Keith Hagan – MNRK Music Group For today’s episode, we chat with Keith Hagan, a longtime manager who had worn many different hats within his career in music, including stints at record labels, as a publicist, and ultimately, coming together in artist management. Keith currently is VP Management at MNRK Music Group based in New…

Dick Huey – Toolshed For today’s episode, we continue to veer off script and join my friend Dick Huey for a chat.   While Dick started out as a musician, then an artist manager, before wisely pivoting over into digital marketing, at the dawn of digital media in music, his fierce advocacy of artists and their…

Ken Weinstein – Big Hassle Media For today’s episode, we’re once again going off script and chatting with someone who, while not a manager, is someone who is an ally to artists and their quest to find an audience and make meaningful connections.   I was lucky enough to be connected with today’s guest, Ken Weinstein,…

Piers Henwood – Amelia Artists/Recordings For today’s episode, I’m thrilled to get a chance to chat with Piers Henwood of Amelia Artists.  Piers started out as a musician, playing in the band Jets Overhead before, as so many artist managers eventually end up doing, crossing over to the dark side of artist management.  All kidding…

Paul Crockford – MMF UK 30th Anniversary Edition For today’s episode, I had the pleasure of collaborating with the Music Managers Forum – UK, in celebration of their 30th anniversary as an organization, creating community and acting as advocates for managers on a large number of important policies.   One of their early champions was Paul…

Josh Sundquist – Middle West Management For today’s episode, I get the chance to chat with a friend of mine, Josh Sundquist at Middle West Management, who just so happens to manage one of the biggest indie artists of the last several years, Justin Vernon, and his project Bon Iver.   We chat about his origins…

Ali Hedrick and Erik Selz – Arrival Artists For today’s episode, we have a first in Tough Love history:  Not just one, but two distinguished guests:  Ail Hedrick and Erik Selz, from Arrival Artists.  Co-founded with a coalition of booking agents in the wake of the pandemic, Arrival Artists heralds the return of the boutique…

Hannah Boren – Red Light Management As we enter a new year, I thought we’d refine some aspects and the overall approach to what we’re doing here with this podcast. When I first envisioned this, I thought taking a seasonal approach to it would work best, coming up with topics such as “Origin Stories” and…

Tom Osborn As in life, seasons change, and life gets the best of us at times, so my apologies for the unscheduled break in new episodes these past few months, but as we revamp and begin to record new, future episodes, I thought it would be nice to revisit a few of our favs as…

Michelle Cable In this episode, we have the pleasure of chatting with Michelle Cable, founder of Panache Management. Panache started out as a zine, which lead Michelle into promoting shows, then booking shows, on a national scale, and then eventually into artist management; working with artists such as Mac DeMarco, Ty Segall, Rodrigo Amarante, and…

Laurel Stearns In this episode, we chat with Laurel Stearns.  I first met Laurel when she was doing A&R at Capitol Records, having signed such interesting and eclectic artists such as The Decemberists and Fisherspooner.  She pivoted into artist management over the years, working with a wide range of artists including GWAR and Father John…

Michele Fleischli In this episode, we chat with Michele Fleischli. Michele has crossed paths with a handful of our previous guests and I really enjoyed the opportunity to connect with her here.  Michele currently owns Like Management, working with Tenacious D and Karen O of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, among others.   Throughout her history, she’s…

Justin Becker In this episode, we talk with Justin Becker, founder of Murmuration Music.  Prior to stepping out on his own, he worked at Ekonomisk Management with Andrea Troolin, where he helped steer the careers of artists such as Andrew Bird and Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s.   We chat about the many challenges,…

Justin Little In this episode, we connect the dots with our last episode, where I spoke with Jordan Kurland of Brilliant Corners by chatting with Justin Little of Bailey Blues. Justin worked with Jordan at the start of his career.  After another stint with Ben Dickey at Constant Artists, he settled in at Bailey Blues,…

In this episode, we chat with Jordan Kurland, co-founder of Brilliant Corners Artist Management, home of Death Cab for Cutie, Soccer Mommy, She & Him, and many others.  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Jordan a few times in the past, and I was thrilled when he reached out to chat. With this past year…

Nick Stern – Stern Management In this episode, we chat with Nick Stern of Stern Management.  Nick got his first taste of the music industry at age 15, interning at an indie record label, Zero Hour.  From there, he gained more experience working as a publicist at Atlantic Records, before pivoting into the world of…

Tim Husom – Redbird Music In this episode, we shift gears a bit and explore the world of film/TV composers with my friend Tim Husom, who’s Redbird Music represents some of today’s top composers, including Dustin O’Halloran, Colin Stetson and the estate of Johann Johansson, to name a few.   We discuss how his early days…

Tom Osborn – Easy Eye Sound In this episode, I share a spirited conversation with my friend Tom Osborn, the GM of Easy Eye Sound, a record label founded by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. We chat about Tom’s history in marketing at several labels, including his time at Artist Direct, one of the…

Lazerbeak For our first episode of 2021, I’m excited to share a lively and inspiring conversation with Lazerbeak, member of the hip-hop collective Doomtree, GM and manager of Doomtree, Heart Bones, solo artist and musical collaborator and producer of Dessa, among others.  Beak wears a lot of hats, and juggles them all in fine form.  …

Lightning Round Questions To round out 2020, we thought it would be fun to compile a collection of our “Lightning Round Questions” which we first introduced at the top of this season.  Think of it as a list of some of our “Favorite Things”.   We hope you enjoy revisiting these with us and thanks, as…

John Strohm President of Rounder Records Today we continue our series on “Pivots”, breaking our long tradition of speaking only to artist managers by inviting in an outsider, the President of Rounder Records, John Strohm.    While never “officially” an artist manager himself, he’s had the opportunity to work with a wide range of amazing talent…

Joel Mark – YMU Group Today we continue our series on “Pivots”, but for this episode, we’ll be speaking with someone who shifted out of his role in A&R and into artist management. Joel Mark, a partner in YMU Group, now manages The Faint, Soul Asylum, Liz Phair and the John Coltrane Estate, among others,…

Caren Kelleher – Gold Rush Vinyl Today we continue our series on “Pivots”, chatting with managers how have, at one point or another in their career, veered into or out of artist management, and how their experiences as an artist manager speaks into the work they’re doing now.   When I was brainstorming on a new…

Michael Corcoran – mtheory Today marks a new chapter, or rather, season, of Tough Love.  We’re moving beyond our first season theme of “Origin Stories” and embarking on a theme, “Pivots”.  To kick this off, I invited my old friend and former colleague from Nettwerk Management, Michael Corcoran , to join me.  Michael is now…

Chris Moon For the close of our first season, centered around our them of “Origin Stories”, we flip the script as I take the interview seat, with our newest member of the Tough Love family, Greg Dobiahl, taking over and slinging the questions my way.  Greg did a fantastic job, and let’s just say I…