2025 Impact 50 Honoree: Coran Capshaw

CORAN CAPSHAW
Founder & CEO
Red Light Management

SO FAR SO GOOD: “As to an overall market correction, I don’t see it. I mean, we were already conscious about ticket prices.”

Music entrepreneur Coran Capshaw is the founder of Red Light Management, the largest management company in the world, independent or otherwise. Now with some 80 managers and over 400 artists, RLM continues to develop and sustain careers, with offices in Nashville, London, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Atlanta, and Capshaw’s home base of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Overall, RLM-managed acts typically generate well over $500 million in ticket sales annually, and the roster runs from baby acts to established arena/amphitheater/stadium headliners, and every position on the career arc in between. Among them: Phish (selling more than 8 million tickets since Capshaw began managing them 16 years ago); Dave Matthews Band (one of the most consistent touring acts in history at more than $1 billion in box office); Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson, Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, ODESZA, Enrique Iglesias, The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Alabama Shakes, Drive-By Truckers, The Strokes, Smashing Pumpkins, The Black Crowes, and Sabrina Carpenter.

In Nashville, RLM is dominant, and Wilson is perhaps country music’s biggest artist development success story of the last year. Other Music City clients include (in addition to the previously mentioned artists) Bobby Bones, Lady A, Maren Morris, Lee Brice, Dierks Bentley, Sam Hunt, Martina McBride, Elle King, Jon Pardi, Riley Green, Gabby Barrett, Dustin Lynch, Jordan Davis, Kip Moore, Parker McCollum and newcomers Gavin Adcock and Tucker Wetmore. Bryan has one of the most diverse and popular careers ever in country, and Stapleton remains one of the genre’s most respected and commercially successful artists, playing stadiums both as a headliner and with George Strait in ’25, and launching his new Traveller Whiskey brand with Buffalo Trace last year, the most awarded super premium whiskey release of ‘24. Pollstar spoke with Capshaw as the 2025 touring season hit its stride.

POLLSTAR: In general, from a manager of touring acts’ perspective, how did ’24 close and will ’25 be similar? 
CORAN CAPSHAW: We feel like ’24 was a good year, and we feel very good about ’25, in terms of ticket sales, artist development, and projects that we have coming to market. We’re pleased with the development of such artists as Gavin Adcock, Riley Green and Lainey Wilson are selling out in the amphitheaters this year, and Chris Stapleton is bigger than ever.

I’ve heard people talk about a “market correction” — is that something you can sense? Who needs to correct and how?
We’re all monitoring the economy, and obviously we’re not only dealing with the reality of the economy but also dealing with the perceptions of it. But, so far, so good, for the most part. There are some big success stories, and for others it’s a little tougher out there. But when it’s tougher, we can all point at very specific reasons as to why. As to an overall market correction, I don’t see it. I mean, we were already conscious about ticket prices.

Isn’t a lot of any dip just natural falloff after the unnatural demand following the shutdown?
Yes, we’re just getting into reality and normal business. We had that post-COVID bump from pent-up demand, but then we settled into a good, solid, steady business. We’re seeing people are excited about going to see and enjoy live music.

Beyond just management, as a stakeholder in the live entertainment industry at large, are you bullish on the next few years?
Yes. You’ve got artists that are, through a variety of means, breaking faster than they used to, so we love seeing that. There’s big business going on out there with artists that were harder to name only recently, and all that is healthy, and we’re excited about that.

Given you began your involvement in live entertainment in the club/small venue business, is that a healthy space right now? How critical is this level for developing talent and giving fans a wide range of shows to see?
I’m learning about artists today because of the business they’re doing out there in the clubs. Small venues are part of artists’ development, and I don’t think anybody should want to consider that as not a necessary part [of the business] that we appreciate. If [an act] can skip clubs and go right to theaters, great, we’re happy for them, but we appreciate that the clubs are out there as a development tool, and there’s a whole world of artists making a living in them. The one thing we can’t replicate, no matter what, is the live experience, and clubs are a big part of that.

An early area of success for you came via direct-to-fan and Music Today. Is that still a robust business?
We either manage stores or do fulfillment for hundreds of artists. There are a lot of people paying attention to, the term you hear tossed around now, the super fan. But even before direct-to-fan existed, we were always trying to do business with our fans in a friendly way. It just enhances those artist/fan relationships. It’s applicable to every type of artist to have a community, and that can be very healthy.

How healthy is the festival business right now?
We love the festivals, and it seems that when for whatever reason one may have gone away, new ones are thriving and emerging. Look at Bourbon & Beyond; nobody was talking about that a few years ago, it wasn’t part of the conversation, and now it was the [Pollstar] Festival of the Year for ’24. They are smart and thoughtful about programming, and they’ve taken an underserved market and done really well with it. Look at the three festivals that are thriving on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. That’s great to see for our business.

What is the most critical component to sustaining a lengthy touring career like acts such as DMB and Phish have managed?
It starts with being great live bands and putting on compelling shows, whether it’s an artist that mixes up their sets along with artists that are just great entertainers, and artists willing to work hard and cultivate these fanbases and super-serve them.

Obviously, I’m speaking to a touring publication, but it’s no secret: this is the primary source of the majority of artists’ livelihoods. There are exceptions, with brands or massive recording or writing careers, but no matter what challenges we face, we can’t replace the live experiences.

As far as the RLM model of partnerships with managers and developing talent in-house, are you in a good position size-wise? What’s new or has you excited?
We are continuing to grow in a nice, thoughtful way, and continuing to enhance established careers while we’re deep in the artist development business.
One new recent signing we’re excited about is Lauren Daigle. She’s very talented, great live, she comes from the Christian market, which is very vibrant, and there’s more to do there. Gavin Adcock is breaking on the country side, and Riley has turned into a full-blown headliner. We’re excited about working with Mumford & Sons in a co-management with Split Second Management’s Izzy Zivkovic.

As an investor both within and outside the music industry, what gets your attention?
We’re excited about the live space, we’re excited about recorded music, publishing, all of the above. We launched a new label in Nashville (Leo 33) that includes breakout artist Zach Top, and we feel good about it. Every aspect of the business feels good to us now.

What is your current priority on the philanthropy front?
We are consistent in a blend of housing and environmental causes, and we continually encourage our artists in doing benefit shows when it aligns with causes they support. I’m just hopeful that as a business we can continue as managers to help the good works that so many of our artists do. Outside of the business we get to do every day, that’s what I’m most passionate about. The music business is the go-to around raising awareness and funds for causes, and it’s an area I’m so proud of as an industry. Our artists have platforms to work with for a blend of raising money and awareness, it’s exciting. Trey [Anastasio’s] recovery center [Divided Sky] is serving people every day up in Vermont, and in my hometown [Charlottesville], we’re continuing to build housing, that’s an area I could talk about all day long. You don’t have the space in this article to channel my enthusiasm for philanthropy.