BMG Moves Into Artist Management
• BMG has partnered with Carl Stubner, the manager of Fleetwood Mac, ZZ Top, Crowded House and Neil Finn, among others, in a strategic move into the artist management business. BMG is backing Stubner’s new Shelter Music Group, which will be a music management company with a global presence. Stubner (pictured) serves as Chairman of Shelter Music Group, with Dino Paredes as President.
Shelter will retain full independence under the arrangement to sign artists to other labels and music publishers. The deal adds another service option for BMG clients alongside its existing music publishing, recordings, production music, film and book interests. As part of the deal Shelter has already relocated its Nashville operation into BMG’s new office in the city.
BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch said, “Carl Stubner is a force of nature and we are delighted to partner with him. As the lines blur between the services provided by labels and those provided by managers, it is inevitable that these previously separate parts of the business will come together. Ultimately we are both in the business of serving artists and have complementary interests. We believe that combining resources and expertise on certain projects will benefit artists.”
Stubner commented, “BMG has created the first new music major of the streaming age. This is an opportunity not just to work more closely with the most innovative company in music, but also to build a new kind of management company with a presence in every significant music market. We have ambitions to move into both records and publishing with BMG and are already in advanced discussions to recruit other managers to join us.”
BMG and Shelter are already collaborating on Mick Fleetwood’s forthcoming sold-out all-star tribute to Peter Green and the early years of Fleetwood Mac, which is happening on Feb. 25, 2020 at the London Palladium with special guests Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Jonny Lang, Andy Fairweather Low, John Mayall, Christine McVie, Zak Starkey, Steven Tyler and Bill Wyman.
