2026 Women of Live: Lucy Dickins

Lucy Dickins
former Global Head of Contemporary Music and Touring at WME / Managing Director at CAA (effective mid-April)

“Simply put, Lucy is a powerhouse. I’ve witnessed Lucy grow in our business over the years with amazement and pride. She’s intelligent, passionate, can be hard as nails but fair. And she’s an incredible mother and wife. Plus, she has an impeccable taste with clothes and can be outrageously funny. She has it all and more.” — Phil Rodriguez, CEO, Move Concerts

As Pollstar was going to press and Lucy Dickins had been named to the Women of Live Hall of Fame, she announced she was leaving her leadership position at WME to join Creative Artists Agency as managing director. For Dickins, who has worked at the highest level of music agencies, this is just another move forward in her illustrious career.

Music has long been in her blood. Dickins’ late grandfather Percy co-founded the British music and pop culture publication New Musical Express (NME) and the family music dynasty continued with her father forming International Talent Booking in 1978 and her uncle Rob rising up the ranks at Warner Music UK. Her brother Jonathan runs September Management with clients including Adele.

Dickins, who notes that she’s “always been a huge fan of all music,” realized that she too was meant to be in the business.

“I got my start working at my father’s company, where I was making teas and writing envelopes out for contracts for quite some time before I forced my way into my father’s office to tell him that I thought I could make a good live agent,” Dickins says. Of course, she went on to work with top talent like Mumford & Sons, Adele, Laura Marling and many others.

Dickins departed ITB in 2019 to join WME as the agency’s head of UK music and got promoted to co-head of the agency’s global music department the next year. By 2022 she was named the sole Global Head of Contemporary Music and Touring at WME – making Dickens the most senior woman in the music agency business.

She previously told Pollstar that the role “has been extremely rewarding. I hope that somewhere there are young women who are inspired to see a woman in power and think, ‘I’m next.’ I do think the industry is finally seeing how much women bring to the table in positions of leadership with more female fronted companies and female executives and decision makers, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.”

News broke May 6 that Dickins was leaving WME and days later it was announced she was joining CAA, beginning in mid-April.

“Over the past seven years, Lucy helped us navigate one of the most disruptive periods in the live music business,” an internal memo from WME stated. “As the head of our UK office, she re-energized our presence in London, built a strong team, and solidified WME’s leadership in the region. Then COVID hit and she dove right in, taking on her expanded role, relocating to Los Angeles, and providing critical support to our team during an unprecedented crisis. On the other side of the pandemic, she led major signings, constructed innovative tour models, and brought exceptional heart and enthusiasm to our business.”

Her personal career highlights over the past year include seeing Lola Young “pick up her first Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance and Rosé being the first K-pop artist to have her song be nominated in the Grammys’ main categories.”

Looking at WME overall, Dickins cites Shakira’s “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” becoming the highest-grossing tour ever by a female Latin act; Billie Eilish breaking attendance records in Australia; Coldplay’s “Music of the Spheres” having continued as the highest-grossing and most-attended tour in history, including 16 record-setting nights at Wembley Stadium; and Bruno Mars shattering the Ticketmaster single-day sales record (2.1 million tickets) ahead of a nearly 70-date stadium tour. It is unclear if any of those blockbuster clients will come with her to CAA.

Naturally, Dickins credits her family when asked who helped her most in her career, saying they “taught me to always have an opinion and speak up.”

She previously shouted out her dad for teaching her how to be an agent, explaining that “everything from his work ethic to his sense of humor has rubbed off. There have been others in the industry at a similar age to me who I still ask questions and gather opinions. I always tell the younger staff: you can never ask enough questions! We’re all learning, day by day, as the business changes and I hope that never stops!”

And she points to her “mum” for helping her “shape my confidence and self-worth, whilst also teaching me to treat others with compassion and understanding.”

The philosophy that guides Dickins’ career is simple: “Always do the right thing – no bad should come of it.”