Management
“We bet our lives on it a long time ago,” says Christian Clancy. He’s seated on a couch in a cozy corner of his Los Angeles home next to his wife and business partner, Kelly Clancy, surrounded by plants. Getting into artist management “was never something we talked about,” Kelly says. But nearly 15 years after starting their small firm, 4 Strikes, it has continued to punch above its class, becoming one of the mightiest forces in management today. And Tyler, The Creator has been there from the start.
Before founding 4 Strikes in 2010, Christian and Kelly worked at Interscope Records in the early 2000s (most recently as head of marketing and marketing manager, respectively) alongside the label’s roster of hip-hop greats, including 50 Cent, Eminem, G-Unit and Dr. Dre. “There was no better place and time to learn the business,” Christian says. But by 2010, they’d decided to strike out on their own. Kelly departed the label first, in 2005, and she admits, “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do next.” Christian “burned out” on the music business and, five years later, left, too.
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That same year, a former Interscope colleague, David Airaudi, introduced the pair to a young, charismatic and carefree (almost to a fault) rapper who changed the course of their careers — and lives. Christian and Airaudi started managing Tyler’s collective, Odd Future, with Kelly joining soon after. “Tyler reinvigorated what was inside of us,” Christian says. A year after marrying in 2006, the Clancys welcomed their daughter, Chloe, and just a few years later launched their management company from their home. When Odd Future split in the mid-2010s, the couple started managing Tyler on their own. “We put our whole lives on it,” Kelly says. “It felt like a family from day one.”
The 4 Strikes roster has just four full-time staffers (including the Clancys) and has remained trim from the start, currently boasting five artists: Kevin Abstract, Romil and Matt Champion, who together comprise what Christian calls “the Brockhampton sector” (referencing the trio’s former group); the estate of Mac Miller, whom the Clancys managed before his untimely death in 2018; and, of course, Tyler — “and Tyler’s 147 businesses,” Christian jokes.
“We trusted and believed in [Tyler] along the way,” he continues. “I can’t tell you how many times I’m like, ‘Bro, you’re tripping.’ Turns out, he wasn’t tripping. But I always say, ‘I’ll listen, and if I disagree with something, I’m going to say, “I think you’re crazy” ’ — And then after I say that, I’ll jump off a bridge with him.”
What do you remember from when you first met Tyler?
Christian Clancy: [He was] staying on his grandma’s couch, eating Wendy’s.
Kelly Clancy: Three dollars in his pocket.
Christian: He’s still the same dude.
Kelly: He’s still that kid who’s full of wonderment. He gets excited about the smallest things and then can look at something, like a 10-year anniversary [of his own Camp Flog Gnaw festival in November] and stand onstage and go, “Holy s–t.”
Christian: He’s self-aware. As he’s gotten bigger, he realizes he knows less — and respectfully, that’s rare in a business when you’re typically surrounded by yes men, which he isn’t. And then your ego takes over. And the beauty of him is he’s open to new ideas, thoughts, discussion, perspectives. Doesn’t mean he’s not confident as f–k. He’s wildly confident, but there’s a big difference between confidence and ego based on fear.
Christian, you said early in your career that your job is to give artists the best opportunity to succeed without compromising. How have you done that?
Christian: Well, that has a lot to do with the people you work with. When you surround yourself with people who know who they are, that becomes easier. Tyler had a great ability to seemingly know and believe that he’s going to get to the top of the mountain. If you remove fear, you’re free. You’re not going, “Well, what are they going to think?” Like, f–k all of that and be true to yourself. I actually learned that from Rick Rubin. If you’re honest and confident, it’s pretty hard to lose. You may not win big, but you will for f–k sure have respect.
What are some key decisions you two have made to help Tyler climb that mountain?
Christian: The decision to [sign] with Sony, who gave us the freedom and full creative control and [ability for Tyler to own his] masters and all the things that were imperative to ever doing anything like that. We’re huge [Sony Music Entertainment CEO] Rob Stringer fans. He gets it. Betting on ourselves with [Tyler’s clothing brand] Golf Wang. Betting on ourselves with the festival that was supposed to just be a zipper ride in the middle of Fairfax Avenue and the city was like, “Oh, hell no.” And [us saying], “Well, let’s go figure it out ourselves.” All the way down to [lifestyle brand] Le Fleur now, most of those answers are going to be betting on ourselves. If you don’t know something, that’s OK. Go find the people that do and question everything and build your own house in whatever shape you want. It might not work. But so what?
Tyler is still hitting new peaks in his career: Following its October release, Chromakopia became his longest-running No. 1 album with three weeks atop the Billboard 200. How does that mentality of betting on yourself help drive his continued success?
Christian: Well, he’s got the best trajectory in music as far as I can tell, from [2011’s] Goblin to now. No. 5, No. 4, No. 3, No. 2, No. 1 — and then a [two-week] No. 1 [with 2021’s Grammy Award-winning Call Me If You Get Lost] and then three weeks at No. 1. He doesn’t lose fans. He grabs the next generation.
