Features
ICM’s Nick Storch
“I’ve never cared about anything else in my life as much as I have music,” Storch told Pollstar. “I tried to play sports, I tried school and it just didn’t work for me.
“I did fine in those [areas] but music was the only thing that I found myself actively participating in on a daily basis, whether it was going to shows, buying magazines, tapes or CDs. I wanted to be a part of that.”
That passion has worked in his favor.
In the last nine years, Storch has worked with acts such as Coheed and Cambria, Cannibal Corpse and Five Finger Death Punch and his current roster that includes Atreyu, As I Lay Dying, Anberlin, Travie McCoy, Gym Class Heroes, Baroness, Frank Turner and Foxy Shazam.
The Lancaster, Pa., native got his first chance to experience the concert business while attending La Salle University in Philadelphia. He answered an ad seeking interns for the 1,200-capacity Trocadero Theatre and landed a position.
Storch’s internship at the Trocadero led him to meet and add a second internship with Eva Alexiou-Reo at Fata Booking Agency prior to his college graduation in 2001. That’s where his career as an agent began.
His next career move took him to Face The Music Touring in New Jersey working for Tim Borror in 2002. Under Borror’s tutelage for more than three years, he expanded his experience in dealmaking and booking tours in a hands-on environment. Storch was handling his own client roster about a month after he started.
From there, Storch’s next opportunity was at The Agency Group, where he spent four years building up his expertise and client roster. He made the move to ICM working for Marsha Vlasic in the contemporary rock division in December, where his fan’s passion for music continues to be an asset.
Click here to see the interview in PDF format, which includes additonal photos.
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Was an agent’s job what you had in mind when you got into this business?
No, I don’t think I ever knew. Living in Philadelphia, there wasn’t a booming music business like you have in New York or L.A., so I didn’t even know where to begin. I didn’t have family connections, I didn’t know anybody.
It was almost serendipitous that I walked into a record store and there were fliers there for interns. I think I was the first one to respond.
How did the Trocadero internship influence your career direction?
My first two years [of college] were spent trying to figure my life out. [When] I ended up getting the internship at the Trocadero Theatre with Jon Hampton, I hung posters and cleaned things and did general duties.
But I had enough wherewithal to ask good questions. They realized they could ask me questions about shows they were looking at booking. Then, when I was going into my final semester, I asked Jon, “What am I going to do? I don’t even know where to begin.”
He introduced me to Eva at Fata Booking Agency. I’ve been an agent ever since.
So how was that experience?
It was a total whirlwind! All I’ve ever known is that I love music. Handling business, I love doing it but I want to be a music fan first and foremost. That’s what drives me to wake up every morning.
So for that year, I was just so excited to have a chance to be in this business. If that didn’t happen, I was screwed. There was nothing else that was going to work for me.
Where did your career go from there?
I went to Face The Music Touring after that. I started there late January of 2002.
How did the job with Tim Borror come about?
Tim was the only other music business person I knew in Philadelphia. We met and kind of hit it off. I knew he was the next person in my life that I would learn a great deal from.
Tim was a guy I was at first intimidated by, but I learned how to be a human being as well as an agent from him. He has such an immense code of ethics that he operates by. He really instilled that in me. I feel like I really grew up in the 3- 1/2 years when he was my boss.
In what areas did you grow as an agent while you were there?
Everything. We worked in a room that’s just bigger than my office now, so I’d hear Tim in the background telling me, “Put that person on hold.” Then he’d say, “Don’t do that. This is what you’ve got to do, this is what you’ve got to say.”
And I remember that I’d been working for Tim for a couple of days and, as he drove me home one night, I heard him on the phone with a manager. He took responsibility for a mistake and just said, “It was my fault.”
He taught me how to be an honest agent.
Tim was also the first one to show me the road map to develop an artist. When we signed Coheed and Cambria, I think everyone was confused by them. He laid it out very clearly what we needed to do and I did everything he told me.
So you consider him one of your mentors?
Absolutely. He looked out for me. He put up with me when I didn’t want to be an assistant anymore and was fighting with him constantly. He held me back until it was just the right time to let me go on my own. He pushed me like no one before.
What was the hardest thing to learn about the job?
The hardest thing to learn is the confidence to always do the right thing and see the forest for the trees with the decisions you need to make.
