Scott Clayton Leaves CAA For WME: Exclusive

Scott Clayton, one of the powerhouses of the Nashville office of CAA, has shifted to WME, Pollstar has learned.

Rick Diamond/Getty Images for CAA – Scott Clayton
Scott Clayton, Erika Nichlos and Michelle Conceison attend the 25th Annual CAA BBQ in Nashville at CAA Nashville June 5, 2017.

Clayton is known in part for representing a clientele that is not necessarily typical Nashville fare, including Kings of Leon, Dead & Company and John Mayer. He also works with the Zac Brown Band.

It is unknown at this juncture, however, if Clayton’s roster will be continuing with him, although he is bringing his team with him, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Clayton was one of five co-heads at CAA Nashville that included Marc Dennis, Rod Essig, John Huie and Darin Murphy.

The move comes just as WME announced last month that partners Joey Lee and Jay Williams would join Rob Beckham and Greg Oswald as co-heads of WME’s Nashville office—which puts both CAA and WME’s Nashville offices with four co-heads for the time being.

One source called Clayton’s move a “seismic shift,”  and indeed his roster’s substantial average concert grosses based on Pollstar‘s BoxOffice reports for the past 36 months bears this out. This includes Dead & Company at $1.67M, Zac Brown Band at $938K, Mayer at $883K and Kings of Leon at $543K.

Clayton, who also serves as a member of Nashville’s Music City Music Council, is nominated for this year’s Bobby Brooks Award/Agent of the Year honor at this year’s Pollstar Awards which will be held Feb. 8 at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theatre at the conclusion of 2018’s Pollstar Live! Conference (Feb. 6-8).

Pollstar reached out to both WME and CAA who declined comment.