Classical Music article

In Summer 2025 James contributed an article to the “Classical Music” website reflecting on his (then) 35 years in artist management:

"It hit me recently that I have been an agent for 35 years – rather a startling realisation. This caused me to reflect on how the business has, or hasn’t, changed in that time. When we started Hazard Chase in 1990 Symphony Hall in Birmingham was yet to open, IMG Artists had not yet launched a European office and the Harold Holt and Lies Askonas agencies had not yet merged. I remember going to meetings of the British Association of Concert Agents (which later expanded internationally and became the International Artist Managers’ Association, or IAMA) in order to get to know people in the business – it was initially quite daunting, although IAMA would eventually play a significant role in my career and I would even become Chairman. I remain a committed supporter of the organisation, which has been led brilliantly for so long by Atholl Swainston-Harrison.

What is striking is that the main agencies back then are largely still the major players today and in some cases, the big characters who ran them are still working. A generation of ambitious and entrepreneurial managers included Joeske van Walsum, Jasper Parrott, Tom Graham, Martin Campbell-White, Stephen Wright, Jonathan Groves and the greatly missed David Sigall. A younger chap called Stephen Lumsden was doing rather well and would eventually turn his business, Intermusica, into one of the biggest agencies. Fast forward to today and the businesses they have created are Askonas Holt, Harrison Parrott, IMG Artists, Intermusica, Maestro Arts (founded by the Van Walsums) and Groves Artists (the successor to Ingpen and Williams). It’s surprising how little change or disruption there has been. That said, one notable disruptor has been IMG Artists, backed initially by the IMG sports marketing behemoth led by Mark McCormack, and under the ambitious leadership of Stephen Wright, which acquired chunks of Harold Holt, Lies Askonas and Harrison Parrott, resulting in the eventual merger of the first two. After leaving IMG, Stephen went on to buy Van Walsum Artist Management, an agency I always admired due to their small but very high-quality roster.

IMG would eventually divest itself of IMG Artists, and this has been a pattern over the years – third party ownership of classical agencies has rarely been a long-term success. ICM eventually pulled out of classical music, leading to the creation of Opus 3 Artists, Universal Music launched and quickly closed an artist management division and on a more modest level, my own backers in Cambridge came to the view that we were not a good fit for their investment management and insurance business. Simply put, I suspect classical agencies do not make enough profit to sit comfortably within parent organisations which are very profitable and have high central overheads. I’m guessing there is more profit in one endorsement for a top athlete than there is in an entire classical agency in a year! It will be interesting to see how San Francisco Conservatory’s ownership of Askonas Holt and Opus 3 plays out – perhaps the key difference here is that the owner is not a commercial enterprise and is itself in the music industry.

COVID-19 has been the other major disruptor. It exposed the weakness of the agency model – commission on live events, with very little other revenue, especially since the collapse in recording income. It was striking that pretty much the entire agency sector had exactly the same problem, because we all worked on the same business model. Colombia Artists Management, a major US name, and my own company Hazard Chase, were two companies which closed early on, faced with such uncertainty and the potential for unsustainable losses. There was much discussion at the time about finally changing the business model, revised contracts, pre-payments and so on, but inevitably the agency world has largely settled back into familiar practices and I suspect that if there was another pandemic tomorrow, the result would be much the same. If artists cannot earn fees, agencies cannot earn commissions and income collapses instantly.

Since COVID, there seems to be less work around, funding is under threat, even in traditionally stronger markets like Germany and the USA, and climate change has raised uncomfortable questions about air travel and touring. The larger agencies seem to have responded to this by energetically and aggressively seeking to increase market share. Those agencies are now very large, which I suspect comes with both advantages (increased traffic and information) and disadvantages (time constraints and difficulty focussing on individual artists). The smaller, so-called “boutique” agencies are focussing on intense personal management and this is where, with JBM, I have placed my own bet in terms of future viability in the agency world. Some agencies have finally diversified their activities, moving into other genres of music and publishing for example. During my career I have been very open, probably too open, to trying such things, so I cannot criticise them for doing so, but as I look back now on my time in this business, I can see clearly that the best agencies have tended to maintain a clear focus and core activity. I was always impressed by Ingpen and Williams for example, which seemed to be a very artist-focussed business, led by people who really loved music and cared about their artists. I think that accounted for the evident goodwill towards the company and the notable client loyalty.

One thing that has changed is that technology has shrunk the world. No more walking to the post office to send expensive parcels full of cassette tapes and brochures to America or Australia. Nowadays we take for granted the ability to write or speak easily to colleagues all over the world. COVID made video conferencing normal for us and, together with climate issues, this makes travel, previously the lifeblood of the business, arguably less vital and justifiable. That’s a shame in some ways – like most agents I have enjoyed that aspect of the work and developed friendships all over the world. Not always though – I once went to meet perhaps the most famous agent of all time, Ronald Wilford, at the office of Columbia Artists in New York. I was shown into his room and he turned to me, looked me up and down, and said “I hate the English”.

There is a great deal of talk at the moment about how AI might change the workplace and reduce the workforce. Managing artists is all about building and nurturing trusting relationships, with the artists of course, but also with promoters, publicists and record labels for example, so I believe that there will always be an important role for agencies within the industry. I also believe that one impact of AI will be increased leisure time, with a greater requirement for entertainment and culture. Classical music has proved very resilient during the time I have worked as a performer and agent, despite many challenges, and I remain optimistic for the future of the business and our role within it."