Welcome to The Manager’s Playbook, my personal newsletter where I share insights, tips, and strategies for artist managers on how to navigate through the music business.

Ruiz’s Letter:

“YOU GOTTA REALLY LOVE MANAGEMENT TO DO IT”

It brings me great pleasure to sit down, talk shop with my friend, peer and incredible talent manager, Tyler Henry for the readers of The Manager’s Playbook Newsletter.

Tyler’s the artist manager behind PARTYNEXTDOOR (PND) and a partner at Range Media Partners. For a decade plus, he’s been a game-changer, shaping artists' careers with innovative strategies.

At Range Media Partners, Tyler brought his expertise and an incredible roster, including PND, WondaGurl, LosHendrixx, HARV and others.

His approach? Holistic talent representation and teamwork.

Beyond management, he’s co-founded publishing ventures with his clients at Warner Chappell, Sony/ATV, and Cactus Jack, and merged his company STURDY with Range Music. He’s also active in the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) and mentors for Creative Futures Collective.

I first met Tyler on PND’s 2018 “Infinity World Tour” in the Europe, where he and PND decided to bring my previous client Jessie Reyez along as direct support. Tyler’s thoughtfulness and approachable nature stood out on that tour to me. He made sure everything ran smoothly and was always willing to go the extra mile for us. His professionalism and genuine care for his team set a high standard, proving just how impactful a dedicated manager can be.

It’s been an extraordinary journey for the man who considers himself to be very normal. His life is anything but that. The thing is, and as cliche as it sounds, he’s just getting started.

It was amazing to sit down with Tyler. I will always give you guys and girls my best to provide you with top insights from top folks in this insane, yet unnecessarily complicated business. Tyler Henry is no different in this approach. He sits at the Mountain Top as far as I’m concerned when it comes to his skills, but more importantly, his giving of information and know-how.

Below is an excerpt of the conversation we had for the “The Manager’s Playbook Podcast” [Episode 002] which drops Sunday at 6pm et/3pm pt on all your favourite streaming platforms, including Youtube.

KEY PLAYS

(FEAT. TYLER HENRY)

My Conversation With Tyler Henry

THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING THE PLAYERS IN THE GAME

RUIZ: How important was it to understand who everybody was?

TYLER: Super. You know, doing that research and understanding because you may be waiting in line at a bathroom and their agents right there, and you could spark up a conversation to where when they see you at the next show they go “oh, I met Tyler, he’s really nice” like, “I like that guy.” Just takes that for an artist or a manager to be like, “oh, cool,” like he's rubbing off on people already, you know? And so, I knew who everyone was around the artist that I was involved in or wanted to be involved in or just, you know, I tried to do as much research.

I literally had a whole spreadsheet of every artist and their A&Rs and managers and agents and assistants, things I could find. Who they beef with, so I never brought up some artist name in front of them. You know?

…

HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY A GREAT ARTIST?

TYLER: I can simplify it with a couple things. You know, so many A&Rs and managers especially trying to discover stuff, they'll keep charts and they're like, "Okay, we got to keep track of this artist and that one and that."

To be great, you got to revisit that thing daily and think about it. “God, I can't get this song out of my head” or like, “Oh, that video they dropped was so sick.” I remember seeing Rosalia for the first time, her video, and I watched that video 100 times over the first couple of weeks.

RUIZ: “Malamente.”

TYLER: Yeah, I watched it 100 times.

RUIZ: Same, same.

TYLER: And I had that feeling with PARTY (PARTYNEXTDOOR). I just kept going back to the music and I kept watching the “Break from Toronto” video, and I kept going back to the music, kept watching the video. There wasn't that much out on him. No interviews. His socials were sort of cryptic at the time and I just kept going back. I was so drawn by it.

RUIZ: And this is before meeting him?

TYLER: Yeah, so I always tell people like, you have to have that level of draw to it, and you're never gonna feel that way about everything and it's what makes the manager-artist relationship so unique because there's no one manager great for every artist and, you know, vice versa. And so, you have to be drawn to that and just be like, "I got to learn more. I got to hear more. I want to see more." So it starts with that, that natural draw.

