Day After Day Productions (DADP) Founder/CEO Seth Shomes On Growing An Agency & Honoring Motown

In uncertain times, sometimes the only one you can truly depend upon is yourself. During the COVID shutdowns of 2020-21, what that meant for many live entertainment agents, promoters and managers was taking advantage of the downtime and setting off to open their own businesses.

In Seth Shomes’ case, that meant re-opening his own business after closing down Day After Day Productions (DADP) in 2014 to join The Agency Group. Not long after that, TAG was acquired by United Talent Agency — which, like everyone else, was forced into dormancy by COVID.

The upheaval gave Shomes the time to assess his options and career, and three years ago he amicably departed UTA and re-hung his shingle as what he jokingly referred to in an interview at the time as “Day After Day Productions 2.0.”

Also see: Seth Shomes Reopens Day After Day Productions

In that time, Shomes went from being known as one of the top casino agents to being nominated for Pollstar’s Bobby Brooks Award as top booking agent of 2023.

“I’d been fortunate to win five of the Casino Agency of the Year awards,” Shomes says, “But as far as the Bobby Brooks Award, that’s like the Mack Daddy award for agents, and it’s the first time in my career I’ve been nominated for it. I was especially proud that the nomination came about as part of my own company. It shows that independent spirit. If you look at the other four nominees, I sincerely appreciate the recognition from our peers amongst the biggest players in the industry.”

Shomes has come a long way since reopening DADP with basically a laptop and a few clients. His company has grown, adding agents and marketing staff, and DADP now represents more than 40 artists.

Shomes and DADP booked the first headlining arena tour for Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and hip-hop icon Missy Elliott. In recent weeks, they’ve also announced the “Queens of R&B” tour with Xscape and SWV co-headlining and “An Evening of Icons” tour featuring co-headliners The Commodores and The Pointer Sisters with The Spinners and El DeBarge — all in celebration of Motown’s 65th anniversary.

It’s said that the live industry is a business of relationships, and it’s true. One key relationship that Shomes has cultivated that is paying dividends is with Monami Entertainment CEO Mona Scott-Young, Elliott’s manager.

The Missy Elliott tour is a real eyebrow-raiser. It almost defies logic that hip-hop pioneer Misdemeanor has never headlined a major tour until now.

“I have deep respect for Mona’s creativity and business acumen and we developed a great relationship. There was some interest in doing a Vegas residency, and that turned into ‘You’ve never done a headline tour in your career.’ With the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction and other awards that were coming out for Missy last year, the time was right. That led to a 30-city tour in North America with an eye on what we want to do, internationally as well as more in North America as well.”

Missy Elliott’s “Out Of This World — The Missy Elliott Experience” tour, which also features Busta Rhymes, Ciara and Timbaland, will kick off July 4 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, and make stops in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Brooklyn, New York, and more before wrapping up in Rosemont, Illinois, at Allstate Arena Aug. 22.

Shomes looks to the “Out Of This World” tour as evidence of the growth of his company, and his own as an agent. He also credits Scott-Young for developing the concept for “Queens Of R&B,” which came out of a successful television show produced by Monami Entertainment that featured Xscape — which in turn became a Shomes client.

“I became the agent for Xscape and then went out and got the tour deal from Live Nation. And then we turned it into ‘Queens of R&B.’ The fans really wanted to see Xscape and SWV on the same stage, and I’m excited that we were able to make that happen.

“I think what “Queens Of R&B” shows is the ability to be able to package and represent a tour like this and book it,” Shomes says. “That’s a different skill than taking an artist, booking a tour and finding their support.”

Six years ago, Shomes already had a high profile booking casinos. But he was ready to grow beyond that skill set and shoot for something more.

“I understood that people were like, “Oh, he’s great at the casinos. I know he books a couple of other things, but he’s the casino guy.’” Shomes says. “And I wanted to expand my skill set and let the industry and other managers know that I’m not just the casino guy, that I can book an arena tour. I can book any type of theater or amphitheater tour, too. And so I worked really hard to increase that skill set and find those clients that would allow me to do that.”

Many of Shomes’ clients come from the R&B and hip-hop worlds, and he’s looking at more opportunities to bring those artists — and their fans — together, as he has with the tours for Missy Elliott, “Queens Of R&B” and “An Evening of Icons.”

“I love working with icons. I love working with legends. I am a fan and I grew up on their music,” Shomes explains. “I think that a classic song never goes out of style. They’ve endured for a reason.”

Among Shomes’ other clients are artists including Aaron Lewis, Staind, Rob Thomas’ Sidewalk Angels Foundation, 98 Degrees, Tyler Henry — The Hollywood Medium, Billy Ocean, Matt Fraser — America’s Top Psychic Medium, Wayne Newton, Engelbert Humperdinck (DADP is representing his farewell tour) and more.

“I am very proud of how deep we are in the hip-hop and the R&B world, with the enormous amount of work that we do with Ludacris and Flo Rida, specifically,” Shomes says. “And just how so many buyers come to us because they really trust our reputation. They trust us to handle the business properly.”