HOME OFFICE DEDUCTION: Is one artist manager’s long-term relationship on the rocks and headed for splitsville? Insiders are claiming some recent missteps may have resulted in the artist's looking for new representation or possibly bringing everything in house.

Olivia Rodrigo

Justin Bieber

Beyoncé

Lady Gaga

While some have claimed this isn’t about money, we refer you to this timeless showbiz truism: It’s always about money. Given recent moves by Olivia Rodrigo and Mr. Justin Bieber, who followed in the footsteps of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, the trend toward a “family office” has managers and agencies alike a little antsy. A 20% management commission on hundreds of millions of dollars is seen by many as an egregious overreach, especially when artists also traditionally pay agents 10% and lawyers and biz mangers 5% each—leaving them around 60%. With production costs now coming in over 30% on many tours, acts are seeing their cuts whittled down to a degree that really puts a damper on their Caribbean yachting excursions. That said, smart operators have historically reduced commissions and worked out deals when artist grosses reached certain towering thresholds.

The trend toward a “family office” has managers and agencies alike a little antsy. But a 20% management commission on hundreds of millions of dollars is seen by many as an egregious overreach.

TURN-STYLES: While it was expected that megastar Harry Styles would announce a tour built around residencies in several major cities, the scale of his seven-stop, 50-date return in support of the March 6 Columbia album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. is simply mind-blowing.

Promoted by Live Nation, the Together, Together trek runs from May to December and includes 30 dates at Madison Square Garden, six nights each at Wembley Stadium and Amsterdam’s Johan Cruyff Arena and multiple stadium sets in São Paulo, Mexico City, Melbourne and Sydney.

Harry Styles

Jeffrey Azoff

Lucy Dickins

John Marx

Doing some back-of-the-envelope math, the MSG shows alone represent 510k tickets, and six Wembley plays add another 450k. HITS estimates 2m available seats for the run, and when considering tickets for Styles’ 2021-23 Love On tour averaged around $200, he’s looking at a gross around $400m. A Happy New Year to Styles and the Azoffs, one and all!

Meanwhile, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. will ship a heavy dose of vinyl upon release that will certainly add to what’s expected to be a massive first-week number. Lead single “Aperture” topped DSP charts around the globe and was streamed 12.5m times in its first 24 hours at Spotify. Those who’ve heard the entire album say it’s outstanding.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: For WME, 2025 was a resounding and significant year that saw the Lucy Dickins- and Kirk Sommer-led agency overcome several agent departures by signing such A-list talent as The Weeknd, Carín León, Andrea Bocelli, BLACKPINK’s ROSÉ and KPop Demon Hunters singer EJAE. The agency also picked up touring veterans Social Distortion, My Bloody Valentine, Shinedown, The Flaming Lips, Wilco and The Hives, as well as beabadoobee, Nathaniel Rateliff, MGK, Maluma, Freya Skye and Gryffin.

The agency’s 2025 tour season set a pretty high bar. Highlights included Shakira’s Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran world tour—the highest-grossing tour to date by a female Latin act; Zach Bryan’s unprecedented performance at the “Big House” at the University of Michigan, at which he set the record for the most tickets ever sold for a single concert in the U.S.; Backstreet Boys’ 35-night stand at Sphere in Las Vegas; Billie Eilish’s world tour breaking attendance records in Australia; Dua Lipa’s 55-date Australia, Europe, South America run; and, of course, the Josh Javor-ex-N.A.-repped Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres, the highest-grossing and most-attended tour in history and holder of the all-time Wembley Stadium record with 16 shows.

