WMA Gets Tokio Hotel

London-based WMA vice president Solomon Parker is the new agent for top German pop rock act Tokio Hotel, after the act invited several agencies to make a pitch.

The act, which was formed in Magdeburg in 2001 and has had four No.1 singles and two No. 1 albums in Germany (and sold nearly 5 million CDs and DVDs) quit former agency Four Artists a couple of months ago and it seems most of Europe’s major bookers have been chasing the band ever since.

In 2007, the band released its second German album, Zimmer 483, and their first English-language album, Scream, which have combined worldwide sales of more than 1 million and helped win the band its first MTV Europe music award for best international act.

“I twice went to Germany to meet them and I put a lot of work in to it,” Parker told Pollstar, explaining that he took the tendering process very seriously and put together a special presentation package. Asked who he thought his main competitors were, he said, “I think it would probably be quicker to draw up a list of agencies that didn’t go after the band.”

Parker’s roster of pop acts already includes Lady Gaga, Girls Aloud, Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys. He also represents top dance acts The Prodigy and Pendulum.

“We enjoyed an extremely exciting and successful time together,” said Four Artists chief Alex Richter, whose company decided not to make a pitch for the act it’s helped develop on the European stage.

“We went along with Tokio Hotel from the very first club shows until they played internationally in arenas, which really gives us a sense of pride,” he said.

The company’s roster of national acts still includes Die Fantastischen Vier, Seeed, 2raumwohnung, Blumentopf, and Polarkreis 18.