Familiarize Yourself

Finding your role in the music industry comes natural for some people. Daniel Traci found his calling in college when he first found an internship that quickly turned into a working position for Inland Empire Touring. Throughout college Daniel worked production at local rock clubs, and booked shows on his campus- accumulating enough experience to let him graduate and transition smoothly into the real world. Presently Daniel can be found at ICM where he recently took a moment in his busy schedule to answer a few questions about his college career, his role at ICM, and the life of an agent and artist manager.

Did you attend college? Which college and what was your degree?
I graduated from NYU in 2002, majoring in music.  I studied percussion and balanced my time between the same music curriculum as the other performance majors and the core business curriculum at the University’s Stern School of Business.  Truthfully, I can’t say I have retained much of the lessons learned in corporate finance classes and such, but it was a good opportunity to diversify my class work in the way a general liberal arts major would.  NYU also really pushed taking on internships throughout school, and I got turned on to the events coordinated by the University program board during orientation week, so throughout my 4 years I was booking concerts on campus, working production on the shows, and picking up shifts at night and off-days from class working at clubs in the city like Irving Plaza, Bowery Ballroom, and Mercury Lounge.

Are you where you thought you’d be when you were younger, what did you want to be when you “grew up”?
I started playing in bands in high school, and was pretty into the idea of being a rockstar professionally.  Over time I saw how much of a challenge it was to really “break through” as a performer, and found it just as fulfilling personally to help other artists achieve their professional goals, so I was lucky to have the opportunity to pursue that career with artists I really love and respect.

Can you give a brief description of ICM?
International Creative Management (ICM) is one of the world’s largest talent and literary agencies, with office in Los Angeles, New York, and London.  A cornerstone of the entertainment industry for more than three decades, ICM represents creative and technical talent in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, theater, and publishing.

Our roster has been a part of ICM for 6 months now, having operated independently as Inland Empire Touring for a decade before the merger in April of 2009.

What is your role/title at ICM?
I am an agent at ICM, booking tours throughout North America for our clients.  I also manage a new band called Violens.  They are ICM clients for their touring, but I am concerned with all elements of their business so it’s a closer relationship than with the other 40+ acts on our booking roster.

What do your daily duties consist of?
We handle all elements of arranging an artist’s tour.  That begins with routing out a list of the cities they should target, typically coordinated around the time their next album or single will drop, and starts anywhere from 2-6 months prior to the show dates.  We choose the venues they should play, arrange the deals with the promoters (setting ticket prices, guarantees, watching the show expenses for advertising and production, etc), and then once the dates are confirmed we facilitate communication between the promoters and the artists team

What artists are you currently managing?
Violens are the only band I manage, but our booking roster includes bands such as Modest Mouse, The Shins, The Hold Steady, Band Of Horses, Wolf Parade, The Thermals, Les Savy Fav and many more, as well as comedians like Fred Armisen from SNL, Eugene Mirman from Flight of The Concords, and others.

Do you find talent management is a lot of hand-holding and babysitting of artists?
I suppose it really depends on the act. In the case of Violens, they are adults who are all pretty seasoned musicians so there isn’t as much hand-holding involved.  It can be stressful and tedious trying to coordinate the minutae of touring and certain aspects of an artists’ day-to-day, but ultimately if you want to take full advantage of the opportunities one works so hard to secure for their clients you just have to put in the time to see things through, even when those responsibilities include such exciting tasks as booking hotel rooms on the road or compiling their guest list for a show!

Now that unsigned artists and garage bands can get their music out in the public over the Internet, do you find it difficult to sort through the massive amounts of music we are exposed to on a daily basis and find the quality acts to promote/manage?

It is definitely a different landscape than when I started in the business less than a decade ago.  On one hand we have incredible access to discovering new artists these days, but there is also a somewhat “disposable” quality around a lot of new projects that get substantial attention in press and the blogs.  If a band becomes an overnight sensation off of one single they have released there might be a feeding frenzy for agents, labels, or managers hoping to work with them… but personally I’m far more interested in helping develop acts that have greater potential in the long term.  Even if you love one song by a particular band, if I can’t picture where they should be career-wise on album number 2 or 3 I would feel better suited as a fan than their agent.