Kelly: Also in a world where you have access to everything immediately with the emergence of TikTok and the way that our brains are constantly receiving information and we’re just like in this swiping generation … to create a world which you can step into and you know exactly [what it is] when you see a color palette or the silhouette of his hair, I think it cuts through. And he’s been doing that [with] every album. Like when the guy came out in a blond bob wig, a suit and loafers [for 2019’s IGOR]. When he sent us the photo first, I think we looked at each other like, “All right…” In the genre he’s in, you don’t do that without utter confidence.
Christian: Even if you didn’t get it, you respected it because we all want to be that confident. It’s interesting because Mac [Miller] was a lot like [that]. Mac had a way of reinventing himself in subtle ways in his trajectory of albums. And his was a vulnerable confidence, and there’s a similarity there, which is, again, rare where you have artists that have the gall to f–k it and not worry about the results. Trust in it.
Kelly, you posted on Instagram that “most people just will never know” what Tyler went through to get Chromakopia out. What did he go through?
Kelly: There was a lot of pressure — this is not him, this is just me speaking — from the last album. His trajectory has always gone [upward]. Looking at the landscape of music and things that were really successful and knowing that he doesn’t fit in these metrics or a lot of the tentpoles that artists look at as validation for what they’re doing in their career … Tyler never creates from that place of trying to match those. So a lot of times, he’s left off a lot of lists that I believe … I get frustrated because I know he should be on all of them. Obviously, I’m protective, too.
Christian: That’s starting to happen now.
Kelly: But it’s felt like it’s always been this upward battle, which I wouldn’t change at all, but all that said, now that he’s becoming much more of a household name… I just think the process of him getting this done, truly no one will really understand. Tyler’s a unicorn in that he literally does everything — like, everything. That guy is producing everything. When he has an artist come in to be a part of the song, he already knows the cadence of how he wants them [to rap or sing]. He’ll take what he thinks is their superpower and weave it into what he’s doing. He’s instructing the horn players. Thinking of the visuals, being in the edit room, this dude touches everything. So I do want him to have that recognition. He’s never going to be the guy to ask for it.
From left: Christian Clancy, Tyler, The Creator and Kelly Clancy photographed November 20, 2024 at Quixote Studios in Los Angeles.
Luis Perez
Kelly, you once said that your mother being a teacher helped shape your management style. How so?
Kelly: Being a woman in the industry at the time when I started, it was a much different landscape than it is now.
Christian: It was a f–king boys club.
Kelly: It still exists in different forms now. But her being essentially a single mom and a kindergarten teacher and never feeling like my brother and I were without gave me such a strong foundation. And then when I became a mom, it was incredibly valuable. I’m incredibly protective of my squad and that showed itself in so many ways over the years. I think it’s why it’s always been important for us to maintain a small company, because it allows us to serve in a way that’s not transactional. Like, we’re a part of some of them having their first kids, we’re in the hospital. Buying their first homes, renting their first apartments, these huge life milestones and being able to [be there] for them. Tyler, he’ll joke to Chris and I every now and again like, “Man, if you guys ever got divorced, I don’t know what the f–k I would do.” It’s like, yes, we’re partners in a business, but I feel like we’re also representative of a relationship. What does a relationship look like? Those things are really impactful, especially when you’re meeting [artists when they’re] at a younger age.
On the 2012 Odd Future song “Oldie,” Tyler calls you, Christian, a father figure. Is a familial touch necessary to be a successful manager?
Christian: I don’t take that for granted. Some of the people we work with don’t have an immediate father. And so you also take on whatever they think of their father, for better or worse. Is it necessary? No. Is it maybe helpful? I don’t know. We learn just as much from them. Tyler taught us so much about the metrics that weren’t being monitored by record labels. There were no cultural metrics. There were just [Broadcast Data Systems] and SoundScan and these things that sort of missed this whole thing that was happening. We learn so incredibly much from the people we work with. Mac, the way he looked at life. It’s an amazing two-way street.
What’s the key to maintaining an artist-management partnership?
Christian: I was fortunate enough to learn from Eminem and Paul Rosenberg. That’s who I came up with. I’m not a big fan of the word “manager.” I’ve always preferred “partners” because that’s what I really look at it as. The artists who change managers all the time, I mean, maybe it’s necessary. Although I do know, many times, it’s hard to look at yourself and it’s easier to point the other way. So the manager is right in the line of fire if something doesn’t work. And they may have just been carrying out what your vision was. For us, the family thing is what works. It’s up, it’s down. It’s good, it’s bad. It’s thick and thin. Once it feels transactional, it’s lost that bond — then you’re just the manager.
What are you two most proud of in your own careers?
Kelly: I’m really proud that we’ve managed to, by design, keep a small company. Not folding into a larger company. That becomes convoluted because it’s hard to superserve artists like Tyler, with like-minded goals, when you’re in a bigger company. [When] we started, it was just Chris and I working out of our home. So to be able to maintain that feeling that resonates with Tyler and all the artists we work with, I’m really proud of that.
