Renshaw Makes Firm Exit

Simon Renshaw has left The Firm to start his own company, Strategic Artist Management, in Los Angeles.

The longtime Dixie Chicks manager and The Firm parted ways amicably “after a mutually successful and rewarding four-year run,” according to a Firm statement. “We wish him well, and look forward to fighting the good fight together again in some capacity in the future.”

Renshaw was not immediately available for comment.

Along with the Chicks, Renshaw represents Clay Aiken and Anastacia. They will all join him at Strategic Artist Management when it opens its doors in late April.

“The Firm will especially miss working with the Dixie Chicks, Clay Aiken and Anastacia, all of whom we hold in the highest regard for their artistic integrity and have the utmost respect for as career artists and as people,” the statement added.

Renshaw, Pollstar‘s Personal Manager of the Year in 2000, is also expected to bring along former Firm staffers, some of whom reportedly became free agents after a recent round of layoffs at the multifaceted company.

In addition to music artist management, The Firm represents film figures including Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, and owns the PONY clothing line.

And the company may start dabbling in television. Reports are circulating that The Firm is in discussions to acquire the family-oriented, and ratings-challenged, PAX television network. A spokesman for the company told Pollstar he’d have “no comment on that.”