Cool Cats Agency Wants To Help Musicians Take Care of Business
MONCTON – Making music, performing, and managing the business side of it all can become overwhelming. So Christine Dubé launched Cool Cats Agency to share that workload with musicians.
The Edmundston native has so far signed outlaw-country band The Divorcees, winners of two East Coast Music Awards, and folk singer-songwriter Ryan Hillier to her bilingual artist booking and management agency. She said it’s not that musicians aren’t great business people, but it’s most often time that they don’t have.
“You can’t put as much time in your art if you have to be always on the phone or always answering emails to book yourself shows and promote your shows. Everybody only has 24 hours in a day, and at some point, it gets a bit out of hand for the artists,” she said.
Time is what Ryan Hillier needs more of as he prepares for a new album. The MusicNB nominee said that’s why he’s decided to enlist Dubé’s help.
“It’s just the next level and it’s a lot more waiting time when you have an album. There’s a lot of things to put together,” he said. “It’s just a more calculated and involved process [in creating the album] this time. So having her kind of put the pieces together and navigate that process is something that I couldn’t really see myself doing on my own, for sure.”
Hillier said a lot of artists self-manage, himself included. But juggling that and actually making music and performing can become too much.
“It’s really trying. It’s a lot. Since I started, I never really took a day off because there’s always something that you can and should be doing every day to move further to work towards what your goal is,” he said.
“I was working on my own solo career, playing in a couple of bands and also working a job at the same time. At some point, you just have to realize that you can’t do everything even though you’re perfectly capable of doing everything, it’s probably not a good idea, because human beings need sleep. It’s a major load off of your mind so you can get yourself to focus on where your strengths really are,” he added.
With Dubé as his booking agent and manager, Hillier can focus on writing and performing, and take things “to the next step,” he said.
Dubé will help Hillier with booking shows, writing grants, funding applications, and advice to navigate the industry, including social media marketing. The financial arrangements are based on agreed percentages for each opportunity that Hillier gets through Dubé.
Hillier added that with music being a business that relies heavily on verbal agreements, having someone write out contracts helps protect artists.
“I think in general, artists do need to seriously take into consideration all the things that a management or booking agent type of person can offer,” he said. “I think it’s just strictly protecting artists’ rights and protecting artists’ investment and making sure you’re operating in a safe environment and just knowing what you’re walking into. I think it’s absolutely invaluable.”
When she was still a student in 2013, Dubé entered New Brunswick’s music sector through her work at Plan B Lounge in Moncton. That job allowed her to be around local, international, established and emerging musicians. It’s where she met her mentor Carol Doucet, who hired her as a show agent for her agency le Grenier Musique.
Dubé has since worked on various contracts as a coordinator for different events and was elected vice-president of the East Coast Music Association (ECMA). But she sees a lack of resources for New Brunswick artists who need the help of agents.
“Just after launching the business I had seven artists coming to me and asking me to help them, so there’s really a need. For me, it’s that need plus my passion [for music]. I couldn’t do anything else, right?” Dubé said.
She picked the name Cool Cats in jest, partly because she’s a self-proclaimed Cat Lady and partly a reference to studio cats, a term often used in the music industry.
Although she’s most experienced with the folk, rock and country genres, Dubé said she’d sign artists based on various reasons, including that their music moves her.
For now, her goals are simply to help Hillier and The Divorcees grow and develop the artist management industry.
“There’s a need, but I haven’t heard people often say, ‘oh, I would like to be an agent for a band.’ It’s not something you hear often,” she said. “I’d like to see this industry developed in New Brunswick. There’s so much talent but so little resources.”