Yahoo News APA, In Bid to Take on Top Agencies, Merges With Music Touring Agency AGI and Rebrands
Agency for the Performing Arts, which has aggressively expanded its agent count in the last few years, and Artist Group International, one of the biggest touring agencies in the music space, have merged to form a new full-service talent firm that is seeking to take on CAA and WME in the representation space.
The combined company will be renamed Independent Artist Group and have Jim Osborne, the current president of APA, as its CEO. Dennis Arfa, the founder and CEO of AGI, has been named chairman of the music division. The new positions take effect immediately.
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The merger occurs with Yucaipa Entertainment, owned by billionaire Ron Burkle, as the conduit. Burkle bought AGI in 2012 and has been financing APA since 2020. (Burkle also has stakes in several other separate music and sports agencies.)
The board of IAG will consist of Osborne, Arfa and former longtime APA CEO Jim Gosnell, who will now spearhead vertical growth opportunities for the new company, while passing the baton of running the day-to-day operations of the agency to Osborne.
The merger and elevation to CEO is a remarkable comeback story by Osborne, a longtime agent who rose from being an assistant to legendary talent agent Ed Limato at ICM before becoming a rising agent in the early 2000s whose ascent was sidetracked by abrupt exits from that agency and then Paradigm.
He landed at APA in 2011 and, while still keeping his singular brash style, also kept his nose to the grindstone by focusing on his roster. It paid off. In 2018 he was named head of talent and then in 2020, president of the agency. He also brought an aggressive courting and signing mentality to the agency, overseeing a major growth in agents and clients in the last several years. In the post-ICM acquisition by CAA, APA hired 21 agents and signed over 300 new clients in a bid to make itself the fourth agency in the Hollywood representation ecosystem and elbowed its way to a spot at the table when it came to courting talent. APA’s roster includes names ranging from Gary Oldman and Regina Hall to Delroy Lindo and Mel Gibson to Margaret Atwood and William Gibson.
Burkle introduced Osborne to Arfa in early 2022 which started a dialogue. Arfa is said to have liked what Osborne had done with music crossover clients such as Mary J. Blige and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, the latter building a producing empire, which led to AGI sharing of a select list of clients such as Billy Joel and Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins with APA. That developed into full blown talks, with APA chasing its goal of growing to punching up to the bigger agencies.
“Dennis Arfa and his exceptional colleagues at AGI are revered in the industry, having built a spectacular artist roster and a sterling reputation,” said Osborne in a statement. “The great news is we have already established a tremendous working relationship with them through shared representation on some of their most valued artists. This new partnership with AGI and our rebrand to Independent Artist Group is another major step that elevates us within the agency landscape … and we are not done yet!”
Stated Arfa: “This was the natural next step in our evolution and made in the best interests of our valued artists. We have admired how Jim Osborne and their colleagues have been market leaders in creating brand expanding, non-touring revenue opportunities for their clients and we are excited to build on that success with them and look forward to integrating under the IAG banner.”
The acts that AGI brings to the newly formed Independent Artist Group is a roster of new and old. The list includes Joel, Metallica, Def Leppard, Rod Stewart, Motley Crue, Linkin Park, Jane’s Addiction, Darryl Hall & John Oates, Norah Jones, Neil Young, The Strokes, Smashing Pumpkins, Ghost, Elvis Costello, Cage The Elephant, and Five Finger Death Punch.
AGI’s president Marsha Vlasic is being named vice-chair of the IAG Music Division. AGI COO Jarred Arfa, AGI president of touring Adam Kornfeld and the rest of the senior agents and staff of AGI will be joining IAG, according to Wednesday’s announcement.
Music touring has emerged as a profitable and enviable asset in the post-pandemic era thanks for consistent if not booming revenue streams. In April, WME bought the Nashville-based boutique agency Red 11 Music, which counts Shooter Jennings, Muscadine Bloodline, and Turnpike Troubadours as clients.
The APA-AGI merger was unveiled just days after APA parted ways with several music agents, including longtime music vet and head of music Bruce Solar.
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