Shakira

Billie Eilish

dua lipa

Coldplay's Chris Martin

However, with Bruno Mars’ return to the road in 2026, WME has already begun putting points on the board. Mars, repped by longtime agent John Marx, has broken the Ticketmaster record for most tickets sold in a single day (2.1m) and attained single-day sales records in North America, Europe and the U.K. His Live Nation-promoted trek in support of new album The Romantic (out Feb. 27) will include nearly 70 stadium dates. The agency also has country superstar Luke Combs, looked after by Aaron Tannenbaum, who’ll do three nights at Wembley and a double at Ireland's Slane Castle, and rising U.K. star SIENNA SPIRO, who will play two sets on Jan. 28 at L.A.’s Blue Note and Troubadour shows on March 3 and 6. As students of local music history are aware, a couple of British singer-songwriters who made their L.A. debuts at the Troub have done pretty well for themselves.

Speaking of Mars, kudos are in order to Elliot Grainge and the Atlantic team for ending Taylor Swift’s 10-week run atop the Hot 100 with Bruno’s “I Just Might." Whisperers are whispering that the switcheroo left Swifty team leaders seeing red. The lead single from The Romantic is #3 at Spotify U.S. and Top 10 global. You’ll likely hear it more than once at Atlantic’s Friday-night Grammy party—if you can get in, that is.

TWO MINUTES TO SHINE: All eight Best New Artist nominees are performing at the 68th Grammy Awards, but word is that they’ll only have two minutes apiece to make an impression. Olivia Dean, the odds-on fave to take home the trophy this year, Alex Warren, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Lola Young, sombr, The Marias and Addison Rae will follow in the footsteps of last year’s BNA contenders—most notably Doechii, who didn’t take home the award (Chappell Roan did) but stunned the crowd with her show-stopping performance. But hey, no presh.

Olivia Dean

Sabrina Carpenter

Clipse

Bruno Mars

And while Sabrina Carpenter and reunited hip-hop duo Clipse (Pusha T and Malice, with a hand from longtime producer Pharell Williams) are the only other officially confirmed acts for the Feb. 1 throwdown at Crypto.com Arena, appearances by Justin Bieber, Mars and Lady Gaga are likely. Despite several reports to the contrary, we’re told Taylor Swift will not be attending the show.

WHEELS & DEALS: Singer-songwriter Conan Gray has joined forces with Brandon Creed's Good World Management ahead of an extensive global arena tour that begins next month.

Dani Russin, Chris Pepe and Emma Anderson will be part of Gray's team at Good World, which also reps Ariana Grande, Charli xcx and Demi Lovato. Gray broke out last year with the song "Vodka Cranberry," from his Republic album Wishbone, which reached a career-best #3. Booked by CAA, Conan will hit the road starting Feb. 19 in Minneapolis. Could brand partnerships with Tito’s and Ocean Spray be next?

Brandon Creed

Conan Gray

Charli xcx

Violet Grohl

Speaking of Charli, the British star caused quite the big-screen stir at the Sundance Film Festival, the last to be held in its longtime Park City, Utah, home base. The artist has supporting roles in The Gallerist with Natalie Portman and alongside Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman in I Want Your Sex. But the toughest ticket was for Charli’s mockumentary, The Moment, which has tongues wagging about its Spinal Tap-esque deconstruction of the Brat phenomenon. Charli also has a suite of songs in the new film version of Wuthering Heights. Will she soon own an entirely new shade of green?

John Silva’s Foo Fighters will drop a fresh album this spring, their first with new drummer Ilan Rubin, and will support it on a previously announced, WME-booked summer stadium tour beginning Aug. 4 in Toronto. Meanwhile, Dave Grohl’s 19-year-old daughter, Violet, has partnered with Republic for her grungy-sounding debut LP… CAA has signed veteran touring outfit My Morning Jacket, which is managed by Michael McDonald and Kristen Bunk at Mick Management… New York rap legend Nas has inked with Wasserman’s Brent Smith, Lee Anderson, James Rubin and Kevin Shivers… Indie rock stalwart Death Cab for Cutie has partnered with ANTI-Records for future releases after fulfilling a 20-year run with Atlantic. The Wasserman-booked band’s summer tour includes an Aug. 2-3 visit to The Greek in L.A.