I take my job very seriously and it’s imperative to not let yourself get so close to a situation that you can’t pull back and make the right call on the next move.
Who were some of your first clients?
Atreyu, and Coheed and Cambria.
You’ve worked with quite a few metal acts. Were you into that genre before you worked at Face The Music?
I wasn’t a metal person growing up. When I went to work for Tim, I didn’t like a lot of those bands. But I’ve come to love those bands through the relations with the artists and discovering the music.
But I’ve always wanted to represent everything. I could get up tomorrow and listen to Bob Dylan, two hours later feel I need to listen to some Cannibal Corpse and thereafter make calls on Anberlin. That’s been my goal from the beginning because I didn’t want to get pinned down as one type of agent.
What was the first tour you booked on your own?
The first tour I booked for Tim was Cannibal Corpse and Pissing Razors. Tim sat right next to me and heard me make every phone call and chuckled quietly. That was the first tour I ever booked in real clubs.
How did it feel to handle all the details yourself?
At first, it was intimidating because I didn’t want to let him down.
Tim is the kind of guy who once he believes in you, he doesn’t stop. I just wanted to do a perfect job.
And you’ve got to get comfortable saying big numbers. The first time you say $10,000, you [think], “Wow. That’s a lot of money.” Now, you say a million or whatever but that was scary at first.
Did preconceived notions about metal bands at the time create any touring obstacles?
Oh, there were promoters that didn’t want to work with us back then who we now work with regularly. But back then, they didn’t care about the business that Tim and I created. We fought really hard [for those bands] before some of this music was cool.
What was the first band that you helped to build a career?
The band that really put me on the map, if you will, is Coheed and Cambria. I was their first agent. We worked together for quite some time and I was there before there was a manager. I feel like what we did early on helped expose them and got more people to pay attention to them.
What was your strategy?
Playing everywhere, but I think that model has changed. I don’t think you can tour a band 300 days a year and have the same return now.
But at that time, once people saw them, they were blown away. They played anywhere from Lancaster, Pa., to Savannah, Ga., to New York City. There was no limit to where they would go and the band was willing to do what it took.
That strategy is still relevant now, isn’t it?
It is, but there wasn’t the volume of bands back then. The first few tours weren’t necessarily musically appropriate but Tim and I felt we had something very special. It didn’t matter who they played to, people were going to get it.
The first band was Bloodlet, which was infinitely heavier than [Coheed and Cambria] but we made it work. They also supported Shai Hulud.
We just kept them working. That was the secret to our success with them.
This was also pre-YouTube … when a band could really go and work. That’s how people were exposed to the band. Now, I feel like your first show may be up to 1,000 people because people are losing their minds over your one song on MySpace or whatever place they’re finding the music.
So how did your job at
The job at TAG came up because Face The Music had, for all intents and purposes, come to an end.
I reached out to Ken Fermaglich for a meeting and we just talked. Tim helped to connect us as well, but I knew that Tim and I had a great chemistry on so many levels and it wasn’t time to part ways yet.
How did working at TAG boost your experience as an agent?
Working at TAG felt like the next evolutionary step for me. It opened my own eyes to the next level.
I relocated to New York and was around infinitely more managers, promoters, labels, etc., and opportunities. I gained knowledge working with people like Steve Martin, Ken Fermaglich, Steve Kaul and Andy Somers, who each have their own unique styles.
It was great to be able to borrow ideas from each of them. I’m extremely grateful that Ken took that meeting with me and gave me a chance because at the time, I was still just a young guy fighting to get on the radar.
What prompted you to leave TAG to work for Marsha Vlasic at ICM?
I felt like it was time to make a change. I had four amazing years there. I met my wife through The Agency Group and Tim Borror remains one of my best friends.
[But] there are few people who rival Marsha’s experience and her insight is great. She believes in all of the things that I believe in.
The first day I started with her in New York, she said, in front of our small department, that we’re here because we love music and we want that to be one of our calling cards.
That, and the fact that she’s represented some of these folks for decades, spoke volumes to me.
Do you think shows like “American Idol” have any influence on artist development?
This [format] has been going on for decades. Bands didn’t do their own songs, they performed other people’s, so this is just an updated version of that.
But people are responding to it, so now the process is being shown. It’s not really something that interests me.