Christian: We could have the opportunity to work with somebody [else] that would hypothetically bring a bunch of money, but at what cost? I don’t want the headaches and hospital visits from stress. We’ve really managed to surround ourselves with like-minded people and to Kelly’s point, there was never this drive to be some big company. That sounds exhausting. And the fact that we don’t hate each other. We’re married, for f–k’s sake. This isn’t supposed to work, not for that long.
What grounds you?
Christian: Can I tell you one fun fact? I can’t remember the last time I missed an Eagles game. We [once] watched a meaningless Eagles-Giants game in a tent in the Serengeti at four in the morning. No joke. We got Wi-Fi, there’s a lion roaring and I’m locked into an Eagles-Giants game that meant nothing.
Kelly: We try to go every year to Lincoln Financial Field [home of the Philadelphia Eagles], but this year we couldn’t because…
Christian: F–king Tyler.
Has it gotten easier or harder to carve out personal time over the years?
Kelly: Harder.
Christian: Definitely harder. This year? Impossible.
Kelly: This is the first year — and Tyler and I joked about it — we didn’t go f–king anywhere. Everyone was doing s–t in the summer and all of us were just in L.A. like, “F–k.”
Christian: Waiting on this f–king dude.
Kelly: We’re planning our vacations around artists. We’re planning our personal lives around our work lives.
Christian: Well, you try [to plan]. It’s a year-to-year question. This year’s a f–king mess — a beautiful mess.
This story appears in the Dec. 14, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Troy “Tracker” Johnson will launch TRACK mgmt in January following nearly 10 years with Big Loud Management.
The new full-service Nashville-based management company, a partnership with Live Nation, will launch with clients HARDY, Dallas Smith, Jake Worthington and McCoy Moore, who follow him from Big Loud Management, as do artist managers Emily Smith and Drew Magid. HARDY, Dallas Smith and Worthington remain on Big Loud Records. Moore is unsigned.
“It’s been a long time coming for TRACK mgmt and now seems like the perfect time to make it a reality,” Johnson said in a statement. “I’m beyond grateful for the Big Loud partners — Seth England, Joey Moi and Craig Wiseman — for not only having a hand in my journey but also providing me with so much support. I’m excited to have Emily Smith and Drew Magid on the TRACK mgmt team. It’s going to be a great start to 2025.”
The move comes as Big Loud Management prepares to wind down by the end of next year. “Working with Tracker for over a decade, from the very beginning of Big Loud Mgmt, has been an incredible journey,” said Big Loud partners England, Moi and Wiseman in a statement. “As Big Loud concludes its artist management venture at the end of 2025, we couldn’t be prouder to see Tracker embark on his own entrepreneurial path. He and his team are more than ready for this moment, and we look forward to supporting TRACK mgmt in the years to come.”
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TRACK mgmt
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England says Big Loud’s focus will remain on its label and publishing divisions. “Prioritizing a greater work-life balance is something top of mind now that I am a father of two and need greater bandwidth,” he tells Billboard. “I will continue to lead our records and publishing divisions as their growth requires greater focus. This shift is a return to my first love. Continuing to foster close relationships with all management clients, it’s my privilege to help guide those not working with Tracker’s team to their next destination.”
Big Loud’s management roster still includes, among others, Ernest, Jagwar Twin, Ashley Cooke, Lauren Watkins and Mackenzie Porter. Morgan Wallen departed Big Loud Management earlier this year, though he remains on the label.
Prior to joining Big Loud Management when it started in 2015, Johnson worked in the music business in his native Texas beginning in the early 2000s and earned his nickname from being a tour manager who excelled at keeping track of things. Additional artists he has worked with include Wallen, Florida Georgia Line and Chris Young.
LONDON — Pet Shop Boys and Paloma Faith were among the major honorees at the 2024 Artist & Manager Awards, which also saw the creative teams behind Yungblud and British dance duo Chase & Status pick up prizes in recognition of their clients’ commercial success.
Held at London’s Bloomsbury Big Top on Thursday (Nov. 21), the annual awards show organized by U.K. trade bodies the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and Music Managers Forum (MMF) is one of the few industry events that exclusively celebrates the achievements of both artists and their managers.
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One of the night’s biggest prizes was the artist and manager partnership award, collected by the Pet Shop Boys and their long-time manager Angela Becker, who has represented the dance pop duo since 2009.
“At a time when we needed it, [Angela] brought into our lives good advice, organization, honesty and strategy to help us carry out some of our strange, spontaneous and willful ideas, and make them into a reality,” singer Neil Tennant told the audience of industry executives, artist managers, entrepreneurs, and invited guests. “She has helped us flourish in those 16 years and we love her for that.” Tennant was joined onstage by his musical partner Chris Lowe and Becker.
“Learning the language of your client’s hopes and fears will open doors to profound impact, ensuring that their work echoes in the hearts of audiences long after,” Becker responded, adding: “I am continually elevated and inspired by the pursuit of new ways to communicate Pet Shop Boys’ vision.”
