(Pictured left to right) John Boyle, Darryl Eaton, Jazz Spinder, Maria May, Bobby Koehler, Hunter Williams, Mac Clark, Rob Light (Photo Credit: EDMBiz Conference)
REPORTING FROM LAS VEGAS — The EDMBiz Conference at Caesar’s Palace saw the Creative Artists Agency panel on June 15, bringing together the agency’s electronic dance music’s division to discuss their approach to the meteoric growth of this genre.
Moderator John Boyle, chief growth officer and interim CFO at Insomniac, brought up the point that given the “Goliath”-size of CAA itself, the agency could have bought another EDM agency, but decided to take a chance and grow their own division in-house.
Rob Light, managing partner and head of worldwide music at CAA, agreed that much was at stake for EDM three years ago, and that moving into this space meant sizable heights to climb if CAA was going to be successful.
“When I was here three years ago,” Light said, speaking on the last time he attended the EDMBiz Conference, “I made a statement at the end of my keynote that this business was at a crossroads.” With at most five headliners at the time, Light said EDM’s status was in danger, unless a new generation of headliners came forward.
With the obvious success that has permeated the field since then, Light had great things to say to everyone who has made it happen.
“I congratulate everyone in this industry,” Light said, “and all of you out there for actually taking up that call and doing an incredible job to bring some incredibly new, great talent to this business.”
With the internal effort for an EDM division spear-headed by Darryl Eaton, co-head of contemporary music at CAA, the agency has brought together an eclectic range of talents. They include Mac Clark, a music agent with experience in investment banking and DJing himself, Jazz Spinder, a former organizer for underground raves, Hunter Williams, Bobby Koehler, and Maria May, a music agent with over 20 years of experience and a sitting position on the board of the Association for Electronic Music.
May said that the three years CAA’s EDM division has been around broke through a “glass ceiling” for what she could do for her clients, which include David Guetta, Robin Schulz, and Oliver Heldens, among others.
“I finally met some people that were the same as me in a sense, that believed in honesty and integrity, if that’s possible in this business,” May said. She went on to say that the fact CAA represented a massive team that could speak the same language and perform with a synergy gives her the sense that they are just getting started, even after three years.
The panel discussed The Chainsmokers recent achievements as a winning testament to how their agency operates, and how Pretty Lights served as a template for this success.
Clark said a young assistant in New York was the first person to talk to him about The Chainsmokers. Even though the duo had not written any original content yet, the passion was obvious, and the duo’s vision was appealing to Clark when he took a meeting with them.
He leaned on his team members to secure the right level of talent for different events, which radio stations to approach to play their music, and their effect on festival performances as well as hard ticket sales. When “Roses” was written and about to be released, Clark and Hunter Williams planned a three-month tour off of that release alone.
The Chainsmokers have since appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which demonstrated a great inner-partnership within CAA as they represent Fallon as well. The Chainsmokers can now be counted on to sell hard ticket shows around the world, which Light said is key to locking in longterm careers, revenue and fans.
He said Williams brought his ability to do all of this with Pretty Lights as a blueprint, and that they are now looking at acts like Twenty One Pilots to replicate the success, as they fill 2,000-12,000 capacity venues currently.
“There’s constant discussion,” Light said, “about where do they play, what do we charge, how do you balance a festival appearance versus a headline appearance?” He said this started from the beginning of their career.
Bobby Koehler said that the model for this success does not necessarily have a one-size-fits-all approach either. With Rüfüs, another breakout act, Koehler cited an “electronic model” where a label is not essential to success. Once a viral hit is achieved, according to Koehler, artists can leverage that success when meeting with labels for a potential partnership.
On the other side of up-and-coming artists, Light said that when it comes to signing established acts, he is not in the business of poaching.
“Most of you won’t believe what I’m about to say,” said Light, “but I say it on my five kids: we don’t wake up any day saying, ‘Who can we go steal from someone else?’ I don’t believe a client ever believes that’s happened.”
While Light said their competitors will call up artists to see if they are happy where they are, CAA does not do this. However, they do not turn down artists who approach them.
“But the reality is when you’re in the marketplace,” said Light, “and you’re at a festival like this weekend or anywhere, someone is going to come up to you and say, ‘Boy, I love what you did here; I’m not really getting service, can we talk?’ And if someone opens that door, then we’re going to have that conversation and try to bring a different point of view. And sometimes we’re going to win. Sometimes we’re not. We want to be in business with people who want to be in business with us at the end of the day.”
Light also said that the appearance of The Chainsmokers as the first DJs on The Tonight Show is especially attractive to other managers.
“So when that happens the phone rings,” Light said. “How did they make that happen and it didn’t happen for us? It’s not us going out, it’s us just doing great work and hoping that it permeates.”
With so much change coming from cross pollination (Clark said hip hop has “drastically changed” how his agency approaches touring live acts in the last three to four years) and no defined rules for the field (Williams: “There’s no textbook on how to be an agent.”), Jazz Spinder said instincts are the most crucial part he sees in making the best of his work.
With Facebook likes, Soundcloud plays, and YouTube streams garnering so much attention in today’s world, Spinder said that, “it really all boils down to what does your gut say? Sometimes you’ve got to cancel out all of that noise and follow your gut, and really stick to your guns.”
Light agreed, and shared that a deep appreciation for the music itself breeds more of the same. He said he was recently in London talking to Adam French about their favorite performances they had seen, music they loved, and the like. After walking him out to his car, French told Light that after having met nine different agents at five different agencies, “You’re the first agent who ever told me he loved music.”
Light said that wherever a person starts from, the music business can be extremely hard. Regardless, he said the enthusiasm and love for music in every person on the panel with him was obvious, even after they looked “beat to a pulp” after a big festival.
“What we’ve accomplished in three years comes from that,” said Light.
Interviewed for this article: John Boyle (323) 874-7020; Mac Clark, (424) 288-2000; Darryl Eaton, (424) 288-2000; Bobby Koehler, (424) 288-2000; Rob Light, (424) 288-2000; Maria May (424) 288-2000; Jazz Spinder, (424) 288-2000; Hunter Williams, (424) 288-2000.