Bang Si-Hyuk
CEO/executive producer,
Big Hit Entertainment
BTS continued to rise globally in 2019,
with the K-pop boy band becoming the
first group since The Beatles to score
three Billboard 200 No. 1s in under a year.
Meanwhile, Bang, 47, diversified his South
Korean company’s exploding business:
Big Hit premiered its first new group since
BTS with Tomorrow X Together (which
topped Billboard’s World Albums chart),
acquired Source Music (a subsidiary label
that’s home to high-charting girl group
GFriend) and launched the mobile game
BTS World — all while reporting, in August,
record revenue of $172 million for the first
half of 2019.
Stuart Camp
Manager, Ed Sheeran
Camp’s superstar client Sheeran broke even
more records in 2019 when the singer’s
255-date ÷ (Divide) tour — which wrapped
Aug. 26 with the last of four shows in his
hometown of Ipswich, England — became
the highest-earning trek of all time, with a
global gross of $776 million and 8.9 million
tickets sold. The year closed with Spotify
naming Sheeran’s “Shape of You” its most-
streamed song of the decade: 2.3 billion
streams, according to the service.
Coran Capshaw
Founder, Red Light Management
Red Light’s roster of road-tested acts
racked up big box-office numbers in 2019
— Dave Matthews Band, Chris Stapleton
and Phish grossed a combined $128 mil-
lion. Capshaw’s longtime partnership with
Matthews, his first client, also continues
to flourish: Their label, ATO Records —
which celebrates its 20th year in 2020
— scored with Brittany Howard, who
ruled Billboard’s Triple A airplay chart
with her single “Stay High” in October,
and neo-soul band Black Pumas, which
garnered a best new artist Grammy nod
that same month, while DMB received an
October nomination for the Rock & Roll
Hall of Fame’s class of 2020. In December,
Tom Petty’s widow and two daughters
announced that Capshaw’s independent
artist-management company, which
remains the industry’s largest, will handle
the late rocker’s estate. Meanwhile, Red
Light remains manager of Garcia Family
LLC, part of the estate of the late Grateful
Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. His heirs plan
to introduce a cannabis brand. Says Cap-
shaw, 61: “We’ve had success launching
multiple artist-affiliated brands, and the
announcement of the Garcia cannabis line
is our latest.”
Andrew Gertler
Founder/CEO, AG Artists
In 2019, Gertler, 31, helped core client
Shawn Mendes succeed on the charts,
the concert stage and as a philanthro-
pist. The singer had his highest-charting
Billboard Hot 100 hits to date with the
No. 1 “Señorita” (with Camila Cabello) and
the No. 2 “If I Can’t Have You.” He played
his first sold-out stadium shows during
Shawn Mendes: The Tour, which earned
over $96.7 million. And in August, Gertler
launched the Shawn Mendes Foundation
with $1 million in funding to “support youth
change-makers and causes important to
Shawn’s audience, like the environment and
mental health,” says Gertler.
Aubrey “Drake” Graham
Co-founder, OVO/OVO Sound
Adel “Future the Prince” Nur
Manager, Drake
Noah “40” Shebib
Co-founder, OVO/OVO Sound; producer
Oliver El-Khatib
Co-founder, OVO/OVO Sound
Mr. Morgan
President, OVO Sound
Drake, 33, followed up the global success
of his 2018 album, Scorpion (which logged
all 25 of its tracks on the Hot 100), with the
August release of Care Package, on which
El-Khatib and Shebib, both 36, worked
as executive producers and Mr. Morgan
offered an assist. The set became Drake’s
ninth No. 1 on the Billboard 200. One of the
dominant streaming artists of the past de-
cade, Drake has also shaped the landscape
for experimental hip-hop. With his new
single “Life Is Good” with Future, Drake
gained his 207th hit on the Hot 100 in Janu-
ary — tying the record that the cast of Glee
had set for the most career entries.
Chris Kappy
Founder, Make Wake Artists
Lynn Oliver-Cline
Founder, River House Artists
Luke Combs, jointly managed by Kappy, 47,
and Oliver-Cline, 46, had his biggest year
yet in 2019: He earned his seventh career
No. 1 single on Country Airplay; took home
the new male artist and male vocalist of the
year honors at, respectively, the Academy
of Country Music and Country Music Asso-
ciation Awards; and notched a No. 1 debut
on the Billboard 200 with sophomore al-
bum What You See Is What You Get, which
bowed with 74 million on-demand audio
streams. “Luke paved the way for artists to
be themselves and to take risks with their
music,” says Oliver-Cline.
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
Chairman/CEO, Parkwood Entertainment
Steve Pamon
President/COO, Parkwood Entertainment
During the past year, Beyoncé’s Parkwood
Entertainment has partnered on projects
CAMP
CAPSHAW
GERTLER
DRAKE
MORGAN
SHEBIB
EL-KHATIB
NUR
KAPPY
OLIVER-CLINE
BEYONCÉ
PAMON
BANG
“Artists don’t really have a seat at any table.
Just the fact that we have a powerful group of people
will scare everyone else to the table.”
—IRVING AZOFF, who, in July 2019 — along with fellow talent managers CORAN CAPSHAW and
JOHN SILVA; a group of artists that includes Don Henley, Dave Matthews, Maren Morris, Anderson
.Paak and Meghan Trainor; and a number of industry executives and attorneys — formed the Music
Artists Coalition to advocate for and protect artists’ rights. The organization hired Jack Quinn, former
White House counsel under the Clinton administration, as its president; partnered with the RIAA
and American Association of Independent Music to secure an amendment to California’s AB5 “gig
economy” law affecting independent artists, songwriters and producers; and spoke out in support of
Taylor Swift over her claims that her former record label Big Machine had prevented her from perform-
ing a medley of her hits at the American Music Awards.
POWER MOVE
The Music
Artists
Coalition
Muscles In
Morris (left)
and Azoff
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96 BILLBOARD • JANUARY 25, 2020
BANG:^ COURTESY^OFBIGHITENTERTAINMENT.CAMP:ZAKARYWALTERS.^ C
APSHAW:^ SARAHCRAMERSHIELDS.^ G
ERTLER:^ JOSIAH^VANDIEN.GRAHAM:^ MIKE^MARSLAND/WIREIMAGE.SHEBIB:STEVE^ GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE.^ELKHATIB:^ OVO.^ P
RINCE,MORGAN:^ JOHNNY^NUNEZ/GETTY^IMAGES.^ K
APPY:^ KURT^OZAN.^ O
LIVER-CLINE:EMMAGOLDEN.KNOWLES-CARTER:^ GARETHCATTERMOLE/GETTY^IMAGES.^ P
AMON:^ RACHELMURRAY/GETTY^IMAGES.