This year’s icon award was presented to Faith, whose sixth studio album, The Glorification of Sadness, reached No. 2 on the Official U.K. Album Chart in February and who organizers praised for being “political, strong, a true individual, and a brilliant songwriter and artist.”
“Being named an icon is truly an honor and one I certainly don’t feel when I’m at school drop-off and pick-up with yesterday night’s gig makeup halfway down my face and wearing a dirty grey tracksuit,” joked Faith, collecting the award from her long-time manager and “partner-in-crime” Innis Ferguson at Lateral Management.
“Innis is the person who allowed me to become more than a singer. She and the company [Lateral Management] are the reason why I’m winning the award because they don’t just view me as a music artist. They view me as whatever I want to be, whenever I want to be it,” said Faith, who recently published a best-selling book and has previously featured in an acclaimed, fly-on-the-wall BBC documentary. Faith went on to urge other artists to speak out about social and political issues.
“It’s a waste of a platform not to be politically engaged and not use your voice for good,” she told the audience. “Throughout history, musicians have always spoken out about social issues. It should be part of all our work to continue to do that job. It’s our duty. Please do not squander your influence on superficial things alone when you can make the world better.”
Other prizes given out at the ceremony included the fan champion award, which went to Yungblud, Tommas Arnby, Adam Wood and the management team at Special Projects Music, in recognition of their “innovative and hands-on approach to building and nurturing Yungblud’s fanbase.”
“I will do everything for my community, everything is for them. We work every day to try and make them feel safe, to try and make them feel heard and to try and make them feel seen,” said Yungblud, real name Dominic Harrison, in a video acceptance speech filmed in California. Accepting the award in London on his behalf were two of his biggest fans, Corey and Kenya.
British dance duo Chase & Status and their manager Sophie Kennard (Frame Artists) triumphed in the artist and manager team of the year category.
“Management is really a thankless job,” said the band’s Will Kennard. “All artists are a total nightmare and managers have to deal with them day-in and day-out on so many different levels. What they do is really quite heroic, and they don’t really get the recognition they deserve,” he said paying tribute to his “incredible, irreplaceable” manager.
Riverman Management founders Alex Weston and Dave McLean were awarded the prestigious title of managers’ manager in tribute to their successful three-decade long career, which began in the early 1990s when they promoted some of the first U.K. shows by Nirvana, Green Day, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. The company’s artist management roster now includes Friedberg, Dea Matrona, Tom Fleming and Placebo, who the firm has represented since 1995.
“Over the years, with the introduction of technology and with the continuously increasing and expanding workloads, [artist] management has become a job that I sometimes question why any sane person would enter or continue to [do],” said Weston, accepting the managers’ manager award from FAC board director and former member of The Fall, Brix Smith.
“What other job on this planet requires us to have so much wide-ranging knowledge, so many skills and so much responsibility and time invested?” she went on to say. “But we do it because we are 100% committed and passionate about each of the artists we take on and truly believe, against all the odds, we can break them and their music. They are the future of our industry and put their faith and trust in us to help them achieve those ambitions,” said Weston before offering a note of caution to major labels: “Sometimes it’s worth remembering that managers need support too.”
Other winners on the night included British funk group Cymande, who took home the originator award, and Grammy-nominated Scottish musician Sophie, who died in 2021 at age 34. With the blessing of her family, who were present at the awards ceremony, Sophie was posthumously given the pioneer award.
Later in the evening, electronic music producer Barry Can’t Swim (real name Joshua Mainnie) received the breakthrough artist award, while Victoria de Juniac was named breakthrough manager in recognition of her work with Irish singer-songwriter Cian Ducrot.
The ceremony was hosted by BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Remi Burgz and featured live performances from Moonchild Sanelly, BEKA and Hana Lili.
Here’s the full list of winners at the 2024 Artist & Manager Awards:
Artist & Manager Partnership: Pet Shop Boys & Angela Becker (Becker Brown)
Artist & Manager Team of the Year: Chase & Status & Sophie Kennard (Frame Artists)
Icon: Paloma Faith
Managers’ Manager: Riverman Management
Pioneer: SOPHIE (posthumous award)
Originator: Cymande
Fan Champion: Yungblud & Special Projects Music
Breakthrough Artist: Barry Can’t Swim
Breakthrough Manager: Victoria de Juniac (VictoriaBDJ Management)
Secret Weapon: Hope James (Atlas Artists)
Writer / Producer Manager: Ant Hippsley (Milk & Honey)
Team Achievement: Finesse Foreva
Veteran artist manager Peter Rudge started his music career in 1968 when he took up a temporary £20.00 per week ($25.00) post at Track Records, the London-based independent label formed by The Who managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp that was also home to The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Marc Bolan. His original plan was to work at Track for three months while he waited to take the Civil Service entrance exam.
