Jo Howarth

What do you enjoy most about your role, and what are the biggest challenges?

The thing that drew me to artist management is the people side of what I do. I love the bigger picture; you’re the only person on the team thinking about the artist as a business, a public figure and crucially, a person. I love being part of building a career for a new artist, and of course it’s really rewarding to play a part in keeping that momentum going as their career evolves.

The biggest challenge is often the sheer amount of plate-spinning - the management team are the people pinning the operation together and it’s a lot of moving parts to stay on top of.

What's been your greatest achievement in your career so far?

I was really honoured to be given an Outstanding Music Graduate award by UK Music in 2019. You can be nominated for the award up to three years after graduating, so to be recognised in this way less than a year after graduating was lovely.

What advice would you give to those wanting to break it into this industry?

My advice for someone wanting to break into the music would be to try out a few different sectors and work out what it is that you enjoy most. For me, I love artist management as it’s the more nurturing role. Others might find they enjoy more of a marketing role - statistics and sales - and they might find that a record label is the right place for them. Some find that new music is the thing they care about, so publishing or A&R might be the right thing for them. And some love the live side of the industry - touring and festivals. If you’ve tried a fair few of these through work experience while you’re at uni, you’ll come out of it knowing exactly what it is you want, and you’ll have enough experience to land the role.