The AvA Connection

The Weekly Buzz:

• Live Nation is being sued by The Justice Department.

  • The anti-trust lawsuit comes two years after the DOJ launched their investigation, and is based on LN & Ticketmaster undermining competition with other concert venues, and creating a monopoly in the live event space after they merged in 2010.

  • Ticketmaster holds more than 80% of the primary ticket sales in the biggest U.S. venues according to the WSJ.

  • LN’s stock has dropped more than 10% this week.

• Disney wants to bring always-on channels to Disney Plus. Read more

  • So like…. traditional television?

• TikTok strikes global ticketing deal with AEG-owned AXS. Read more

  • This will allow Artists, Venues and Festivals to sell tickets directly in the app

• StubHub eyes summer IPO, seeking a $16.5B valuation

  • …or the equivalent of the ticketing fees for 10 Taylor Swift tickets! Read more

• Warner Music is building a Superfan app. Read more

The Call Log: Chloe Garcia, Marketing Agent @ WME

Today’s interview is with Chloe Garcia, a Music Marketing Agent at WME. Chloe has spearhead campaigns for Artists like Kid Cudi, Kali Uchis, Coco Jones, 6lack, Blxst, Gunna, Kevin Abstract after rising from the mailroom to Agent. This is a full circle moment, as we were both WME Assistants in 2018 together. Our conversation is below.

AvA: How did you get involved in the music industry?

Garcia: I grew up in Sacramento doing musical theatre and loved the environment and the creative community it fostered. Because of this, I knew from a pretty young age I would work in the entertainment industry but knew I didn’t want to be on stage or in front of the camera. I went to college at Loyola Marymount University in LA so I spent my semesters and summers interning everywhere to figure out what I wanted to do. I interned at a radio station, an entertainment publication, a PR company, a TV studio, a media company and a record label. It wasn’t until my time at the label that everything clicked. I was asked to do one of those intern projects where I was the only one in the group that did the work. The task was to present an album marketing strategy for an up-and-coming band to the label’s marketing team. I just remember one of the heads of the department coming up to me after saying “that was awesome, we’re going to take these ideas to the band”. The band ended up using some of the ideas I pitched on their next album and at that moment I knew I could build a career around this.   

When I graduated college in 2016, I set up lunch with a dear friend and mentor who worked at WME at the time. My only agency culture reference at the time was Entourage, so I was a little hesitant about this side of the business. I quickly learned that there was much more to it than what I saw on TV. I learned about the floater program and how on the music side it required offers training, tests, reading industry books, etc. It was like getting your master’s in the music business. After lunch, my friend walked me around the 8^th floor and introduced me to some of the agents. I walked out of the office that day a little mesmerized and told myself I would work there someday; I just had a strong feeling about it. 7 years later, I’m still here and it has really flown by! I feel like I still learn new things every day.    

AvA: Can you talk about your experience in the trainee program at WME? 

Garcia: It’s a very competitive program to get into, and once you’re in it the requirements and programming are in addition to your role as an assistant or coordinator—it was a lot of extra work, but an incredibly rewarding experience. This program and the people I met along the way helped me get to the next phase of my career. 

Within the program, I had the opportunity to work Lollapalooza in Chicago, work the WME retreat in Palm Springs, and attend countless meetings and conversations with clients and entertainment executives that have a huge impact on the industry. It was the real life, out of the office experience that I needed. The chance to “get my hands dirty” and interface with other industry executives while also collaborating on ideas and projects with my peers that I’m now coming up with in the executive world. 

AvA: What are your primary areas of focus now as an Agent in the marketing Department?

Garcia: It’s hard to identify one specific area of focus. I feel the marketing agent role can be a catch for a lot of different things. Every day is very different from the last, which keeps things exciting. Some clients I work with I am only involved in top level tour setup - making sure the venue promoters are following the artist’s vision and the marketing and ticketing plan we create. Other clients, I am more in the weeds on overall marketing strategy as it relates to artist development, larger scale events and partnerships. Regardless of my level of involvement or personal interest in any given artist or talent I work with, I always give 150%. Even if I am just placing venue holds, checking ticket links, editing social copy, or any of the other tedious tasks that we do in marketing, I care deeply and know that every little piece matters, as it makes up the larger puzzle. The goal is to complete the puzzle and not leave any pieces missing. 