If I love something – whether it’s a soul singer, hip-hop artist or country singer –I’ll go after it. They don’t have to come find us, we can find them now.
Do you think Internet outlets are a better resource to break an act?
I think playing live is still a unique experience that’s critical to a band’s growth and needs to be a magical experience.
You can get a sense of what [a live show] might be like [from the Internet] but you don’t know what the room smells like, feels like. I think people still crave that but there’s just a lot more bands.
Seeing an act from a fan’s point of view is still what can sell you.
Yes. You can hear a song and think the song is great, but what if the band is lacking certain qualities? The live show will expose everything you have to work with. Are the members competent players? Do they look like stars?
But the Internet has certainly stepped up the pace of how quickly an act can break.
The Internet is driving it more than ever and reaction time is instantaneous.
Fans know more about things than ever before. They are connected, paying attention to detail and moving on quickly if they don’t like what an act is doing.
This is nothing new but if done right, an artist can seriously take control of their future. That is amazing and empowering.
What other changes have come about in how you do your job?
The sheer volume of channels and avenues to develop, break or expose an artist. From YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Vevo, blogs, etc., there are so many ways for people to discover music. It keeps us on our toes and on the right path for each artist.
What has remained constant?
Ultimately, people still respond to music that speaks to them, whether it’s just a hook, whether [an act is] attractive and has a good voice, or they’re a metal band and the guys are proficient players. There’s always going to be those things.
Have the changes affected your strategy for building an act’s career?
Of course, you want to make good decisions on who the team is that’s around the band but, for me, I still try to make sure I love the band. I think that’s the crux of it.
It changes slightly but it’s, “Do I love this music? Can I go out every day and be a cheerleader and fight for opportunities for them?” Do I get a “vision” for them or do I just think it’s cool? If it’s a vision like a road map, then I know where to go.
So combining your fan’s viewpoint with the business side equals success?
Honestly … that’s really the truth for me. If I love the music, I’ll figure the rest of it out. I’ll think about the radio aspect, where they’re going to play and who they’re going to play with maybe after I’ve signed the band.
If I’m excited about it, I’ll fight to the death but if I’m only thinking business, I might have a problem.
Are there any areas that you’re looking closer at now when building an artist’s career?
I try to consider where an artist can be in five years as opposed to six months, [as well as] how an act can grow and in what areas they can develop into over time.
My goal as an agent has always been to work with as wide a variety as possible but also with long-term career artists.
Is it more of a challenge now to set ticket prices that are considered reasonable?
Absolutely. People have a lot more options. I think we as business people sometimes need to be reminded that people have lives.
I was talking to a promoter recently and we were discussing how the fans have become smarter about what’s going on. They know about the service fee issue, so they’ll wait until the last minute.
We have to be more ticket-price sensitive because a lot of these artists are over-touring – they’re in the marketplace too often.
If you know you aren’t going to see an artist for at least another year, you’ll pay double the price, you won’t care. It’s not about the price, it’s about the experience.
But if there’s going to be someone else playing five days later and you don’t have the money, you’ll make a choice.
Do you think the variety of ticket-buying options that’s available now is a plus?
That’s a tough one. I think it depends on the relationship the artist has cultivated, or is trying to cultivate, with the fans. It’s up to the artist to make that experience matter. And it’s contingent on the type of music they’re playing and how they set the experience up.
What works for one isn’t going to work for all. It’s really up to the artist to know their fan base. Just look at Pearl Jam and Slipknot. They treat their fans really well and care about them.
What do you enjoy the most about being an agent?
I get the the most enjoyment in developing artists from zero. One of the best moments is seeing an act’s early shows, then seeing them open a show at MSG. There are a number of success stories that I have been a part of that I’m very proud of.
What is it that makes being an agent the best job for you?
As an agent, I can represent more artists than a manager can. I have the ability to have a bit larger of a roster, which allows me diversity.
I can spend one day meeting with Kevin Lyman about Warped Tour and the next minute be speaking to Paul Tollett about Coachella. I really enjoy that.
I like that my life is a mixture of opportunity.
And you never stop learning on this job, do you?
Never. If you let yourself rest, you’re making a mistake. You’ve got to keep pushing yourself in this ever-evolving business to increase your knowledge and awareness. It keeps me on my toes for sure.
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