Instead, Rudge soon found himself traveling the world with The Who as their tour manager before going on to manage the group outright alongside Bill Curbishley, launching what would become a 55-year career in the business.
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In the 1970s, Rudge also worked closely with The Rolling Stones, overseeing the band’s huge global tours throughout the decade, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, which he managed from 1973 until the 1977 plane crash that killed several members of the group, including singer Ronnie Van Zant. Other artists he’s represented over the past five decades include Roger Waters, Madness, Duran Duran, Il Divo, Ball & Boe and English rock band James, his longest and closest client which he has managed since 1989.
Last month, Rudge announced he was retiring from artist management to work on other music projects, including co-producing a film documentary about pioneering music agent Frank Barsalona, who is widely credited with revolutionizing the rock concert business.
“I got into business labeled the youngest guy in business and now I’m labeled the oldest guy in the business,” says Rudge, speaking exclusively to Billboard. “I don’t really want to be that. I’ve got nothing left to prove.”
Here, Rudge shares some of the biggest lessons he’s learned from 55 years in “the artist management trenches,” along with some of his favorite stories about life on the road with the Stones, The Who and countless others — from dealing with the deaths of several members of Lynyrd Skynyrd in a 1977 plane crash to becoming a target of the Hells Angels. “I tend to talk a lot,” he says laughing. “My mouth is my instrument.”
“You’ve got to front up to so many egos.”
“Artists are an acquired taste. I love them. I’ve worked with them, but I have to be [like] Henry Kissinger because I’ve spent my entire life translating the artist vision, their wishes to the label, to the publisher, to the agent in two different languages. You could call it an art form but it’s what I was good at. I originally wanted to be a diplomat. But I always wanted to travel, and I loved music. It was the other passion I had besides football, and I saw the opportunity very early [to enter the music business] and I got sucked into it.”
Stand up for yourself and don’t be a pushover.
“The first time I met The Who face to face I was sitting in the Track [Records] office. I had a little desk in an anteroom outside Kit and Chris’ office. Pete Townshend draped his coat over me as if I was a coat stand and walked into the office without looking at me. I thought, ‘How do I deal with this?’ So, I threw it at him and said, ‘You’ve left something behind.’ And he just broke into a smile. You’re constantly tested in life, and I was never intimidated in that way. [James’ singer] Tim Booth says I’m always the loudest guy in the room, but you’ve got to take control. When an artist asks a question, they don’t want you to say, ‘I don’t have the answer.’ You’re there for a purpose and you can’t show a lot of weakness or vulnerability because that will get exploited and taken advantage of.
“We all know the manager is on the thin end of the legal contractual chain in this business. The manager is always the buffer [between the artist and record company, agent and promoter]. But if the record goes wrong or the tour loses a lot of money, it’s the manager who usually takes the bullet in the head. Most of my bands have fired me at one point or another. You’re not 55 years in the business and don’t get fired.”
Nothing compares to touring with The Rolling Stones in the 1970s.
“They got me in for the ‘72 tour. They never had a manager. Mick’s been the only manager of the Stones, to be honest. My brief was the ’72 tour but also you went across everything with Mick [Jagger]. He would come to you and say, ‘Pete, what do you think about this or that?’ He’d play everybody off against everybody — in a lovely way. I’ve got a massive amount of respect for Mick Jagger. We did the Exile on Main St. tour and that was successful, and I toured with them all through the Seventies. Marshall Chess was running the record company [Rolling Stones Records] and Mick would always use me to come in and I’d work with Atlantic Records. I did a little bit of everything, but my main thing was the tours, and we did some big shows.”
Always plan ahead.
“I used to have to get off the plane first, when it was on the runway, because we were always worried about getting busted [for drugs] and Keith [Richards] getting done in particular. I’d go to a pay phone and call the number of another pay phone in the city somewhere where the advance man was. I’d say, ‘Are we clear? Do you think the police are there? Is anyone in the hotel?’ And that was it — get off the plane, let’s go. It was like [British sitcom] Dad’s Army when you look back at it now. It was incredible but we were playing to 70,000 people every night.”
“The Stones are the exception to most of the rules.”
“1978 was my last [Stones] tour. I’d run my course with them, to be honest. Bill Graham took over. Then Michael Cohl. I was young and I probably screwed up. I should have been more responsible in terms of drink and things of that nature. You get caught up in that world. It’s a very intoxicating world. But they were phenomenal years… The Stones are the exception to most of the rules. They’ve got the best frontman who ever existed. And a guitarist who’s led every indulgent rock and roll fantasy life and who is going to outlive us all. For me, that’s the great rock and roll story — that Keith Richards is going to be the last man standing.”
