RIM 4810 - Talent Agencies

History of Talent Agencies

Prof. Charlie B. Dahan

Intro

❖ link to lecture slides:

Three Eras of Talent Agencies*

❖ Before 1975: Music only focus

❖ 1962 - 1975: development of popular music as a major event.

❖ 1975 - 2010: Entertainment Conglomeration

❖ 2010+: Multimedia / Diversification

2013 Top Agencies

Based on 2013 Pollstar Top 100 Grossing Tours: http://www.pollstarpro.com/files/charts2013/2013YearEndTop100WorldwideTours.pdf

Messina Group / AEG

To Me the Modern Talent Agent Begins with…

Frank Barcelona

Sid Bernstein

Frank Barcelona

The Only Agent In Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Started at GAC

1964 founded Premier Talent Agency (sold to Wm. Morris in 2002)

Frank Barcelona

The Only Agent In Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Saw that musicians' compensation and treatment improved whereby they could earn a significant portion of their living through touring and not be dependent on record companies and selling records. He is also credited with improving the fan experience through working with managers and venues to upgrade the quality of live rock performances.

http://www.musicnewsnet.com/2012/11/legendary-rock-agent-frank-barcelona-passes-away.html

Frank Barcelona

The Only Agent In Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Dave Marsh "Frank Barcelona had a vision: acts and promoters and record companies working in coordination to build careers. Rock performers now had an economic base outside of the record companies, they had the time and money and facilities to upgrade the quality of their shows.”

http://www.musicnewsnet.com/2012/11/legendary-rock-agent-frank-barcelona-passes-away.html

Sid Bernstein

Not Just the Beatles…Started at GAC.

In 1962, he took a course on Democracy at the New School of Social Research that required him to read foreign newspapers.

In the entertainment section of the Daily Express he read about the hysteria there the Beatles were generating.

The Beatles First Tour - 1964$6,500 for 2 shows a day.Bob Hope = $25,000 per show

Kids camped out for tix

Sold out in 40 minutes (2800 tix) - could have sold out 5 nights easy. Made seats on stage available.

The Ed Sullivan Show

Then…

The Most Important Concert Ever

❖ Based on Carnegie success, Bernstein envisioned a stadium show (Madison Square Garden).

❖ Shea Stadium = 55,000 seats. Bernstein had to guarantee that every single one would be sold or pay $10 per each unsold ticket (tickets were ~$5.00).

❖ Sold out via word of mouth & tickets sold through a PO Box. $0 spent on advertising.

The Most Important Concert Ever

The Big Boys

In The Beginning…❖ 1975 - Former William Morris Agents,

Michael Ovitz, Mike Rosenfeld, Ron Meyer

❖ Represented actors

❖ “Be a team player and return phone calls promptly”

❖ As students of Japanese management techniques, they teach fellow agents to suppress individual ego, Hollywood's bane, in the service of the agency and its clients. As consummate insiders, they despise publicity and often conceal their methods from even close associates in the tiny community of deal makers.

In The Beginning…❖ CAA fought back by raiding clients

from the bigger rivals and merging with a company owned by veteran agent Martin Baum, who brought the young agency its first significant movie clients, including Sidney Poitier and Peter Sellers in 1977.

❖ Ovitz “(The clients) become the motor, and we really are like the body around the car. We try to shape it with them. But they make the choices. We make suggestions, there's no question. But we never make singular suggestions. We suggest alternatives. If there's a director, we suggest an actor. If it's an actor, we suggest a director. If it's just an idea and an actor, we'll suggest a writer. . . . You see the permutations."

CAA & Music

❖ Formed Concert Division at the end of 1983

❖ Headed by Tom Ross

❖ Because there became “… a tremendous crossover between music and the TV & motion picture fields in which CAA has specialized.”

CAA & Music❖ Ross came to CAA via

A.P.A., A.B.C. & Int’l Famous / ICM

❖ Helped the business change from a flat fee club to fee plus % in arenas thanks to working with Peggy Fleming

❖ Quickly grew CAA into the largest music talent agency in the US

Tom Ross & Starting CAA Music Division

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/videos/tom+ross

2010

❖ Private equity firm TPG acquired a 35% stake in CAA for $165 million.

❖ Equity helped CAA expand internationally & into sports (including Jay-Z’s Roc Nation)

Rob LightCAA’s head of music and managing partner

Took over from mentor Tom Ross in 1998, who retired.

CAA reps over twice as many artists as it nearest competitor on the Pollstar Top Tour charts of 2013.

John Huie

CAA Nashville

Pollstar Third Coast Agent of the Year

Founded FBI with Ian Copeland in 1972.

