Tough Love: Adventures In Artist Management

Nick Stern – Stern Management

In this episode, we chat with Nick Stern of Stern Management.

Nick got his first taste of the music industry at age 15, interning at an indie record label, Zero Hour. From there, he gained more experience working as a publicist at Atlantic Records, before pivoting into the world of artist management with his first client, Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah. Today, Nick works with The Black Angels, Phosphorescent, Phantogram and Metric, to name a few.

We chat about the importance of building lasting relationships at an early stage in your career, and how chance meetings can lead to big opportunities.

Hugo Vereker

In this episode, I chat with an old, dear friend of mine, Hugo Vereker.

Hugo’s been managing artists since the late 70s, having had early experiences with the likes of Michael Jackson, among others. He’s an artist himself first and foremost, and as such, one of the most energetic and creative managers I know.

I hope you enjoy our spirited conversation as much as we did. Sometimes being a manager means wearing many hats, and I can honestly say, Hugo wears all of the well.

Ben Weber – Pressure Management

In this episode, I’m thrilled to have my dear friend Ben Weber on for a chat. We’ve been friends for over 20 years now, but I learned a lot about Ben’s background working for a variety of labels prior to carving out his career as an artist manager. Currently working with Nada Surf and Jesse Terry, we also discuss the challenges of reinventing new ways to engage with (and find) new fans when audiences attention spans are razor thin.

Dick Huey – Toolshed

For today’s episode, we continue to veer off script and join my friend Dick Huey for a chat.

While Dick started out as a musician, then an artist manager, before wisely pivoting over into digital marketing, at the dawn of digital media in music, his fierce advocacy of artists and their rights, mirrored with supporting independent labels as they entered the digital landscape provides for many illuminating stories and perspectives, having worked on initial digital campaigns for Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire, to name a few.

Dick’s company Toolshed has evolved into business development work, supporting many new and emerging companies, touching on AI and music analytics. We cover all of that, and a lot more, in our conversation.

Chris Moon

For the close of our first season, centered around our them of “Origin Stories”, we flip the script as I take the interview seat, with our newest member of the Tough Love family, Greg Dobiahl, taking over and slinging the questions my way. Greg did a fantastic job, and let’s just say I like it on the other side of the table, but it’s our hopes that this episode helps give some insights into my experiences as a manager and as a reference point of sorts from which I come from in the various conversations with fellow managers in other episodes.

We hope you enjoy it as we look ahead and turn a new page soon with season two, which we’ll launch soon, turning our attention to “Pivots.” Thanks as always for listening!