RUIZ: Yeah.

TYLER: Work ethic. You know, going back to that. Seeing every day, Party would finish a show with Drake. He didn't party. He didn't talk to girls. He didn't get fucked up. He’d go back to the bus, roll up a joint and start working on music. Start producing. He had a little handheld mic, USB plugged in with a sock over it as a filter. On the back of the bus every night and I just saw that. I was like, “Oh my God, this guy's obsessed with it.” I think he was 18 or 19 at the time.

RUIZ: You even identify something that you had in you as well too, like, “okay, he gets it”.

TYLER: Yeah, this guy’s like me. And we both saw that in each other at an early age too.

And then the last, so the first one is just that draw to keep coming back to it. That you feel there's something there, that gut instinct. Second, is work ethic and third is originality.

You know? And the thing I hate hearing the most is when an artist goes like “Oh, you know, it's like a mix of PARTY and Frank Ocean,” or it's like a this and that. There's already a PARTY, already a Frank, already a Drake, there's already a Weeknd, there's already a Rosalia.

RUIZ: Sorry, you can only be second best (If you're subconsciously/consciously imitating superstar artist).

TYLER: I’m sorry, they’re phenomenal and it's going to be really tough, if not impossible, to dethrone them and what they do, so be yourself. So, I hate hearing a combo of “this and that”.

I want to hear somebody and be like I've never heard this before.

RUIZ: It's pretty dope, actually, when there's no reference point to something.

TYLER: When there’s no reference point, it just feels like it's one of one, so that's probably the third thing I look for.

…

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A GREAT ARTIST MANAGER IN 2024?

TYLER: One, it's, understanding your artists and the things that we said earlier of being their biggest fan, of spending time with them, of understanding and realizing what makes them great and what's going to be different. Every great artist needs have a story. There needs to be something that when I'm describing it to my friend and I'm talking about Teezo Touchdown and he's got the nails and he was on the Travis album, and Drake's gonna bring him on tour. There's got to be stories and things that could piece together that start the narrative that then when you deliver great music, it builds a real brand and an artist.

With Rosalia, it was that video, I sent that to a dozen plus people when I first saw it. “Holy shit. Did you see this girl?” I don't know nothing about her, but this video is sick. I remember when, STURDY. actually did the creative on “Drivers License” and a lot of Olivia Rodrigo's first album and I remember hearing that story, and that was so far below my age demographic and even what I listen to musically, but I remember hearing that story being like “dude, we’re watching a soap opera in real life,” and this girl is an amazing songwriter expressing herself in what would normally be a diary but to the whole world and you're seeing it in real time. That's incredible.

And so, really you got to know your artist to build that narrative with them.

…

HOW TO BREAK AN ARTIST IN 2024?

TYLER: So, to break in 2024, it's building that narrative.

Now, the issue is that because TikTok and these social platforms are so effective in terms of getting eyeballs on you, on your content and ears on your music, that people think the driver of it is just what's reacting well on the platform versus saying “Okay, yes, like these platforms are really important for us, and they really help market and get us in front of an audience. But like, what is the story? What's the creative and is there quality there?” And it's almost like everyone has it reversed where they build music and they build creative and all these things off of a marketing plan when it's the marketing plan that has to come last.

You got to build the music, build the story narrative, build the creative and do that with enough time and space to do it the way you want to, whether it takes a few months or a few years, you got to develop that and then you start to go, “Okay, what's this marketing plan? How are we going to break the internet wide open? How do we get everyone talking about this?”

You have to put a lot of time and effort into all those pieces and the tough thing is that a lot of there's a lot of really good marketers that can get attention, but don't put the time and effort it takes to be a great artist, and there's a lot of great artists that hate the marketing side that go, “I just want to focus on the music and the videos and touring. I don't even want to look at my socials.”

So to be a new breaking artist in 2024, you got to have both sides. You got to love the marketing, the storytelling online, but first and foremost, you gotta love being an artist and making great art.

RUIZ: Do you believe that it’s harder than ever to break in 2024?

