The AvA Connection

The Weekly Buzz:

• TikTok & Universal Music Group rekindle their flame. Read more

  • A new licensing agreement was signed on Wednesday meaning your favorite UMG Artists will be back on TikTok.

  • The future of TikTok in the US remains still very much in question with an impending ban on the horizon next year.

  • Great week for Universal, as they reported $2.8B in Q1 revenue, up 7.9% YoY.

• Live Nation’s revenue reached $3.8B in Q1 2024, with attendance growing 21% YoY.

  • 2024 Q1 highlights below:

    • 21 million of you attended a Live Nation show from January - March

    • LN Sponsorship & Advertising generated $211.3M

    • Ticketmaster generated $723M

    • LN actually ended up with a $36.5M operating loss in Q1 after accounting for a $97M reduction in net income due to “Astroworld estimated loss contingencies.” (more on that below)

    • Read their full report here

• The long-awaited Astroworld trial has been delayed due to a last minute appeal from Apple, who is a defendant in the case. Read more

• Paramount CEO is out amist a takeover battle. Read more

• Amazon ad revenue grew by 24% after Prime Video turned on ads for its users. Read more

• SiriusXM & Pandora post huge subscriber losses in Q1. Read more

The Call Log: Evan Bogart, GRAMMY Nominated Songwriter and CEO of Seeker Music

AvA: How did you get your start in the music industry?

Bogart: I started interning at Interscope Records in 1994 when I was in 10th grade. After school, I would head over there and split my time between the marketing department, Steve Berman, and A&R department, Tom Whalley. When I was 18, I was hired full-time in the Interscope mailroom and, shortly thereafter, was promoted into the A&R department to work for Tom and his team. The first project I cut my teeth on was 2Pac’s first posthumous-album, R U Stil Down (Remember Me?). The second was Eminem’s first Interscope album, The Slim Shady LP. I learned so much, working at one of the greatest labels in music history, from some of the smartest music executives ever. Interscope in the 90’s was special!!

AvA: You are undoubtedly the only assistant who has written a #1 song. How did that happen?

Bogart: I think that’s probably a true statement! I’m 100% positive that I am the only person to have a Billboard #1 song while working at an agency. From 2000 - 2004, after I left Interscope, I was managing artists, songwriters and producers, including co-managing Kara’s Flowers during their evolution into Maroon 5, in the Songs About Jane era. Somewhere along the way I got caught up in that “pseudo-industry” life and found myself as just another lost soul in LA. I not only lost my way but I systematically lost all of my clients and an A&R consultancy that I had with Warner Records. I moved back home in early 2004 and got a summer job working at a lighting store on Melrose, selling lamps and lamp shades. Yes, that’s true. I was desperate for a job back in music and I was extremely fortunate to get hired as an assistant working for my friend, the late-great Josh Humiston at APA, whom I miss dearly. He saved my life giving me that job. Less than 6 months later, after an eventful New Years weekend in Las Vegas, I got sober and I’ve been sober ever since. In my sobriety, I started feeling extremely creative and inspired. I decided, while working on Josh’s desk, to put together a girl group. I mined songs and tracks for the girl group from my former management client, a then-unknown JR Rotem, and one of our APA clients, a then-unknown Ryan Tedder. After creating a collection of “album cuts”, JR and his manager, and one of my oldest industry friends, Zach Katz, told me we didn’t have any hits and strongly suggested that I should try writing the songs for the group, since I was most passionate about the project.

I had never written Pop music, but in the 90’s, in high school, I fancied myself a student of East Coast Hip-Hop and shopped my own demo to labels, only to ultimately be passed on unanimously. And while my dreams of being on 106th & Park, or touring with De La Soul, never materialized, I had honed my ability to create, and I perfected lyricism by transcribing nearly 150 unreleased 2Pac songs working at Interscope. So I thought, what the hell, why not? I sat in the guest room at my parents house and gave it shot.

The first song I wrote was called “Jungalistic”, which to my surprise everyone seemed to like. The second song I wrote was “Rescue Me”, which blew everyone’s minds. We recorded the girl group on both songs and set out to get them a record deal. Unfortunately, everybody passed on the girl group. But fortunately, everybody wanted to buy my songs. JR and Zach ended up selling “Rescue Me” to Jay Brown at Island/Def Jam for Christina Millian and I had to let the girl group go because we had just sold their best song to another artist. As you can imagine, I was originally not supportive of this decision! The girl group was going to be my big “thing.” After a month of waiting for Christina Milian to record the song, we were informed that she decided that she wasn’t going to record it, because it was too pop. I was heartbroken!! Jay Brown said he had a different artist in mind that he wanted to record it. Several months later, “SOS (Rescue Me)” was released by Rihanna and 3-ish months later, the song went #1 all over the world! That same day that the song went #1, in May, I was brought into the conference room and Jim Gosnell promoted me to West Coast Club Agent at APA. What a day!!!

