FOUNDER’S LETTER

In the entertainment industry, the cliché is: never work with children or animals. But in the music biz, there’s sometimes a third pillar to this warning of disorder and unpredictability: never work with an artist managed by a member of their immediate family.

You can see why this aphorism exists: If someone shares a bloodline with an artist and also acts as their business rep, your commercial partnership with said duo brings with it innate complexity. It’s one thing dealing with an act throwing a wobbly about their manager. It’s another thing when that manager flings back a damning anecdote about that time their brother/sister/daughter/son smacked an icecream scoop over the head of the household cat. And accompanies it with those chilling words: “This is so typical of you.”

You can also see why there are more than a few famous examples of superstars – having reached a certain plane of success and fame –cutting professional ties with people in their genealogical tree. It’s the story, to cite a carefullyborrowed phrase, of artists making a difficult decision that’s best for their career... and for Me, Myself and I.

But right now, in the British music industry, this whole idea is being chopped to bits. Because family members are professionally shadowing the careers of a string of the UK’s most successful talent in 2023 – and doing a stellar job.

Let’s start with Dua Lipa. When the Warner Records-signed act left Tap Management this time last year, we learnt that her new representative would be her father, Dugi (Dukagjin) Lipa. On the surface, this seemed like an obvious ‘interim coach’ situation; Dugi would step in to protect his daughter’s interests until a higher-profile artist manager was found. But this view, according to those close to the situation, was short-sighted. Dugi is in fact a veteran of the music biz, having acted as CEO of

London-based Mercy & Wild PR, as well as an Exec Director of Republika Communications in his native Kosovo. Dugi’s dealings since becoming Dua’s manager so far have, according to my sources, been canny, long-sighted, and delivered with an impressive understanding of the modern streaming and touring landscape.

Exhibit B of this trend: RAYE, who is understood to have parted ways with her longterm management company, Sequoia, and has – like Dua Lipa – shifted talent representation duties to her father. Having negotiated an elegant exit from Polydor before taking over the global charts as an indie act, RAYE was, from my seat at least, the most talked-about British artist in Los Angeles by US power-players during Grammy Week. Evidently, her dad is helping his daughter make all the right decisions.

The second most talked-about British artist during Grammy Week? Fred Again. The on-therise Atlantic-signed act is managed by his brother, Alex Gibson, who has his own cast-iron music biz pedigree (and is part of Fred’s publishing team at Promised Land Music). Alex, I’m told, is one of the primary masterminds behind Fred Again’s new bromance with Skrillex... marrying the aching cool and mystery of the former with the sprawling fanbase and irresistible energy of the latter. As one powerful Stateside impresario put it to me recently: “Alex is smarter than all of the other UK managers.”

In February, Fred Again and Skrillex (with Four Tet) played – i.e. laid waste to – a sold-out Madison Square Garden. Agent Tom Schroeder said on socials afterwards: “NYC was owned for a week. And I swear, the industry still hasn’t quite clocked what is happening…”

In terms of the cross-generational scale of ‘Skrill-Again’, he’s probably right. But a few of us have clocked something else: Some of music’s most impressive talent management today isn’t just highly strategic. It’s highly genetic, too.

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