TYLER: I think it’s easier than ever. Easiest it’s ever been. I tell people all the time.

RUIZ: Everybody says it’s impossible..

TYLER: And people are begging for it. You see as soon as you get something great, like you get someone like 4batz who's different and a bit new and it's like everyone's freaking out because we're all waiting for someone great. We’re waiting for this next great crop of every genre and I think it's the easiest it's ever been. But again, I would say more than what's emerged is people focusing on the marketing versus really great art and great storytelling.

…

THREE BOOKS YOU WOULD RECOMMEND? DOESN'T HAVE TO BE MUSIC RELATED

TYLER: Okay. Three books. I love reading, first of all. I never loved reading my whole life. Over Covid I got much more heavily into it and there are physical books I read, but it's really because audiobooks and so if anyone's out there they don't like reading or they feel like they don't try an audiobook, try podcasts, try other formats and it may connect with you well. I go on walks or runs or bike rides and put on an audiobook and I would just like go through half the book on, you know, a single walk and so that got me into it and then I started actually buying more physical books and enjoying the process of reading and building it into my daily routine.

I watched this really cool TED Talk that, our brain actually grows stronger and there's healthier chemical reactions when you read fiction versus nonfiction.

RUIZ: Interesting.

TYLER: The first was a really early book I read called The Untethered Soul and I don't want to give away too much. It's not a long read. A really, really important person told me to read it. I've read it probably a dozen times since then, but the Untethered Soul applies to anyone. Artists, entrepreneurs, managers, parents, children…Really really great book.

Another one would be How to Win Friends and Influence People.

RUIZ: Classic. Yea, that’s a great book.

TYLER: Yeah, it's a great book. I got put on to it because I saw it was one of Warren Buffett's favorite books that he rereads most years. There's a really cool story in it. It about Abe Lincoln. After he passed and was killed, they went through his desk at his office, and they went through all his files and they pulled out hundreds of letters that they said would have changed the history of the US…of mankind, letters that would have started wars…ended this thing…invoked this group of people etc…They found out he would write the letter and close it up, put it in his office, and if he felt like sending it the next day, he would. Almost every time, he was like, I just need to get that out.

TYLER: An the third one…

RUIZ: You got a list there. Going through the kindle?

TYLER: (Laughs) I am going through the kindle... I recently read it, it’s called Multipliers. I felt like 99 Kobe where I knew how to score really well. It’s like “give me the ball and I’ll score it”. That way we could have some success and some championships but to have five rings and multiple MVP and all these things you have to learn to be a good leader and teammate. And I didn't feel that had for the first 8-9-10 years of my career.

RUIZ: Really?

TYLER: I wouldn't put myself on the bad spectrum. But I had to develop that… It's a skill. To be a good leader is a skill you have to develop and practice and maintain and be self-aware.

RUIZ: I was going to ask, how did you have that self-awareness?

TYLER: Not feeling like I was getting the best out of people around me and just certain experiences that sort of clicks for you. You see things over and over again and you start back self-exploration of like, ”what does it mean to be a good leader?”

RUIZ: Okay.

TYLER: So this book Multipliers talks about how to grow to be what they call a multiplier not diminisher, which is getting the most out of people around you, you know, building a team and actually getting the work out of them because most people will hire someone and limit their capacity to do the work because they over manage or because they don't give them enough power….There’s endless endless things and its been a great unlocking tool for me.

*Please note that this conversation has been edited for legibility purposes. Efforts have been made to enhance clarity while preserving the integrity of the content.

Bio

I’m Mauricio Ruiz, the Founder/CEO of 8 Til Faint, an Artist Management company with over 5 billion audio streams worldwide. Our past and current clients include Grammy nominated, Juno Award winning multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Jessie Reyez, Marley Bleu, Skratch Bastid and more. I am also the Co-Founder of Mad Ruk Entertainment, a content agency with over 3 billion long form video streams worldwide. Our client list includes The Weeknd, Eminem, and Celine Dion, along with renowned brands like Nike, Pernod Ricard, Canon, and the NBA.

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