ThePianoGuys

“One of the things I find frustrating in the music business today is that everyone gets out a slide rule, and very few people take a leap of faith anymore,” said ThePianoGuys manager David Simone, who has decades of label and publishing experience including as EVP at Geffen Records. “But when it’s something special you have to just go for it.”

Four musical dads from Utah gained millions of YouTube hits with clever, high-quality, videos covering hit songs and soundtracks ranging from Beethoven to “Cello Wars” featuring Darth Vader on accordion.

“I said, OK, who put up the money? I thought it must have cost $200,000 to make,” Simone said after his wife, a TV executive, showed him one of their videos from Facebook. It turned out they produced the videos themselves for “next to nothing.” Looking at ThePianoGuys’ website, they were already monetizing.

And they already had global reach. With 140,000 YouTube subscribers by 2012, the same year they signed with Sony, only 11,000 were from their home state. 

That global reach has taken ThePianoGuys everywhere from a sold-out Carnegie Hall to Singapore, with 5,500 tickets already sold for an April date despite zero traditional marketing in the country. 

For their success, Simone largely credits the band’s work ethic and priorities – touring only a week or two at a time to allow time for family – as well as booking by ICM Partners’ Andrea Johnson and Emily Freeman from The Agency Group’s UK office.

“We’re not touring really in a traditional way, because of family values and the guys constantly wanting to make videos and new music,” Simone said. “Touring in a lean manner, we find it very easy to go on and off the road.”

Right now, they’re on tour in 2,000- to 6,000-seat venues, including L.A.’s Greek Theatre and Red Rocks, through August.