“Live is the one authentic thing in the music business”
“You can basically manipulate everything else. I’d forgive a band a bad record. But when I saw them live, if I got them, I was with them forever. And I thought that about The Who. If The Who came along now, they’d probably be dropped after their second album. They were too inconsistent. They were too stubborn. They didn’t sell a lot of records. It was a very transitional stage and the thing that kept it all together was live. That connects the dots. So, I took that mantra into all the artists I’ve worked with… Lynyrd Skynyrd were a bar band. A bunch of scruffy kids from Jacksonville. No style. No image. But God could they play. And God was Ronnie Van Zant good live. And God did he connect with his audience. It was amazing. So that’s always fueled me. That’s always been where my passion lies and that’s what I took into [managing] the James guys. If a band is good live you’ve got some collateral to fall back on.”
Find a supportive financier to write the checks.
“I look back at [managing] The Who and we never cared about [promoting] the record. They just went and toured. And they were running at a huge loss, in some respects because [Pete] Townshend smashed up his guitars all the time. They beat up the equipment. They had no consideration for money and the reason that we were able to tour the U.S. and Europe out of cycle was because they found a bank manager in Ealing [London] who kept giving them overdrafts. He did it because he was a huge Who fan. Back in the day, we wouldn’t let the labels backstage. Jesus, they were a pain in the neck. I remember with the Stones there was a time when Ahmet [Ertegun, co-founder and legendary former president of Atlantic Records] never got a pass. It was a different time.”
Managing artists can sometimes be a hairy business.
“The Hells Angels came after me because I was the first guy to take over [managing The Rolling Stones] after Altamont [Free Concert]. I remember once they came into the office. Big Vinny [Vincent Girolamo] was 300 pounds. He had a nose ring. Jagger was there and he went and hid in the back bathroom. They hung me out of the window, 5th floor, 57th Street, by my ankle. I went to someone and said, ‘The Angels are after me. What can I do?’ And they said, ‘You’ve got to tell the FBI,’ which I did. The FBI said, ‘We’ll wire you up’ because the Angels wanted money to pay off legal fees. I remember a great quote the FBI played me back later on the tape where one of the [Hells Angels] said, ‘We like to cook young guys like you. We like to boil you.’ It was intimidating, but I bullshitted my way out of it.
“In the end, I was put in touch with [someone in] one of the, shall we say, New York families who was the father of a promoter that we used — a really high-level ranking guy. They sent someone down and said, ‘Leave him alone.’ And I never heard from [the Hells Angels] again, except in Europe we used to get them coming along but our guys used to handle it quite well. The guy that helped me out on that, the father of the promoter, was found three years later in the Hudson [River] without his head.”
“The only real gift you can give an artist is truth and objectivity.”
“There are moments where you have to be prepared to be fired or disagree and say, ‘Look, you’re wrong.’ I’m your eyes and your ears. I’m your radar. No one tells you the truth. They tell me the truth when you walk out of the room. Have you ever heard anyone in a room tell you anything other than, ‘That’s a great record?’ No, you haven’t. Have you ever come off stage and had anyone tell you, ‘That was a shit show?’ No, they haven’t.’ You’ve got to have someone who is telling you that. With James we had that relationship. We built it up over a long time and it’s based on trust. Some artists can accept it, and others can’t.”
“This business is all about relationships.”
“You’re going to see everybody on the way down that you saw on the way up. So don’t burn bridges and don’t beat people up when you’re in the position to. I could have been accused over the years of being a bastard. And, yes, I was at times. I was probably alcohol or drug fueled back in the ‘70s but so was everybody. I did jump on [former CBS Records chief executive] Walter Yetnikoff’s desk once and point my finger at him but that was the way you did things back then. I wouldn’t do it now. I feel now you don’t mug someone. You pick their pockets.”
Management can be a thankless job.
“I’m 78 now. I want to travel on my own terms because [artist] management — it’s not your life. It’s not your agenda. You’re constantly having to manage other people’s lives. You very rarely get an artist who will ever call you up and say, ‘Pete, how’s the family?’ It’s usually: ‘I know it’s Sunday morning but how do I get a cab?’ I’ve always said, you can negotiate a $5 million publishing contract for an artist but if the car you send them to go to the signing is late, you’re a bad manager. And you have to have that in the back of your head all the time. It’s insane.”
“You sacrifice a lot in this business.”
“I want to do other projects, but I want them to have a beginning and an end. I don’t want it seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. You sacrifice a lot in this business. I was on the road nonstop when my two kids were growing up. I hardly saw them. I’ve been separated because of that dysfunctionality of living half the time in America, half the time in England…It is exhausting. You wake up every morning to questions and it is Groundhog Day after a while. There’s really nothing you haven’t seen before. I think you get a little cynical and that’s not healthy in our business.”
Dysfunction isn’t always a bad thing.
“Bands that love each other break up out of boredom after three albums. When I promoted a Pink Floyd show they didn’t even want their trailers backstage in sight of each other. With Mick and Keith, I was involved in an album when they were never in the studio together at the same time. James are the most dysfunctional bunch of guys I’ve ever met. But when these bands get on stage, when they cross that white line, something special happens that I’ve always been in awe of.”
