Billie, Adele, Mumfords? What Happens To Lucy Dickins’ WME Roster When She Joins CAA?

With official confirmation this week that Lucy Dickins is joining Creative Artists Agency, the multi-million dollar question now is: Which superstar artists will be coming along with Dickins from her and her former agency’s impressive roster that boasts Billie Eilish, Adele, Kacey Musgraves, Rosé and Mumford & Sons, among many others?

It’s an interesting question to fathom, one without an easy answer due in part to the often opaque nature of music talent representation.

The relationship between client and agent is one built mostly upon results, clout and history, rather than formal binding contracts. Artists sometimes work with a team of agents that can include junior agents and coordinators that muddy the waters of clear representation. Some agencies have “Responsible Agents” (RAs), the artists’ primary agent, though often they are not clearly demarcated. There’s also an agency territorial system, in which artists can be split between different agencies representing them in North America (NA) and International (Excluding-NA), which can further be broken down to continents and/or countries. Coldplay, for example, is booked by The•Team (formerly Wasserman) in the U.S. and Canada, while WME books the band’s dates in the rest of the world. Add to that separate deals for film & television and/or branding and there can be a lot of agent cooks in the artist kitchen.

Often, artists are loyal to their agents over agency as was recently seen in the Wasserman ownership and name change to The • Team. One of the first artists to express her dismay with the Wasserman-Epstein connection was Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, who explicitly said her loyalties lie with her agent. “I am in the Sam Hunt business,” she said, acknowledging her long-time agent who she has been with since before Paradigm was acquired by Wasserman in 2021.

Prior to the Paradigm acquisition, three independent agencies – TBA, Arrival (now Roam) and Mint – formed out of the pandemic layoffs at Paradigm, which saw a slew of artists follow their agents to their new offices.

Artists are also known to join new agencies without a specific agent leading the charge. In 2024, Billie Eilish and FINNEAS made headlines when the siblings announced they had left Wasserman Music and signed with WME for representation in touring (they subsequently also changed management). As previously reported, WME had already repped the duo in film and television since January 2023 and the move now has the agency working with Eilish and FINNEAS in all areas of entertainment.

An announcement from CAA about the Dickins hire noted that she will be joining the agency in mid-April and that “in addition to serving on CAA’s Managing Director committee, Dickins will continue working directly with top music artists to help them achieve their goals.” The announcement conspicuously failed to mention any artists, only that Dickins “represents a roster of globally influential artists and is known throughout the industry for the depth and longevity of her relationships with the talent she represents.”

That omission speaks to the murky relationship between agent and client, which is further obscured when considering Dickins is not only an agent but was head of one of the top talent Hollywood agency’s music department, overseeing strategy and making key decisions across WME’s entire contemporary music roster that also includes big-name artists like Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Shakira, Hozier, Linkin Park and others — with most represented worldwide but many also overseas, or vice versa.

It is also possible that other agents from WME could follow Dickins to CAA or some CAA agents could land at WME. William Morris clearly stated that Kirk Sommer, known for signing and/or representing top talent like Adele, Sam Smith and Lola Young among others, will continue to lead WME’s music department. Many top WME clients, though, are listed as represented by both Sommer and Dickins.

It is significant that Sommer’s admirable roster includes a number of signings from the U.K. (and once included the late-great Amy Winehouse), while Dickins, a U.K. native, also has a special relationship with many U.K. artists, especially Adele, whom her brother Jonathan manages.

In addition to Dickins, Tony Goldring and David Bradley also recently joined CAA from WME, both UK-based agents. The recent hires could suggest the agency wanting a more worldwide approach rather than separating UK and U.S. operations, something WME may have started by appointing Dickins as music head.

Dickins joined WME in 2019 after leaving the U.K.-based International Talent Booking, the longstanding agency started by her father, Barry, and began her WME stint running the agency’s London office. She brought along clients including Adele, Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling, James Blake, Bryan Ferry and Hot Chip, among others. With the departure of the agency’s longtime head Marc Geiger in 2020, Dickins, Sommer and Scott Clayton were named music co-heads (Clayton decamped for UTA shortly after). In 2022, Dickins was named Global Head of Contemporary Music & Touring at WME and relocated to Los Angeles.

Neither CAA or WME commented when Pollstar reached out to confirm the agency’s updated rosters.

Ryan Borba contributed to this story.