Helter Skelter’s Downward Spiral

When Paul Bolton and Adam “Rad” Saunders left Helter Skelter to join X-Ray Touring Feb. 1, they became the ninth and 10th agents to quit in the last five years what was once the UK’s biggest agency. Both will both take their assistants with them.

The exodus began when John Jackson set up K2 Agency at the end of 2002, albeit with then-Helter Skelter parent company Sanctuary Music Group as a partner. But five agents in 2005 moved to X-Ray and another five later left for Creative Artists Agency’s London office.

The company, which has been owned by Universal Music Group since it bought out Sanctuary Group in 2007, now has two senior agents in Nigel Hassler and Pete Nash, who works out of his New York base.

Since 2005 all the senior agents who have come to the end of their contracts have left. Hassler and Nash have yet to respond to queries regarding when their current contracts expire.

It could be argued Nash already works as a solo entity and that Hassler will fulfill his contract after undergoing a protracted legal fight when he quit Primary Talent to join Helter Skelter in 2001.

Universal has declined to comment on whether Helter Skelter is now corkscrewing into the ground.

It’s hard to say what the agency was valued at when Universal bought Sanctuary, but its asset value must have shrunk alarmingly since the deal was done.

The world’s largest music company might argue that most of the agents had left – or had made plans to leave – before it bought Sanctuary.

At the beginning of 2005 Ian Huffam split to start X-Ray with Martin Horne and Scott Thomas from International Talent Booking, quickly followed by Jeff Craft and Steve Strange.

By the end of September of the following year, Baker Tilly – Sanctuary’s auditors – had claimed its stated losses of £143 million were £15.9 million less than they should be.

By then, Emma Banks, Mike Greek and Becky Wedlake all decamped to CAA.

They’ve since been joined by Paul Franklin and Georgia Spencer Holmes.

The obvious trouble with losing agents is that they tend to take their staff and artists with them.

A few of the acts Helter Skelter has lost in the last five years would include Apocalyptica, Arcade Fire, Blur, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Coldplay, Elbow, Faithless, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Kraftwerk, Manic Street Preachers, Moby, Snow Patrol, Stereophonics, The Stranglers, KT Tunstall, White Lies and Robbie Williams.

Despite the high-profile losses, Helter Skelter still has significant acts on a roster that includes Kings Of Leon, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Craig David, Dido, David Gray, Natalie Imbruglia, Ke$ha, Pet Shop Boys, Madeleine Peyroux, Prefab Sprout, Simple Plan and Regina Spektor.