‘What Incredible Men These Two Are’: Modest Founders Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee Receive MITS Award

Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee, co-founders of Modest! Management, have jointly been awarded the 2019 Music Industry Trusts Award. Both men have between them spearheaded the careers of many artists across a four-decades.

 

The current roster of Modest! includes One Direction band member Niall Horan, Little Mix, Olly Murs, 5 Seconds of Summer and many more. The company also represent classical music star Katherine Jenkins, singer/songwriter Alison Moyet and the world’s most famous girl band, the Spice Girls. One Direction is also listed as a client, although the band is currently on hiatus. Several band members have confirmed a reunion at some point.

 

Griffiths and Magee formed Modest! in 2003. They celebrated their most successful year in 2010 when they started work with One Direction. The band sold more than 75 million albums, playing worldwide sell-out stadium tours and breaking industry records in the process.

In 2014, One Direction proved it was the biggest band on the planet with its $282.2 million in gross ticket sales, according to Pollstar‘s box office reports, dwarfing the competition, on Pollstar’s exclusive Top 20 Worldwide Tours report for 2014.

The year after, the band came in second with a ticket gross of $210.2 million, just behind Taylor Swift, who grossed $250.4 million in tickets sales in 2015. Swift charged significantly more money for a ticket on average. In absolute numbers 1D sold more tickets: 2,364,390 vs. 2,273,328, to be exact.

Niall Horan congratulated his managers on the MITS award win: “With Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee, I struggle to know where to even start. What incredible men these two are. I’ve been working with Richard and Harry for nearly ten years now and if it wasn’t for them I don’t know if we all would have had half of the success we did.

“On a personal note, I know they’ve worked their arses off for me and I can put it all down to the kind of relationship I share with them. They are basically like my uncles. We’ve been all over the world together, laughed together mostly, cried together at times but most importantly had many great nights on the wine together ahahah .I’d do anything for these men and I can comfortably say that they would do the same for me.

“These boys are music industry veterans and it’s only right they get this honour and even more right that they are the first managers to do so.

Best in the business. Love you boys xx”

 

Olly Murs said: “Richard & Harry you are more than just managers to me, but let’s be honest – for the last 10 years we’ve talked more about football than music. Anyone that knows you guys knows how hard you both work, and I can’t think of two more deserving people for this award. Now I’ll stop blowing smoke up your arse and get back to work!” 

 

Alison Moyet said: “Unquestionably loyal to each of their artists and standing our every corner, Modest! are so much more than your sponge management. It is not running high days with hot acts that flags a manager as outstanding, it is the ability to find the heart beat when there is no discernible sign of commercial life and to platform it successfully. Modest! have given me the space and respect to be the creative I needed to be. I’m so grateful for that.”

 

The MITS announcement states: “Over the years Modest! have been involved in many charity events directly raising over £4 million [$5 million] in the process. These include The Horan & Rose Event which has raised over £1.5 million, Cheryl’s Trust raising £1 million, The JLS Foundation raising £500,000 and One Direction raising over £1 million in a single campaign. Indirectly, with their artists taking a significant part in other charity campaigns including Comic Relief, Sport Relief, Teenage Cancer Trust and Children in Need, this figure reaches several more millions of pounds.”

 

Said Magee: “It is indeed a great honour for Richard and I to be given the MITS Award and to have the opportunity to highlight two exceptional charities in The BRIT Trust and Nordoff Robbins. We proudly look forward to November 4th for some fun and fund raising!”

 

Added Grifftihs: “It is such an honour to be receiving this amazing award together with my great friend and partner Harry Magee. To help raise money for these two wonderful charities is an honor and a privilege.”

 

David Munns OBE, chairman of the MITS Award committee, said: “Richard and Harry have been at the forefront of the British music industry for over forty years. Individually and as the founders of Modest! they have continually set the benchmark in management and have led countless artists to huge success. Honouring two artist managers is a first for the MITS and we’re proud for them both to join the illustrious recipients list. We look forward to a fantastic awards night on 4th November.”

 

Magee and Griffiths follow last year’s MITS honoree, Emma Banks, and join the ranks of previous recipients including Rob Stringer, Sir Lucian Grainge, Ahmet Ertegun, Michael Eavis CBE, and Roger Daltrey CBE.

 

The MITS Award supports two charities, the BRIT Trust and Nordoff Robbins, and is sponsored by PPL, SJM Concerts and Spotify.