Buzz Knight:

You’re not changing.

Martha Earls:

I don’t think so.

Buzz Knight:

That’s awesome. I love that, that’s so fantastic. So do you recall the first time you met Kane Brown?

Martha Earls:

I do. So I was working for a guy named Jay Frank, who he’s another person, honestly, that really took a chance in me, and he believed in me and hired me just believing in me, not necessarily even for the job description that he hired me for. And he had me come on as a consultant for his company, and he had a small independent record label. And then one of the guys that I was helping with, and one of the guys on his team had discovered Kane on Facebook. And so Jay said, “Oh, yeah, we also have this guy, saw on Facebook, don’t really know what it’ll lead to or whatever.” And I was like, “Okay, let me meet him.” And I met Kane and I was like, “Jay, all this other stuff you’re working on, don’t worry about it. This is the thing that matters the most. I get Kane Brown.”

So yeah, we probably first met in the first half of 2015, and I didn’t really become his manager full-time until January of 2016. But as soon as we met, even though Kane’s shy by nature, he just had such a charisma. And he’s the kind of guy that even back then would walk into a restaurant and everybody would turn their head and they didn’t even know why. But he just has that magnetism that real true stars have. And so I just knew as soon as I met him, there was something special there.

Buzz Knight:

Immediately?

Martha Earls:

Yes.

Buzz Knight:

And has anything along the journey surprised you, that you thought maybe there’s no way he could have achieved X or Y this quickly?

Martha Earls:

Nothing has felt unnatural, if that makes sense. I mean, there are definitely… It’s funny because I don’t feel like you can shoot too high. So all the achievements are kind of like, okay well good, we did that. That’s what we were supposed to do. But some of the disappointments… I’m continually surprised by, I’ll get disappointed by whatever, not getting a nomination for an award or whatever it may be. But honestly, with Kane, he’s on such a trajectory and he’s like me, where we don’t really ever rest in any success. But rather, it’s almost like an obligation to move on and build on it and grow to the next thing.

Buzz Knight:

It’s like a positive restlessness?

Martha Earls:

Yeah, it is a positive restlessness. That’s a good way to look at it.

Buzz Knight:

I’m sure you don’t always necessarily at certain moments identify it that way, but it really is, right?

Martha Earls:

No, you’re absolutely right. And also too, I think it’s a sense of urgency that I feel. Because I’ve worked in the music business for a decent amount of time, and I’ve seen so many people, their careers come and go. And unfortunately, it’s an environment where you can’t ever relax, you always have to be pushing towards the next thing to keep building on what you have. And I think that that’s the other thing with both Kane and I, it’s like we never really relax, but rather have to keep building and growing because we know how fleeting all of this can be in this business.

Buzz Knight:

But in the midst of it all, you never fail to know that there’s really a joy in the middle of all this too. Right?

Martha Earls:

Yeah. And it is joyful, and it’s wonderful to see direct impact on people’s lives outside of just ourselves and what we are doing as a team. But fans and people in an audience or people who will say… Kane’s biracial, and they’ll say, “I’m a black country singer, and didn’t know if there was a place for me. And then I saw what Kane Brown achieved, and it made me feel seen and accepted.” And that means everything.

Buzz Knight:

It must be gratifying for both of you.

Martha Earls:

Oh my gosh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Buzz Knight:

Now, do you introduce him to new collaborators when possible along the way? I mean, are there people that maybe you might think he could benefit from meeting that are songwriters or just musicians or?

Martha Earls:

Yeah, for sure. I mean, Kane has a great A&R sense. Honestly, he’s as good at that as I am so… Better, no, I take that back. He’s better at it than me. But yeah, a lot of the collabs, because he’s done all kinds of things. He’s done Marshmallow, who’s an EDM artist, Khalid, who’s a pop, R&B, Becky G, who’s a Latin artist. He’s done all kinds, Chris Young, who’s as country as it gets. He’s done all types of collaborations. And honestly, he’ll usually say, “Wow, this song could use a Latin artist on it.” And then we’ll talk about different things. And he knows as much as I do for sure about what’s happening right now in popular music.

Buzz Knight:

Do you remember the first concert you ever went to?

Martha Earls:

Yeah, and I’m going to date myself on this, so I feel like-

Buzz Knight:

I’m not terribly concerned.

Martha Earls:

Multiple disclaimers in front of this. But the first concert I ever went to was in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Buzz Knight:

That’s where the Little League World Series, right?

Martha Earls:

That’s correct. Yeah, that’s exactly right. And it was Chicago, but it wasn’t like Peter Cetera Chicago. It was a guy, some dude-

Buzz Knight:

Some dude.

Martha Earls:

Singing the songs. But-

Buzz Knight:

I could just see the headline for the concert appearance, Chicago featuring some dude.

Martha Earls:

Featuring some dude, yeah. But I had never been to a concert, but I had known some of those songs from growing up. And so it was my senior year of high school, and it was kind of like, oh, okay, this is cool. But then I will say once I got to college, I started going to a lot of concerts and country concerts especially. And I really, like some of the early ones. I mean, I saw Garth, I saw Garth when I was in college, Garth in Central Park, that big show he did.

