Since a law passed on July 23, 2010, managers, impresarios, artists' secretaries, advisors, etc. have been referred to as "artistic agents".
In the contemporary music sector, however, the term "manager" is still commonly used.
In particular, the 2010 law relaxed the conditions governing access to the profession of artistic agent, lifting certain incompatibilities (such as being a performing artist, a venue operator, a music publisher, etc.), but there remains one major incompatibility: an artistic agent cannot be a producer of cinematographic and audiovisual works. In other words, an artistic agent can be a producer of phonograms, but not of the music videos that illustrate these phonograms...
As for the contract (mandate) between the artist and the manager, it must be in writing and drawn up free of charge by the artistic agent.
The minimum tasks that must appear on the contract are defined by the French Labor Code, as is the agent's remuneration, which is in principle capped at 10% of the artist's gross remuneration, unless the agent is entrusted with "specific career organization and development tasks", as is the case in practice in the contemporary music sector. In this case, the remuneration may be increased to 15%.
