NIGHTWISH's Manager: 'Knowing The Right People Is Crucial'
December 1, 2011The international edition of the Finnish daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has published a profile of Ewo Pohjola, one of the two owners of King Foo, which currently manages about 20 bands, including Finnish/Swedish symphonic metal sueprstars NIGHTWISH.
Pohjola emphasises that he learned how to be a rock manager simply by doing it. He feels that international music fairs have been his most important schools. "There you can meet an amazing array of people, and knowing the right people is crucial for a manager," he says. "Many probably would be better educated for this work, but if you don't know anybody, there's no point."
More important than education has been the experience.
"I would say that those who want to become managers should play in a band, and work for a year or two in a record company or agency," he says. "All of this is useful, because everyone is in it for personal gain. It is easier to see things in perspective after seeing all of this from the inside."
NIGHTWISH's 2007 album, "Dark Passion Play", was the most expensive and cumbersome to produce, but it has sold more than a million copies.
"We have been lucky with record companies and tour agencies, and they have also been willing to take risks," Pohjola says. "However, the most important thing is that the pieces have continued to be challenging and of high quality."
Read the entire article from Helsingin Sanomat.
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