There’ll be many lows…
“The saddest point of my life, the worst, was the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash one week before they were going to headline Madison Square Garden [in 1977]. Bands south of the Mason–Dixon line didn’t get to play places like New York then and we were about to play it. That was a longstanding mission. I loved that band. I loved Ronnie Van Zant. That did break me.”
And many highs.
“The highs? There’s been so many. I’ve worked with some magnificent artists and some of the Roger Waters, Lynyrd Skynyrd or Duran Duran shows [were special]. James at Rock in Rio this summer was quite a moment for me. But nothing tops some of the Stones stuff. You know, Jagger leading a 200 people conga line down the LA Forum doing ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ [in 1975] was unbelievable. There’s been so many of those moments with so many bands. I have to say the last James tour when they sold out [London’s] The O2 [arena] and the Manchester Co-op Live — that gave me immense satisfaction and pride. It was the wonderful culmination of a 35-year journey.”
Former MNRK Music Group president/CEO Chris Taylor has officially opened the doors on his next venture, Hall of Fame Artists, which is currently managing artists with plans to expand into the recording, publishing and multimedia sectors.
Hall of Fame’s roster of approximately 30 acts includes much-sampled U.K. soul and funk legends Cymande, who are enjoying a resurgence in popularity, Canadian lo-fi rapper and streaming sensation, Powfu, who has 8.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify; jazz pianist and composer, Kiefer, electro pop star, Lights, and stand-up comic Brittany Brave.
Taylor, who resigned from Blackstone-owned MNRK this past summer and took its management division with him, technically opened Hall of Fame in July, but says he chose not to publicize it. Five months later, he told Billboard he has team members based in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Vancouver and the United Kingdom. They include music and comedy industries veteran Keith Hagan, a longtime publicist and marketing strategist for acts like Kenny Rogers, Paul McCartney, TOTO and Paul Weller; touring and merchandise expert Sarah Osgoode (Tragically Hip, Arkells, Lights); radio promotion exec, Polo Brewster (Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Tory Lanez); and marketing team members, Kultar “KC” Chohan and Kate Stronczer.
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“There has never been a better time to be an independent operator in the music industry,” Taylor says. “We are providing a full suite of services that clients can take full advantage of. Everybody is talking about how easy it is to do everything yourself, and I think there’s a lot of truth to that. But there are so many tools now to manage and having experience with those is vital, and I think it’s very difficult for artists to do it all on their own.”
Taylor compares navigating the music industry to negotiating tax regulations. You can master them, but they are changing all the time,” he says. ,n the music business you can master TikTok, Instagram, Spotify, Apple and all the other platforms out there, but they’re changing all the time. How does an artist stay on top of that? I don’t think they do without a team.
The company is in the process of signing their first artists to the recording and publishing divisions. Expect many more exciting updates from the company as the road to the hall of fame gets constructed.
While at MNRK, Taylor’s team worked with The Lumineers, Pitbull, Chromeo, Zakk Wylde and the estate of Chuck Berry. Originally branded Entertainment One (eOne), the company was acquired for a reported $4 billion, and in 2021, Taylor led the sale of the eOne/Hasbro Music division — which he ran, to Blackstone for a reported $385 million. Prior to his work with those companies, Prior to MNRK, he was the music attorney for Drake, Kaytranada, Avril Lavigne, Three Days Grace, Sum 41 and Nelly Furtado.
Taylor says Hall of Fame is in the process of signing its first two artists to its recorded music and publishing divisions. “For now we’re prepared to do this brick by brick,” he says. “Then we plan to scale up swiftly.”
Maria Becerra has shuffled her management, Billboard has learned.
The Argentine star and her longtime manager, José Levy, have amicably parted ways. Becerra will now be co-managed by Natanael Real, who was been her longtime day-to-day manager, along with veteran Mexican manager Armando Lozano, who steps into a bigger role after working two years as a consultant for the artist for all territories outside Argentina.
“I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to María for placing her trust in me over nearly seven years, from the very beginning. It has been a true pleasure and honor to be part of her professional journey, and I wish her every success in this new chapter,” Levy told Billboard in a statement.
In turn, Lozano, who until recently also managed Mau & Ricky, said: “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to join María in this exciting new phase of her career. I am confident that remarkable achievements await her, further cementing her place as the global star she truly is.”
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Added Real: “From the start, I’ve been inspired by María’s extraordinary talent and charisma. It is a privilege to support her in this new chapter and help her reach even greater heights.”
Becerra started her career as a YouTuber in her native Argentina as a tween, posting all kinds of content that included music covers. By 17, she was focusing only on music and started working with Levy. In 2021, at 21, she released her debut album, Animal via 300 Entertainment and earned a Latin Grammy nomination for best new artist.
In 2023, Becerra signed a deal with Warner Music Latina as a joint venture with 300 Entertainment, still managed by Levy, and also received the Visionary Award at Billboard’s inaugural Latin Women In Music event.
Becerra is in the midst of her first major U.S. tour and released new singles with Yandel (“El sexo está de moda”) and Gloria Trevi (“Borracha”), the latter which she performed at the Billboard Latin Music Awards in October.