Started the John Huie Agency in 1985

In the Beginning…

❖ Started in 1898

❖ Entered music in 1965 w/ The Rolling Stones, Beach Boys & Byrds

❖ Opened Nashville office in 1973

WMA Agent Training Program

❖ Established in the 1940s

❖ ‘The Mailroom’ - new hires rotate their way through the mailroom, to assistant agent and coordinator.

❖ "The Harvard School of Show Business - only better: no grades, no exams, a small stipend and great placement opportunities."

❖ Alumni include Michael Ovitz, & David Geffen

“Inventing David Geffen”

April 2009

Endeavor orchestrated a take-over of WMA. Eventually WMA head, Jim Wiatt, stepped aside.

“Endeavor brought leadership skills, swagger & a sense of collective purpose that re-energized the combined company”

Endeavor Talent Agency

❖ Founded in 1995

❖ Ari Emanuel, Rick Rosen, Tom Strickler, and David Greenblatt

❖ All were TV agents at ICM

❖ Emanuel started as a trainee at CAA. He was a partner at InterTalent and senior agent at ICM

The Emanuel Brothers - “Rock Center”http://bit.ly/1hJ2riz

2012

Sold 31% of WME to private equity firm Silverlake for $200 million.

Motivation: “Gain access to capital and a more sophisticated view of potential acquisition and investment opportunities.”

Merger / Acquisition & Partnerships

The Merging / Partnerships Never StopBuilt partnerships with such tech companies as The Audience (social media marketing), Chaotic Moon (apps & mobile development), and Open Sky (e-commerce platform)

Dec. 2013 - WME acquires IMG for 2.3 billion (IMG reps Taylor Swift, Peyton Manning, Justin Timberlake & Joe Mauer)

2014

Opens Christian Music Division in NashvilleHeaded by Mike Snider

- formerly co-head of Paradigm Nashville (after they acquired Third Coast Artist Agency)

Marc Geiger

Head of Music, WMEStarted at Triad Agency

Founded Lollapalooza w/ Perry Farrell

1991, Exec VP of A&R at American Recordings

2000 - 3, CEO ARTISTdirect - high traffic e-commerce site, talent agency & label

2003 - Senior VP at WMA

2/2/14 - 6:15 (ET) MIDEM keynote “20 Years of Pain. No More Fooling Around: The Definitive Future of the Music Business.”

May 2013

WME Taunts CAA with ‘CAAN'T’ Poster Blitz, Website

The Westfield Century City mall in L.A. has been the unlikely battleground for an advertising blitz which has reportedly seen dozens of ads posted with the words "CAAN'T" -- a play on CAA’s initials and rendered in the agency’s familiar red-and-white colors.

ICM was formed in 1975 through the merger of Creative Management Associates and International Famous Agency

In 2012, the agency completed a management buyout from private equity firm Rizvi and formed a partnership with the new name, ICM Partners.

Steve Levine,Partner / Head

of Concerts Dept.

❖ Founded in 1986 (as QBQ Ent.) by CEO Dennis Arfa, Artist Group International ("AGI") is a leading live entertainment agency that books an expansive roster of musicians, comedians, and sporting events worldwide.

❖ Arfa was co-head of music at William Morris.

❖ AGI was acquired by Y Entertainment Group in 2012, a music investment & entertainment firm.

Paradigm

❖ Paradigm was founded in 1982

❖ Headed by Sam Gores

❖ Founded SGA

Paradigm Buys…

Paradigm is the result of several agencies that Gores started, purchased and merged with (SGA, Jack Fields, ATM & Assoc., Ellis Industries)

2004 - acquired industry heavyweight, Monterey Peninsula.

- Monterey International remains as a stand alone agency

Paradigm Buys…

Paradigm is the result of several agencies that Gores started, purchased and merged with (SGA, Jack Fields, ATM & Assoc., Ellis Industries)

2004 - acquired industry heavyweight, Monterey Peninsula. - Monterey International remains as a stand alone agency

2009 - acquired Third Coast Artists Agency (the largest independent Christian Music agency) based in Nashville.

2012 - developed joint venture with AM Only, a leading EDM agency. One of the key agents is Lee Anderson.

Chip Hooper

Was at Monterey Peninsula at the time of the purchase.

Overseeing development of EDM division with AM Only

❖ Founded by Tom Windish in 2004 in Chicago

❖ Spent 7 years as an agent at The Billions Corp.

❖ emerged as one of the most innovative leaders in key aspects of the music industry – touring and connecting with fans – and is committed to the sustainable, long-term success of its artists, concert promoters, partners and the internal talent that is at the heart of the company.

❖ Opened a Music Licensing division.

❖ Tom Windish was named to Billboard’s 40 under 40 in 2012

Building a Touring Strategy with Tom Windish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hgPfGj2Vbc