AvA: What were your considerations when deciding to pivot to professional songwriting and what was that experience like?

Bogart: It was a giant leap of faith, even with a worldwide #1 song. I was less than 18 months sober and had a stable, full-time job with an office, health insurance, expense account and, most importantly to me, a supportive, loving, work family in the music department at APA. I really loved them so much and to this day I am forever grateful for Jim, Josh, Troy Blakely, Craig Newman, Jaime Humiston and the countless others who made me feel safe and gave me a home. But ultimately, I had to chase my dreams of being a music creator. After 4 or so months of trying to be a full-time agent (days) and songwriter (nights), I got really mediocre at being both, quickly. Zach Katz would call me daily and ask me what it was going to take for me to leave APA. Finally, one day in August, I said put me in the studio with Britney Spears. The next week, JR and I spent a week in Vegas working with Britney on the Blackout album. I took that as a sign from the universe and, when I returned to work the next week, I tearfully gave my notice to Jim, Josh and Troy at APA, and set off on this next journey. I was pretty scared because Impostor Syndrome is real. I had no idea if I would or could ever write another hit song again. I wasn’t even 100% sure how I wrote the first one. So I spent a year working with some incredible artists, writers and JR, basically learning how to write pop music. In 2007, I wrote my second hit song, Sean Kingston’s “Take You There”, and I then I was off and running with confidence.

AvA: Would you have done anything differently?

Bogart: Absolutely nothing. I mean it. I wouldn’t change a thing. Every single experience, challenge, triumph, failure, speed bump, award, the pain, the joy, it has all lead me to this moment in my life. It wasn’t the typical path to get here, but I treasure and appreciate every single moment of it. The adversity made me stronger. The success has taught me gratitude. The mistakes have taught me empathy and inspired me to be of service. This road has taken me to wonderful and strange places and I love where I am right now. I can’t wait to see where we go next!

AvA: Talk to us about Seeker and what you're currently working on.

Bogart: Seeker is the music publishing, rights management and record company that I’ve been dreaming about starting since I was a kid at Interscope 30 years ago. It’s a company built on the ethos of being of service to the song and the songwriter. When I was given the opportunity to start something well-funded from scratch, I wanted to build something where I could take all of my experience as A&R, manager, agent, songwriter, producer, music publisher and more, and find a way to channel it into a well-funded, formidable music creator-led independent music company. Sometimes we buy things, and sometimes we sign things, but we always invest with our hearts before we invest with our money. We acquire catalogs, and celebrate the music of the past that we love in proactive, new and exciting ways AND we sign and develop songwriters, producers and artists, to support them with a bespoke, creator-led, strategic blueprint for success. This is basically the company that I wished I could have been signed to myself at any point during my songwriting career and it’s definitely the company I would want to sell my catalog of “song babies” to, because we really appreciate and understand songs, and take care them like they’re our own. Some of the incredible catalogs we get to celebrate include those from Run The Jewels, Christopher Cross, Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go’s, Jon Bellion, Mark Morrison and songwriters like John Ryan, Mozella, RuthAnne, Kosine, Sam Watters, Future Cut, Brian Alexander Morgan, and dozens of others. Some of the ridiculously talented songwriters and artists signed to our publishing and record company include Kito, Dead Pony, CARR, Robopop, K. Sotomoyor, Sofia Valdes, Kareen Lomax, Katie Pearlman and so many more that I absolutely love. We’re building something really special!!

AvA: How important is mental health to the music industry?

Bogart: As somebody who’s both a creative and an executive, I have found that having a daily routine rooted in work-life balance, and taking care of yourself (first and foremost) is the foundation for my personal success journey and sanity. This is something I preach to everyone on my team, and all the music creators I champion and support. Burn-out, anxiety, FOMO, imposter syndrome and other common stresses that come with working in music, are a real thing! And it’s impossible to be there for others, let alone yourself, without having a solid foundation to stand on.


AvA: Any advice for someone just getting started in their career or looking to switch career paths?

Bogart: Learn everything!! There’s no excuse to not learn each side of the business, from everyone’s point of view. That way you know if people around you are helping by doing what they’re supposed to do or trying to screw you. You will learn very quickly what aspects of the business you connect with and don’t be afraid to follow your heart about things you are most passionate about. Also be open-minded, build community, learn to say no to the things that are a waste of time, be persistent but respectful, learn resilience, grow thick skin and don’t be a jerk. I’m sure there’s other stuff but start there.

A bunch of new jobs will be posted next week!

Want this newsletter in your inbox every week?

This newsletter is written by Warner Bailey.

Get in touch! Email us at [email protected].

Want to partner with us and reach 15k+ music and entertainment professionals? Email [email protected].