Features
Pollstar Impact NextGen: Brandon Zmigrocki
Age: 34
First Show: Page/Plant, 1994 at the old Rosemont Horizon in Chicago
Brandon Zmigrocki is RA for about 30 artists, including Anti-Flag, The Buttertones, The Chats, John Hiatt, Phantom Planet, Prayers, and Sinead O’Connor, and is the covering agent for the northeast territory in ICM Partners’ contemporary rock department.
Rightfully so, he considers his promotion to agent as his biggest professional accomplishment, crediting mentors including ICM co-head of music Rob Prinz as well as Carole Kinzel and Darryl Eaton from his time at CAA, who taught him “the importance of being detailed, judicious and opened up my eyes to a level of deal making that I was very fortunate to have experienced.”
His advice to those coming up is “bread before cred,” adding “nothing comes overnight and when you think you know everything, trust me there is always more to learn.”
Going forward, he sees a potential for more and larger package tours, as “The ecosystem is already having a tough enough time sustaining the level of ticket sales it needs to accommodate the current volume.” Therefore, “lowering volume seems like a reasonable logical place for things to go in order to respond to people’s consumption habits.”