Buzz Knight:

Wow.

Martha Earls:

And that was kind of the first real show that I ever… I mean, obviously it’s as big as it gets. But I remember going to that and just… Because he’s such an entertainer and you feel his energy and the crowd gives it back to him, and that was a pretty special experience.

Buzz Knight:

That was probably a seminal moment, really?

Martha Earls:

Oh my gosh, it was crazy.

Buzz Knight:

Yeah.

Martha Earls:

Yeah, it was crazy. Yep, I’ll never forget it. And yeah, I was in college at MTSU and that concert was over the summer, and I think he did on July 7th. Wasn’t that the 7/7/97 or something like that? And yeah, my friend Mike Molinar and I were like, “We’re going to go to that concert.” And we went to the concert in Central Park.

Buzz Knight:

Now Martha, I can’t help but notice those very cool rides that you have. What are those?

Martha Earls:

These are my Fendi sneakers.

Buzz Knight:

They’re Fendis?

Martha Earls:

Yeah. I love them.

Buzz Knight:

Those are pretty spectacular.

Martha Earls:

Thank you.

Buzz Knight:

My guess is, you like taking a walk quite a lot-

Martha Earls:

I do.

Buzz Knight:

Because those do seem to be very conducive to taking a walk.

Martha Earls:

I do. Taking a walk, taking a run. I love to take a run anytime.

Buzz Knight:

So that’s your brand of choice?

Martha Earls:

Depends on what we’re doing. If I’m going to be quick and we’re going to get out there and run, I’m a Nike person for sure. But one of the great positives that came from the pandemic is that casual sportswear became what you can wear any day in business settings. So now I can just wear fancy tennis shoes to work and nobody can judge me.

Buzz Knight:

But you’re kind of the boss.

Martha Earls:

Oh, yeah.

Buzz Knight:

So who’s going to say something? Well Kane could, right?

Martha Earls:

Yeah. He likes tennis shoes too though. So we’re in the same page on that.

Buzz Knight:

Would he give you a hard time ever about-

Martha Earls:

No, he and his wife actually bought these from me for Christmas last year.

Buzz Knight:

Well, I love them. Sorry to digress, but-

Martha Earls:

I love it.

Buzz Knight:

Do you like taking a walk to clear your head-

Martha Earls:

I do.

Buzz Knight:

If you’re jammed up or something creatively?

Martha Earls:

I do, and I think it’s something we don’t do enough. We lose our connection with nature. It’s so easy to do and people get kind of stuck behind their desk. But I do, I love it, I love taking a walk. Like on my birthday the other day-

Buzz Knight:

The other day?

Martha Earls:

Yeah, my birthday was on Friday.

Buzz Knight:

Well, happy belated birthday.

Martha Earls:

Thanks. I told my family, I was like, “Hey, I’m going to…” They’re like, “Oh, are you going to sleep in?” And I said, “Sleep in, are you crazy?” I set my alarm and where I live, there’s like some woods and trails and stuff, and I was like, “I want to go up there and see the sun come up.” I love being in nature and moving my body. And yeah, honestly, it is interesting. It’s funny how just a change of perspective can clear your head or give you great ideas or inspire you.

Buzz Knight:

Now, we would be normally walking further here, but I’m trying to be conducive to the-

Martha Earls:

It’s so breezy.

Buzz Knight:

The wind scenario. So we’re sort of sauntering, but sauntering is okay as well.

Martha Earls:

That’s fine.

Buzz Knight:

At least we’re staying active.

Martha Earls:

Getting our steps in.

Buzz Knight:

How was Kane during the pandemic creatively? Was that a time that he used to his advantage during the pandemic or disadvantage?

Martha Earls:

It was hard on everybody.

Buzz Knight:

Yeah.

Martha Earls:

Honestly, because it was so… He did write songs, he didn’t… Like writing, being creative on Zoom is really difficult because you need interpersonal collaboration. But man, it was so hard because there was such a time of insecurity. Wondering what’s happening with everybody’s careers? When will we have community again and have concerts again? And what does this all mean? And has the tone of things changed? And so I think it’s difficult to be creative when your mind is just trying to solve a problem that’s impossible to solve. So we did stay busy though, that was really important. And we tried to release a lot of music and maintain his presence in the public eye. And I think we did a good job of that. I think some artists just disappeared, and I think it harmed them when it came back, time to come back and tour again and release music again. Because I think that everything moves so quickly in the public consciousness right now, and if you slip out of their attention, it’s hard to get it back.

Buzz Knight:

It’s fleeting sometimes.

Martha Earls:

It is though, because things move so fast. You think about now we’re watching… Think about this, the biggest competitor to network television is not Netflix or HBO Max, it’s TikTok with 15 second videos. And so just people’s attention is pulled in such different ways right now, it’s hard. So you have to figure out how to stay in front of people and stay relevant to their lives.

Buzz Knight:

So you mentioned TikTok, and that sort of leads me to the question of, from your vantage point, can you give me an appraisal of how fans are discovering music these days and what that means to an artist and a manager?

