Welcome to The Manager’s Playbook, my personal newsletter where I share insights from Music Executives and Artists for aspiring and emerging music managers, executives and artists on how to navigate the music industry. This newsletter is brought to you by Mauricio Ruiz.

This next episode with top booking agent, Tom Windish, made me think about how often artists and managers confuse attention for audience.

It happens all the time.

A song starts moving. A clip does numbers. The monthly listeners go up. Maybe a playlist comes in, maybe a write-up, maybe some industry people start texting around asking, “Who’s working on this?”

And for a second, it feels like the thing is happening.

Maybe it is.

But Tom kept coming back to the part that makes everybody a little uncomfortable.

Can you sell tickets?

Not theoretically.

Not “the song is big, so the room should fill.”

Not “the algorithm likes it, so the fans must be there.”

Can you announce a show in a city and get real people to leave their house, buy a ticket, bring a friend, stand in the room, and care?

That’s different.

That’s where the truth shows up.

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Bring the question, challenge, or decision you’re working through. Get real perspective from someone who’s been there, plus clear takeaways and next steps after your session.

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The industry is very good at noticing attention.

Streams.

Views.

Playlist adds.

Press.

Comments.

Follower spikes.

All of that matters. Of course it does. Nobody is saying it doesn’t.

But attention can be misleading.

Tom talked about how, years ago, a Pitchfork review could change an artist’s touring life almost overnight. A band could go from unknown to selling 200 tickets in New York, then 400, then adding cities, and you could feel the thing building brick by brick.

That pathway still exists in some version, but it is not as automatic anymore.

Now an artist can have a playlist, a strong review, a viral TikTok, even millions of views, and still struggle to sell 50 tickets in New York or LA.

That’s the part a lot of people don’t want to sit with.

The internet can make something visible without making it valuable to someone’s real life.

People can like the song and still not be fans.

That doesn’t mean the artist is failing.

It just means attention is not the finish line.

It’s a signal.

And some signals are weaker than they look.

This is where artists and managers have to be careful.

The industry has its own way of reading momentum. It looks at the numbers it knows how to read. It trusts the rooms it knows. It gets excited by the things that are easy to explain.

But your actual audience may not move that way.

Your real audience might not be sitting inside the industry’s favourite data points yet.

They might be in smaller cities or they might be following quietly.

They might be showing up for acoustic sets, DJ nights, church basements, college shows, clubs, support slots, community events, whatever room you can get early on.

That matters.

Because if you only build for the industry’s view of your audience, you can miss the people who are already telling you the truth.

Tom’s point about knowing where your fans are is simple, but it’s one of the most important parts of the episode.

Do you actually know who they are?

Can you reach them directly?

Or are you hoping the platform shows them the post?

That’s not a small detail anymore.

That might be the difference between a real show and an empty room.

Artists and managers need more patience now. Things take longer.

That might be frustrating to hear, but it’s also freeing.

You don’t have to panic because the business isn’t moving as fast as the internet makes you think it should.

Some things still take reps.

It’s in the small rooms, support slots, watching which cities react, learning what songs work live.

Seeing who comes back the next time.

That work is not glamorous, but it’s honest.

A stream can lie to you.

A room usually won’t.

One of the strongest parts of the conversation was Tom talking about artists with massive streams who still can’t sell tickets.

His advice was basically: go play anyway.

If you have a billion streams and can only sell 200 tickets, play the 200-cap room.

Don’t let ego turn useful information into shame.

That room might be the beginning of the real career.

Make it great.

Come back and do 400.

Then 700.

Then 1,000.

There is nothing small about building something that can last.

The mistake is pretending the foundation is bigger than it is.

This episode also explains what a great agent actually does.

It’s not just booking shows.

It’s thinking about which room makes sense, what city matters, what support slot helps, what festival fits, what ticket price is right, and what move sets up the next move.

That matters for managers too.

A big opportunity is not always the right opportunity.

A festival looks good on paper, but can you convert it?

A headline show feels important, but do you know how many tickets you can really move?

These are not negative questions.

They are responsible ones.

Tom’s episode is about touring, but really, it’s about audience.

Who is real?

Who is showing up?

If you want to build a live career, you have to respect the room.

Play the 200-cap if that’s where the truth is.

Build brick by brick, even when the internet makes you feel like you should already be somewhere bigger.

The industry might care about the story.

The algorithm might care about the spike.

But the ticket buyer is different.

The ticket buyer has to care enough to leave the house.

That is a much higher standard.

And probably the better one.

Because once people are willing to show up for you in real life, you’re not just building attention anymore.

You’re building a career.

Watch Episode 79 with Tom Windish LIVE NOW

Bio

I’m Mauricio Ruiz, the host and creator of The Manager’s Playbook podcast, dedicated to demystifying the world of music management, and 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, 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 and the NBA.

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