Pollstar Live! Pop-Up: The Return of Promoter 101 featuring Paladin Artists (Pollstar Live! Recap)
Dan Steinberg, and Luke Pierce, co-founders and co-hosts of the Promoter 101 podcast, returned after a long absence with an exclusive Pollstar Live! pop-up, April 17, featuring principles from upstart indie agency Paladin Artists: Steve Martin, Andy Somers, and Chyna Chuan-Farrell, who all used to work together perviously at APA.
According to Martin, Paladin was born out of need, and desperation. He wasn’t “enamoured with the corporate life,” and wanted to “create a fresh slate” – in the middle of the pandemic, one might add.
When Martin and Somers reached out to Chuan-Farrell to ask her to join their new business, she remembers at first feeling out of her depth. “But now I’m having a great time,” she said. Later in the conversation, she added, “coming from a big corporation to a small agency, you realize: everybody cares about each other here.”
“We needed an adult in the room,” Martin joked.
Somers added, “Paladin is growing,” adding that “Chyna has been instrumental in that. Between the three of us, we were able to make a company. One of the three of us will be able to solve any problem.”
One of Paladin’s biggest tours of 2024 was David Gilmour’s “Luck and Strange Tour,” which visited the Hollywood Bowl (three shows), and Intuit Dome (one show) in LA, as well as Madison Square Garden in New York (five shows). Steinberg wanted to know how this tour didn’t end up with either one of the big agencies, to which Martin replied that “the story of hanging on to that client is based in being nice to people.” In this case, Martin had been nice to famous UK pianist, composer and TV presented Jools Holland, who had once tried his luck touring the UK. It didn’t work out for him, but Martin always tried. Holland now manages Gilmour, and when it came to touring, he called Martin.
The agents working at Paladin – including Christian Ellett, James Bauman, Sara Schlievert, Winston Simone, Melissa Ferrick – are a mix of young up and comers, as well as veterans of the game. Martin likened building a good agency to building a good sports team: “You need some veterans that know how to shoot a ball, and some rookies you hope are going to get hot.”
Martin said he lives and works by the live-and-let-live rule. “The universe is full of great artists,” he said, adding, that “it’s a confidence business, and we need to give our clients the security that we’re confident in what we’re doing. That’s why we have clients since more than 30 years.”
One of the upcoming highlights from the Paladin roster, according to Somers, was a tour by Sublime, the reggae-punk/alternative rock trio founded in Long Beach in 1988. The band had come to an end, when band leader Bradley Nowell passed away in 1996, but reformed with Nowell’s son Jakob at the helm. “He’s a great frontman, and they’re a great band,” said Somers, to dispel any myth that the band was touring again to “cash in” on the current nostalgia hype.
Martin then talked about the current political climate in the U.S., and how it has led to many of Paladin’s clients from abroad, Canada, UK, Eastern Europe for instance, not wanting to come to the U.S. any more.
Somers added, that the concern for artists coming from overseas was real. “Even those coming over since decades,” he said, “now could get the wrong guy [at immigration].” The most recent case in point is British punk rock band UK Subs, who got denied entry into the U.S. in March. “GBH,” he continued, “have been coming since the 1980s. Now we’ve applied for a visa, and we’re worried. That was never the case before.”
Martin had another example, “Billy Bragg, who’s been coming for years, and has been very outspoken politically. Can I tell him that Homeland Security is not going to go through his social media, and say, ‘we don’t like what you said. You can’t come back!’ I can’t, not with a clear conscience.”
Going forward, Somers said, “we want to do good work for artists, and bring on more friends, who are doing good work. Maybe expand into some other areas, like music and film, do things that are unique to us.”
In an age when long-term loyalty is becoming increasingly rare, Paladin is a counter example: Billy Bragg has been a client for 40 years; Hot Tuna, 40 years; Dream Theater, 36 years; the list goes on.
To round out the panel, the Paladin team were asked, what advice they’d give young talent seeking a career in this biz, to which Somers replied: “Either be really mean, and sneaky, and evil, or be the opposite, which is what I think we are. Do a really good job for your clients, and 9 out of 10 times that’s what it takes. It’s about relationships, knowing your artists, and make sure they know you. And make them feel confident, even when you’re not there.”
Martin said, “hang out. Meet everybody; know, who the production manager is in the club; talk to the bus driver. Production managers become tour managers become managers.”
And Chuan-Farrell concluded, “be nice, cordial, humble.”
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