AvA: How are you seeing Artists stand out creatively promoting their projects?

Garcia: I think in-person pop ups and activations, separate from the live show itself, are everything. Social media can be an overwhelming place, so when an artist creates an in-person moment where fans can get out of the comments and come together in real life with other like-minded fans, there’s really nothing better. Even if the activation or pop up is not created specifically to promote a specific album or tour, the content captured organically at these types of events and shared on socials is invaluable to the tour promotion rollout. 

AvA: How has traditional music marketing evolved? (can reference things that used to work that don't anymore or visa-versa)

Garcia: It’s always evolving — I think this is the hardest part of our job. Technology, social media and pre-sale messaging platforms are constantly developing. It’s up to us to understand these current and emerging platforms and to stay ahead of updates and case studies so that we can educate our artist's teams on what works best for their rollout. All artists have an entirely different need and style so one strategy or platform might work great for one artist and not at all for another.  

Digital consumers get fatigued easily, so it’s up to us in tandem with these tech and social platforms to construct fresh ways to engage with fans and get our message across in a tasteful way. I think one way in which the music marketing agent role has evolved internally is that we are collaborating more with other departments and working across the Endeavor flywheel. It’s not enough to just stay in the music touring lane when setting up a tour launch. It’s necessary that we collaborate with these other business units and departments to understand what the artist is doing holistically in all areas and how we can tie in key moments of other areas into our tour launch moment.

I also think there has been a significant spike in non-music talent tours. Book authors, podcast hosts, film directors, influencers, etc. are seeing the value of touring as it gives them an opportunity to connect with their fan communities in a bigger way, in real life. I really enjoy working in this space.

AvA: What is one piece of advice for someone just getting started in their career?

Garcia: A few things: Be a nice person. Caring and having empathy goes a long way in this industry. Make the most of every task, no matter how small. Smile and bring a positive energy to the office, say yes to going to shows and working events, say yes to meeting with people in other departments and at other companies. You are in an office and an industry full of influential people across many different verticals, so take advantage of it!

The Job Board

💼 = Job | 🎒 = Internship

💼 Brand Partnerships Coordinator - Universal Music - LA - Apply Here

💼 A&R Coordinator Admin - Universal Music - LA - Apply Here

💼 Influencer and Content Marketing Manager - Universal Music Group - LA - Apply Here

💼 Executive Assistant to CEO - Rostrum Pacific - LA - Apply Here

💼 Assistant to Musician - The Sisyphus Corporation - LA - Apply Here

💼 Product Manager - Amigo Records - LA - Apply Here 

💼 Marketing Coordinator - Sony Music - LA - Apply Here

💼 Marketing Manager - Blue Note Entertainment - NYC - Apply Here

💼 Synch Clearance Coordinator - Kobalt Music - LA - Apply Here

💼 Marketing Coordinator - Fender Musical Instruments - LA - Apply Here

💼 Tour Coordinator - Sony Music - LA - Apply Here

💼 Music Analyst - Pandora - LA - Apply Here

💼 Global Client Services Coordinator - Downtown Music - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Social Media Management Intern - Live Nation - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Live Booking Intern - Live Nation - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Social Media Creative Intern - Live Nation - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Social Media Marketing Intern - Recording Academy - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Music Brand Partnerships Intern - Wasserman - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Membership Intern - KCRW - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Events Intern - KCRW - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Editorial Intern - KCRW - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Artist Department Intern - LA Philharmonic - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Intern - Bleeding Fingers Music - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Music Business Internships - NBCUniversal - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Sound Design Intern (Video Games) - TCWGlobal - LA - Apply Here

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