She currently has 24 million monthly listeners on Spotify, making her 240 in the world on the platform. Becerra has multiple entries on the Billboard charts, including two No. 1s on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart.
Chappell Roan has split with her management team, sources confirm to Billboard.
The news comes after the breakout star scored her first slate of Grammy nominations, including in all of the Big Four categories. Her 2023 debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, will compete for album of the year while her hit “Good Luck, Babe!” is up for record and song of the year. Roan is also a contender for best new artist.
Roan’s nods were notably left off a congratulatory post shared from the Instagram account for State Of the Art — the company Roan was previously signed to, with Nick Bobetsky as her manager. Bobetsky met Roan in 2018, and as he previously told Billboard, “Her immense talent was clear immediately.”
Bobetsky had a front-row seat as Roan’s career took off and she racked up milestones including her first Billboard Hot 100 top 10 (“Good Luck, Babe!”), a top 5 entry for Midwest Princess on the Billboard 200 and record-breaking festival crowds, among other accomplishments.
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Most recently — in addition to her Grammy nominations — Roan made her musical guest debut on Saturday Night Live, where she performed an unreleased country-leaning pop song titled “The Giver.” At her Governors Ball festival set this summer in New York, she performed another unreleased track titled “Subway.” In an August interview with Music Business Worldwide, Bobetsky shared that the artist is “busy writing” new material.
Roan’s rise has had its fair share of frustrations, too. The artist has publicly spoken out about the toxicity of fandoms and “predatory” interactions she has had. In a note posted to Instagram this August, she wrote: “When I’m on stage, when I’m performing, when I’m in drag, when I’m at a work event, when I’m doing press … I am at work. Any other circumstance, I am not in work mode…I don’t agree with the notion that I owe a mutual exchange of energy, time, or attention to people I do not know, do not trust, or who creep me out — just because they’re expressing admiration.”
She then wrote in the caption: “I’m not afraid of the consequences for demanding respect. Just to let you know, every woman is feeling or has felt similar to what I’m experiencing. This isn’t a new situation. If you see me as a b—- or ungrateful or my entire statement upsets you, baby that’s you… you gotta look inward and ask yourself ‘wait why am I so upset by this? Why is a girl expressing her fears and boundaries so infuriating?’ That is all.”
DannyLux is expanding his management team, Billboard can confirm. The Mexican American singer-songwriter adds D Luna Music to VPS Music — his home label since launching his career in 2020 — in a new partnership. Under the leadership of José Luis Aguilar (VPS) Daniel Luna (D Luna), the deal “aims to elevate the artist to new […]
Drew Baldridge, who earned a top 5 hit on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart with his independently-released song “She’s Somebody’s Daughter,” has partnered with BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville in releasing his new song, “Tough People,” which goes for radio adds Nov. 4 via Stoney Creek Records. Baldridge has also signed with Left | Right Management for representation. He […]
Gonzo Lübel, an L.A.-based artist manager who represented acts including The Marías and Peach Tree Rascals, tragically died in a plane crash Tuesday (Oct. 8) on Catalina Island. He was 34.
“The entire Red Light family is devastated by this loss and our hearts go out to Gonzo’s family, friends and all those who knew and worked with him,” said Red Light in an Instagram post. “Gonzo truly had the biggest of hearts and was a beloved member of our team. A kind individual, he was a friend to all whom he encountered. His positive impact on all of us will be remembered forever.”
Lübel, who had worked at Red Light Management for roughly three years, also represented several other artists at the firm, including Inner Wave and Cash Bently. Outside of his work in the music industry, friends say he was a lover of animals — especially his foster dog Virgil — and enjoyed flying planes.
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In a tribute on Instagram, The Marías said of Lübel’s passing: “rest in peace gonzi. thank you for always being undeniably you. the animals in heaven are so lucky they get to spend their days with you.”
In a subsequent post, the bilingual alt-pop band added: “our manager, friend and family for six years, but a part of us forever. you were there for all of our firsts. our first project, our first tour, our first headline show, our first sold out show, our first million streams, our first coachella, our first album, our first grammy nomination. thank you.”
Joseph Barros, a member of Peach Tree Rascals, also shared a tribute to Lübel via an Instagram story, saying, “It’s hard to accept you’re not here with us anymore, but I’m grateful to have met such a genuine soul I could call my brother your spirit lives on in me from all the beautiful memories we made. You always told me you believed in me & I promise I’ll make you proud. love you Gonzito. rest in peace.”
This Trip Travel, a company that hosts retreats for music industry professionals, also shared a carousel of photos of Lübel at last year’s manager summit in Mexico with the caption: “Gonzo was a true one of a kind. A brilliant manager, a caring friend and a heart of gold… We love you Gonzo, we’ll hold you in our hearts forever.”
Lübel is survived by his mother Mariana Garcia, his brother Federico Lübel, nieces Mila and Lucia Lübel, wife Cristina Pillajo and best friend Sandy Kanphantha.