After touring with a band through Romania, Judyth Babin was convinced it is the right time to found her own artist management and created MANAG’ART. Today, not only the management structure is where she puts in all of her passionate work, but also a label which is called GRAIN(S) DE RIZ. Besides founding and leading these companies, Judyth is part of many projects – one of them is MEWEM, where she was priced with the golden ticket to reward her entrepreneurial journey.
Music has always been a big part of Judyth’s life: She used to be a DJ, worked as a production administrator at a jazz club and then accompanied the Edmond Bilal Band on a tour and organized their gigs. Seemed like reason enough to quit her job – she started to manage the band and very soon lots of other bands from the same group of friends.
Right after this tour with the Edmond Bilal Band, she wanted to start her own business to support emerging artists. The focus on jazz, which she was used to, she still wanted to keep when founding the company MANAG’ART: At the beginning, jazz was the only genre represented in her management structure. Today, some of her artists also belong to genres like HipHop or Soul, for example. The biggest part of bands in her management still can be categorized into jazz music because it is where she has the most expertise: “I stayed in the same field because it is so specific that it would be difficult to try a different kind of music in the beginning”.
“I realized the artists needed that I create my own label”
In 2019, Judyth created GRAIN(S) DE RIZ, her own label, additionally to the management to provide support in every direction. “I realized the artists needed that I create my own label”, she says. The label’s name comes from the phrase “Sé gren di ri ka fè sac” from Martinique and stands metaphorically for filling rice bags with grains of rice. It means that every individual contributes something to the project with their creativity, dedication and values.
Judyth’s plans for the future mainly consist of expanding her artist’s options: By broadening her personal network and meeting a lot of entrepreneurs from all over the world, she wants to find more places for her artists to play gigs at. Especially MEWEM and Footprints Europe, another program that helps musicians and agencies to get along on the European music market, helped her in accomplishing her goals: “It feels like an achievement that is only possible with a lot of help from different people from different countries. I am really happy to do this, but it is even more appreciative that I get to meet so many people and get so much support”. At the moment, China and Germany are her focused destinations, Judyth is currently planning a three-month tour in China in September for one of her artists – and doesn’t need more big projects for now: “I am happy with the way it is. I used to overwork myself a lot. Now it is time to slow down a little bit and focus on the things we know instead of trying to do everything”.
Katharina Reiffenstuhl