Trending on Billboard
The biggest story in the live music business this week was the controversy surrounding Casey Wasserman, the founder and CEO of Wasserman Group, the agency whose music division books Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar, Skrillex and hundreds of other artists of all sizes and genres.
On Jan. 30, the U.S. Department of Justice released an additional 3 million pages of documents from the files in the case of financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and Wasserman was among the many notable public figures who appeared in them. Wasserman flew on Epstein’s private jet in 2002, and the documents also include risqué emails from 2003 between Wasserman, who was then married, and Epstein’s now-incarcerated associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Related
“I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell, which took place over two decades ago, long before her horrific crimes came to light,” Wasserman wrote in a Jan. 31 statement. “I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Still, Wasserman’s connection to Maxwell, and by extension Epstein, has spurred a slew of artists — including Chappell Roan, Orville Peck and Sylvan Esso — to part ways with the agency, with others calling for Wasserman to step down from his leadership role. Bethany Cosentino, the frontwoman of the band Best Coast, was the first artist to announce her departure from Wasserman, writing on Feb. 5 that “I did not consent to having my name or my career tied to someone with this kind of association to exploitation.”
Reportedly, a group of Wasserman Music agents has asked Wasserman to sell them the agency’s music business — and has threatened to leave the agency if he doesn’t. But so far, Wasserman, who is also serving as the president of the organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, has made no indication that he will leave his namesake agency or change his role there. Neither Wasserman nor his agency have issued a statement addressing the developing situation since.
What does all this mean for Wasserman, its agents and clients, and the broader live music business? Read on for an FAQ.
How Established is Wasserman’s Music Business?
Wasserman Group has existed since 2002, but only got into the music business in 2021, when it acquired Paradigm Talent Agency’s North American live music representation business. Before that acquisition, Paradigm had spent years building its own business through acquisitions, and by 2021, it was among music’s most influential agencies. Wasserman’s resources helped turbocharge the new Wasserman Music, and in February 2024, Casey told Billboard, “We believe in the music business. We’re not buying [Paradigm] for tomorrow; we’re buying it for the next 100 years.” But committed as Wasserman might be to his agency’s music operations, many of the division’s agents, clients and relationships long predate the existence of Wasserman Music.
How Much Does an Artist Care About Their Agency?
While agencies provide robust services and resources for their clients — and for the agents who work at them — artists are generally most committed to their specific individual agents, and will often follow them from agency to agency. So far, the statements of Wasserman clients who have spoken out have reflected this dynamic. “I have worked with my agent, Sam Hunt, for over 15 years who has done incredible work in representing me,” Cosentino wrote in her statement. “I am in the Sam Hunt business. I am not in the Wasserman business.” Several artists have referenced such longstanding relationships and praised their Wasserman agents — but ultimately, those allegiances have been trumped by the gravity of the association with Wasserman. “We love and appreciate our actual agents and we hope they can find a new scenario we can be a part of,” the electronic trio Levity wrote in a statement on Instagram announcing its departure from Wasserman.
Can Those Agents Just Leave Wasserman?
It’s unclear. While artists have started to announce their departures, agents have so far remained in place. The explanation for this is fairly simple: As public-facing entertainers, artists face a much more immediate risk to their brands and businesses than agents do, and agents are likely holding out to see Wasserman’s next move, which could absolve them from needing to take action on their own. But there are legal and contractual considerations as well. Agents are often bound by multi-year contracts, which could complicate the process of leaving the agency. And while legislation in states like California and New York has significantly weakened noncompete clauses, jumping ship for another agency — or banding together and starting their own — still may not be feasible for some agents. If Wasserman does remain at the agency, he could release disgruntled agents from their contracts — or they could attempt to force his hand with a walkout.
What Could The Fallout Be?
Prior to the pandemic, Paradigm Music was on a roll, and Wasserman Music has continued that momentum, signing major new clients and poaching prominent agents (and often the artists with whom they work) from competing firms. The agency world always seems to be in flux — from the indie agencies that formed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to CAA’s blockbuster acquisition of ICM Partners in 2022 — but the sheer number of agents, artists, or both who could soon be looking for a new agency home would be unprecedented, and could possibly reshape the booking market.
Take the world of dance music, where Wasserman represents such heavy hitters as Skrillex, Rüfüs Du Sol and Swedish House Mafia, among many others. Several prominent dance artists, including ODESZA and Lane 8, have already announced their departures from Wasserman, while others, such as John Summit and Subtronics, have publicly called on Wasserman to step down and threatened to leave if he doesn’t. At this year’s edition of Movement, the revered Detroit electronic festival, Wasserman has by far the most clients on the bill (18% of Movement’s bookings), followed by Liasion Artists (7%); major competitors WME and UTA rank at 6% and 3%, respectively. An agency that could land a disproportionate number of Wasserman agents or clients seeking a new home for representation could surge ahead in the dance music sector — and a similar phenomenon could play out in other genres, given Wasserman’s strength across the booking business.
How Does L.A. 2028 Factor In?
Amid all this, Wasserman’s agency — which built its name by representing athletes, first and foremost — isn’t his only consideration. Since the late 1990s, the executive has been a key figure in the world of sports business, and he’s been working for more than a decade to bring the Summer Olympics to Los Angeles in 2028. Wasserman became the chair of the event’s organizing committee in 2017, and its president in 2024 — a role that has thrust him into the political spotlight, including into meetings with President Donald Trump. The Olympics may be what Wasserman currently cares about most — and, so far at least, this scandal hasn’t shaken the Los Angeles Olympic Committee board’s faith in him. “We found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented,” the committee wrote after a review of the documents, reaffirming its commitment to the executive. If the committee had moved on from Wasserman, it would’ve made it challenging for him to credibly maintain his post at his agency; likewise, its decision to stand by him strengthens his argument that he can remain atop Wasserman.
Will Casey Wasserman Survive This Scandal?
That’s the big question, and the one that everyone seems to be waiting on. There are several scenarios for what could come next that all seem somewhat possible, depending on Wasserman’s personal next move. One, he could stay, and try to weather the exodus of music artists and agents; so far, his sports division appears mostly intact, with soccer superstar Abby Wambach the only athlete to publicly announce she was leaving over the scandal, and a reduced music roster could still remain viable. Two, he could sell his agency, whether to his own agents or to another consortium, which would likely involve the agency being renamed to distance itself from its founder; a sister possible scenario could involve him merely spinning off the music agency and retaining the sports side, in which case the outcome would be similar. A third possibility could be him stepping away from the CEO role and into some sort of chairman position, with the agency being renamed, which would allow him to stay on in some capacity but could quell some of the PR issues and associations that are part of this equation. Which option he takes remains to be seen.