THE MANAGER'S ROLE -- THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVE.

The traditional image of a music manager is of a cigar-smoking, hard-nosed deal-maker who takes advantage of a naive artist.

Managers have, however, come a long way since the days of Brian Epstein. Cases such as that of Joan Armatrading in the early Eighties established that management contracts must be fair to the artist.

If anything, the balance of power seems to have shifted the other way. Generally, artists will now let their lawyers loose on the manager (or, rather, the manager's lawyer), with the consequence that, today, unfair management contracts are more the exception than the rule.

So, if the legal principles are relatively clearly defined, why does a steady stream of cases continue to come to court?

The answer is, of course, money. One party has it and the other party wants it. That, combined with a deeply-held desire to "make a point", often leads to time-consuming and expensive disputes.

Cases such as this are, however, really only the tip of the iceberg. For every dispute that hits the headlines, there must be a hundred more that do not -- for the following reasons:

* The high risks associated with the English "winner takes all" legal system.