2024 Impact 50 Honoree: Ron Laffitte

FOUNDER
Laffitte Management Group

COOL EARLY GIG: Merch Manager for Metallica
BIZ PHILOSOPHY: Make every minute count

The year 2023 included a string of successes for veteran music manager Ron Laffitte, with his stacked artist roster that includes Pharrell Williams, Backstreet Boys, Gracie Abrams and OneRepublic and, not least, Usher Raymond.

In February, Usher crushed the coveted Super Bowl halftime slot at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas where he put on one of the year’s best performances, a show that featured a cavalcade of stars including Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon, Ludacris and will.i.am. During “OMG” he most appropriately showed off his deft multitasking skills by roller-skating while performing.

The tentpole performance followed Usher’s successful Vegas residency last year at Dolby Live at Park MGM. According to 24 headline reports submitted to Pollstar in 2023, the superstar hauled in more than $59 million and sold 228,582 tickets.

The rocket boost from the Super Bowl led to more in 2024, including being tapped as one of the first artists booked for Steve Ballmer’s Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, set to open in August. Some of Laffitte’s clients’ other highlights include Abrams’ Best New Artist Grammy nomination and the Blige-led Strength of a Woman Festival in New York City on Mother’s Day weekend, promoted by Live Nation Urban. The Backstreet Boys are doing big numbers, too, with a global tour that’s bringing in seven-figure grosses per show.

An industry fixture who founded the company in 2011, Laffitte now has over 45 artists under management — a mix of producers, songwriters and emerging artists from multiple genres, all benefitting from his holistic approach to artist management.

Early last year, Laffitte launched Runner Music, a music publishing outfit, with OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder and Downtown Music’s Andrew Sparkler. The plan for Runner is not only acquiring existing publishing rights but creating publishing partnerships with emerging songwriters like Abrams, daughter of filmmaker J.J. Abrams.

Also in 2023, Laffitte and Loud Records founder Steve Rifkind launched a management company under the LMG umbrella, which made Laffitte co-owner of Rifkind’s Spring Sound record label.