Achieving artistic fame has become an incredibly daunting task for music artists and their managers, given the proliferation of distribution, streaming, promotion and marketing options and expectations. That’s why Jonathan Eshak, partner at Mick Management, says, “We don’t even want to call ourselves a management company anymore. We’re a music company. What we do first and foremost is brand development, artist development and world building. We’re not just keeping the train on the tracks.”
Eshak and his partner, Michael McDonald, the company’s founder, came to the company after immersing themselves in other areas of the business. McDonald was tour manager for the Dave Matthews Band before co-founding ATO Records in 2000 with Matthews, his manager Coran Capshaw, who founded Red Light, and Chris Tetzeli, who would later go on to found 7S Management. They opened The Mick the following year, with John Mayer as their first client, and in 2004 brought on Eshak (the twin brother of Island Records co-CEO Justin Eshak), a data expert who had worked at Universal Music Publishing Group. Jonathan became a partner in 2015.
With a staff of about 20 people in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville, the duo has launched a boutique agency with its own record label, Mick Music, which is distributed by Believe, and represents Maggie Rogers, who released the critically acclaimed Don’t Forget Me in April, Leon Bridges and Ray LaMontagne, who are due to release albums later this year, The Walkmen and frontman Hamilton Leithauser’s solo effort, Sharon Van Etten, Brett Dennen, Mandy Moore, My Morning Jacket and The Marias.
In a fragmented culture where, according to Eshak, “it’s very hard to find a place for chat,” Mick’s team excels at building a dedicated fanbase of unique artists who overachieve. “Every artist has a different definition of success, and we understand that,” he adds. “We also understand that there’s no single way to achieve success anymore.” Their bespoke approach has led to some notable successes recently. In August, Rogers will embark on an international arena tour that includes two shows at Madison Square Garden, but he has yet to achieve platinum sales with an album. In 2018, Leithauser began a five-night residency at New York’s plush, 100-capacity Café Carlyle, playing in front of, in Eshak’s words, “a few rabid Walkmen fans and some pretty bemused business travelers.” This year, Leithauser sold out 12 dates and plans to expand the concept in 2025 with notable guests. And in June, The Marias celebrated the release of their new album, “Submarine,” with a secret pop-up show for about 5,000 fans in downtown Los Angeles. Eshak said 38,000 people showed up.
“All of this shows that we’re finding interesting ways for artists to appreciate and best serve their fanbase,” McDonald says.
Eshaq’s first concert was when George Strait and his band headlined the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo at the Houston Astrodome in the late 1980s. “More than 30 years later, I got this belt buckle from the rodeo when Leon Bridges headlined,” he says. “It really was a full circle moment.” Michael Buckner
What are the challenges of running an artist management company today compared to 25 years ago?
Jonathan Eshak: When I first worked with Michael, the recorded music business was starting to collapse. It was the early days of file-sharing companies like Napster and Kazaa. Working with Michael was fascinating for that very reason. He was someone who had built his own world around not only the ups and downs of recorded music success, but also how to make things work with touring, merchandising, and so on. He had worked with Dave Matthews and Coran, and he understood culture creation.
Like the Grateful Dead, Matthews built a culture around his music.
Eshaq: The Dead are the godfathers of it, and Mick’s ethos practically started there. The challenges of the industry have evolved, but the code for building an artist’s career remains the same: how to focus on building meaningful, lasting relationships with your fanbase. We always say, “How do we make the artist a hit, not just the song?” Music is only one part of the cocktail. It’s also about how to create a dynamic of connection between the artist and the fans, how to merchandising with the fans, and how to create a live show that evolves and is meaningful. Throughout the history of recorded music, artist development has often been paid lip service.
Michael McDonald: There were fewer breakthrough moments back then, but today technology and culture have democratized it. The good thing is that more people can succeed. The bad thing is that there are fewer channels through which star-turning moments can happen.