Martha Earls:

Yeah, I think fans discover music in a multitude of ways. And if you say it’s just one way, you’re narrowing your scope unnecessarily. Fans still listen to the radio. Fans still watch shows on television. Fans still ask their friends, what are you listening to? But social media is a very powerful tool for reaching people that you might not normally be able to reach. And Kane broke on Facebook, and what’s wild is, I remember when he first signed his record deal, we had to get permission from the label in his contract for him to be able to show songs on social media. And now they beat me up so much that he’s not putting on there enough. So it’s like-

Buzz Knight:

Can’t win.

Martha Earls:

My how times have changed. But no, it is a wonderful way, whether it’s TikTok or Instagram or however fans are being reached. To reach them with your music, I think the most important thing is just to find a way to connect to people, regardless of how it is, and become the soundtrack of their life.

Buzz Knight:

What role do curators such as radio DJs play in that role?

Martha Earls:

Radio DJs, people that make playlists on Spotify, or Apple, all of those types of things. They play a huge role because they determine what people hear. If a song’s being played at two in the morning, not near as many people are hearing it as if it’s being played at 8:30 in the morning when they’re driving to work. So those people play an incredible role. And honestly, in Kane’s career, country radio has been great for him and has been a great way to expose him to a wider audience. Same with the playlisters. He gets great playlisting with Spotify or Apple, and those guys are really good partners for us.

Buzz Knight:

So if a radio executive was listening to this, and there might be a few that listen based on my past, give them a plea to not lose sight of the importance of what radio DJs mean.

Martha Earls:

Oh well, I mean what radio DJs, what radio means on a local level, I think that’s part of it too. I mean, what radio means for artists and touring, it’s all so critical because it’s like radio, especially in the country format, but in the pop format too, because Kane has had three top 10 pop hits and five top 20 pop hits. It matters and it matters to people and music is the soundtrack to these people’s lives.

Buzz Knight:

It’s critical.

Martha Earls:

Yeah, it’s critical.

Buzz Knight:

And music as the soundtrack to people’s lives. Can you elaborate further on why music is so special in that regard in our lives? This goes back to cave men and women’s-

Martha Earls:

Yeah, ancient times.

Buzz Knight:

Right?

Martha Earls:

Yeah, because I think that music is able to elicit the emotion that you’re feeling, but don’t necessarily know how to find words to express. And so people feel seen when there’s a song playing that completely identifies how they’re feeling at that time, and that is such a gift. And music can save people’s lives, music can change people’s lives. And as corny as it sounds, it’s completely true. I remember I worked with a songwriter very early in my career, his name’s David Vincent Williams, and he wrote a song, it was one of Rascal Flat’s first hits called I’m Moving On. And if you look at the lyrics to I’m Moving On, they’re pretty weighty and heavy. And it ended up winning ACM Song of the Year. But he had people tell them, “Hey, I was thinking about… I was in an abusive relationship and hearing this song and hearing the lyrics of this song gave me the confidence to move on with my life.” And when you can impact people in that way in three minutes and 30 seconds, that’s pretty incredible.

Buzz Knight:

It really is. It’s a beautiful thing.

Martha Earls:

Yeah.

Buzz Knight:

I mean boy, I think it lifts you up. It brings you down-

Martha Earls:

Yeah.

Buzz Knight:

Tugs at your heart.

Martha Earls:

Gets you through that last mile on the treadmill. It does everything for you.

Buzz Knight:

It’s unbelievable.

Martha Earls:

It really is.

Buzz Knight:

It really is special.

Martha Earls:

Yeah.

Buzz Knight:

So do you have a roadmap map over the three or four years ahead for where you want Neon to be and Kane to be?

Martha Earls:

Yeah.

Buzz Knight:

And what are you thinking?

Martha Earls:

That’s a great question. I think with Kane specifically, I think we need to just continue to expose him to a wider and wider audience. Because when people are exposed to him and his music, they become fans. He’s very sticky in that respect. And so I definitely think for Kane its just continuing to expose him on as large of a scale as possible. I think for my company, I would want all the other… There are other managers that we have on the team that work with me on other clients. I want them to succeed as much as our clients.

So I want to keep working on developing talent. And we have a couple of artists right now, Restless Road, Dylan Schneider, Nightly that are growing. And I’m excited to see them start to blossom in their careers. And then I’d like to sign more talent and I’d like to continue to be a little bit innovative. Kane did a concert, was part of a festival concert in Roblox, right? And so moving into that MetaWeb3 world, how does that integrate with the traditional music industry? I want to be curious about those things that I don’t necessarily understand fully and learn more and learn how we can use those things to help our artists.

Buzz Knight:

Thanks for the lessons in leadership and inspiration and a great path to success Martha, and thanks for taking a walk with me.

Martha Earls:

Thank you for having me.

Speaker 3:

Taking a walk with Buzz Night is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Buzz Knight is an established media executive with a long history of content creation and multi-platform distribution.

After a successful career as a Radio Executive, he formed Buzz Knight Media which focuses on strategic guidance and the development of new original content.