Eshak got a copy of the show’s schedule when Rogers appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on November 3, 2018. “It’s an honor any time our cast is invited back,” Eshak said. Michael Buckner
Maggie Rogers seems like a great example of someone who thrives through connecting with her fans.
Eshak: Maggie understood the importance of connection from the beginning. She had that, for lack of a better word, Pharrell moment, and she understood the importance of going out there and connecting with fans in person, not sitting back and trying. You’re right, she’s playing two nights at Madison Square Garden without having a platinum record. Of course, she wants that, and we want that for her, but whoever’s in, is in. Even as she grows up, the No. 1 item on her checklist is, what are we going to do for that audience?
What are some examples?
Eshaq: When we announced our fall arena tour, we created pop-up shops in all our markets where people could line up to buy exclusive merch and, most importantly, discounted tickets. We had heard fans anxious about ticket prices, so we sought a solution: fans could walk in. [into the pop-ups]pointing to the seating chart and getting a cheaper ticket than they could pay online, so her fans know she is watching them.
What questions do you ask an artist before signing them?
McDonald: The most important thing is, “Do we love music? Do we feel like we can really grow this career?” And, “Will they work hard?” You can’t ask for more than them. Part of this is the research you can do before you meet the artist. A lot of it is through conversation, but data is also key. We’ve had great success following our passion and courage, and it would be foolish not to use the tools available to make those decisions. Data is Jonathan’s great strength, and that’s why we use it to make decisions, but never to finalize them. If we did, we wouldn’t have signed some of the artists we currently have signed.
Why did you partner with Firebird?
McDonald: Firebird brings resources that a company our size doesn’t have. We have a data and analytics department of 10-15 people. We have a finance department. A lot of different things that allow us to focus on the data and focus on the artists.
McDonald celebrated “turning 50, being sober for 20 years, raising nearly half a million dollars for MusiCares, and accomplishing one of my bucket lists” by competing in the 2019 Ironman World Championship. “It’s been an epic journey and one of the best days of my life,” he said.
What is your pitch to artists you want to sign?
Eshak: It all comes down to having a common code. So it’s important to take the time to sit down with your artists and ask them, “What are your goals in life, other than success in recorded music?” This is such a deep relationship, so we talk all the time. We talk on the weekends. We’re with them on the big stages of life. It’s really important for us to at least have a common goal, because it takes a lot of strain on everyone. What we do well is now act as a kind of coach. It’s our job to be well informed about how people are successful, and then to distill that and apply it to the artists that we represent. Every artist is so different. In other words, how do you stay true to yourself? We can’t do that for 1000 artists. That’s not the business model that Michael and I chose to build.
There is a label.
Eshaq: We have a label and we work with artists who have a repertoire coming back and need a mechanism to release their music, and part of that is identifying artists that we love and helping to get their music out there.
Do you encourage artists to own their master works?
McDonald: 100%, whenever possible. Today, it would be hard to pursue a deal that started out as Perpetuity Music being somewhere else. That’s always a possibility, and ultimately it’s the artist’s decision. If they feel like now is their chance and they’re willing to give up on it, then yeah. But one of the reasons we created the label was to say, “Okay, let’s create an easy mechanism where we can control the terms of the deal. Let’s put out music and build on that. And if there aren’t any great licensing options available today, let’s take a year and build something up.” Ray LaMontagne’s album “Trouble” went back to him in May 20 years later. So it’s not always going to be back in three or five years. But 20 years ago, you could take the long view and say, “Let’s take a percentage off today so that we at least have the option to sell that recording in X number of years.”
Are your contracts with artists traditional percentage deals or partnerships?
McDonald: It varies. We do a lot of traditional transactions, but whenever we have a true partnership and we’re sharing information with each other… [intellectual property] For artists, we have been completely fair and clear with all of our legal teams. The way artists do business with different companies is evolving, and we welcome things to evolve.
The box was made for McDonald by a friend. “It’s where I keep some of my most treasured and memorable notes and little keepsakes from artists, family and friends.” Michael Buckner
This story appeared in the July 20, 2024 issue of Billboard.
