For the past decade, the headhunters at Creative Artist’s Agency (CAA) Executive Search division have been the networkers behind the scenes helping connect top power players in sports, entertainment, finance and music companies with the people who will become their most relied-upon deputies, board directors and executives.
Founded by CAA global managing partner Joe Becher in October 2016, the group has helped staff the C-suites and board rooms of Universal Music Group, Recognition and Pophouse, as well as leading live music and streaming companies, distributors and music technology start-ups.
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“It really came together because of the connectivity of CAA’s platform, the knowledge we have about entertainment in general, and the access that CAA has to clients and talent,” Becher tells Billboard in late April in CAA’s New York offices in the Chrysler Building. “We’ll probably do 100 searches [out of a total of 550] for music companies this year. It’s a big business for us.”
Andrew Mackereth, managing partner for music and entertainment, leads the music industry search team, and he says the job allows them to observe how music industry leaders think about capitalizing on the influx of institutional investor capital and how global investors choose companies and leaders to work with.
“We see more companies every year partnering with very, very smart capital. It has created great opportunities for growth and for leaders to find new opportunities,” says Mackereth, who is based in London. “We’ve definitely been a window for private equity firms to look into the music industry and identify the right people to help them run their companies, whether it’s the right CFO, chief people officer, the right marketing officers. We know where to look for those exact individuals … within the music industry … [and] in tangential industries.”
As the industry changes — with a more tech-first focus, and more private equity and investment money than ever before — Becher and Mackereth’s services are in demand more than ever. And in this current ultra-competitive and tight labor market, Becher and Mackereth have a perspective on the skills that music industry leaders are looking for, the quixotic ways in which major companies have vetted top candidates and the missteps that can mean game over for even the most experienced professionals.
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“I think at board level and C-suites, including the CEO, [it is] a jigsaw puzzle, and you have to make sure that you have the right piece so that the company can operate effectively,” Becher says. “We do a lot of the hiring for organizations, but we can also help them think through how they how they structure [company] to make sure that all characteristic skill sets are present.”
Why did you found CAA Executive Search in October 2016?
Joe Becher: I think CAA recognized they were doing search anyway, but not in a structured, professional manner. They would get asked by somebody that runs a studio, ‘Who should we hire for this and that?’ And they’d come up with names. The more we did it, the more we realized, ‘We can serve our clients even better if we create a dedicated practice that actually focuses on professional search and processes.” We started doing sports, then broader entertainment, movie studios, production companies, and about three years in we started doing music. Universal Music Group became our first big music client.
Andrew Mackereth: No one was really doing search in music, and if they were, it was somewhere down the hierarchy. We had a lot of fun exploring that and educating the market. Fast forward to now, we’re seeing more private equity firms, VC firms, any kind of financial institution that sees huge value in the music industry, in acquiring catalogs and in the live space, as well.
What are some of your favorite client stories?
Mackereth: We worked with Pophouse Entertainment from before the shovel had been put in the ground to build the [ABBA Voyage] avatar concert in London. [Pophouse is an investor in the show put on by ABBA Voyage.] We ended up hiring a number of their top executives, including their most recent chief executive and many board members.
Once you find candidates, how do you vet them?
Mackereth: Site visits. Many hour-long phone calls, followed by an additional half hour to an hour with each of the other stakeholders. Group calls as well as individual calls. It can really rack up.
Becher: We have lots of assessment tools that we use. Some clients will ask for different psychometric tools. A client wouldn’t make a hiring decision based purely on it, but it is a tool to understand the candidate better, to figure out how to work with them, get the best out of them, develop them, promote them.
Like a lie detector test?
Becher: It’s not like a lie detector test, but they definitely ask a whole series of online questions, and it can get pretty good senses around strengths and weaknesses and personalities.
We have a number of clients that have coaches or psychologists [vet] really important hires. We had one client for a long time that used this same doctor that lived in the middle of nowhere. The final candidate would always go and spend a weekend at this guy’s hunting lodge in the Carolinas. You would go and stay with Dr. Hodge and his wife and spend the weekend, and he’d come back with an entire assessment around the candidate, whether he thought the person was a good cultural fit for the particular organization.
Do you think you’ve contributed to the financial world’s view that music is an increasingly valuable asset?
Mackereth: I don’t want to claim too much credit. [As a window for private equity] we’ve been opening their eyes to how strong the talent in this space is. One thing you can’t get away from is that relationships matter in the music industry. So understanding who the right individuals are, who have the right relationships, is important. We can help them navigate that and help translate the music industry to them.
Becher: Even before we do the hiring, PE firms often bring us in to assess the talent that the asset that they’re thinking of investing in [currently has]. Because we have so many representatives who do so many searches in music every year, we’ve got a pretty good insight into how they compare to others and where they need to upgrade. A lot of our work is about advising our clients on how good the talent of the asset is and where they need to improve it.
Compared to the other industries you focus on, what could music do better?
Becher: The music industry does get criticized for being insular. Relationships are so important in this industry, as is the knowledge and the expertise. A lot of what we do is spend time with very senior executives who are in current roles and understand what is going to motivate them to move. There’s always going to be certain roles within music that have to go to people within music. I think the companies that are doing it well are recognizing that there’s certain functions within businesses where you don’t need music people, where you can bring in other experts that have knowledge and backgrounds in different industries. With AI and data becoming so, so important, the music industry probably will look outside of music for those sorts of roles.
Mackereth: No organizations are exactly the same. If it’s a music technology company, then obviously you can look at product executives who might have been successful in other industries. But if we’re hiring an executive who needs to have A&R experience, then obviously we’re going to be looking within the music industry.
What companies have done this best?
Becher: Robert Kyncl is an example of a blurred line — a business guy that obviously has a ton of connectivity and knowledge of music from YouTube and his previous background.
Mackereth: I think the best examples are CEOs with great self-awareness and the board has great self-awareness. And you might come into that role with the strength in financial engineering or A&R or whatever it might be, but it’s having the self-awareness to know where you need support and to hire the right people around you.
Compared to other industries, there seems to be less talk of succession in music. Do most major music companies have formal succession plans?
Mackereth: With the labels, you’ve got a really clear example of very successful CEOs running their organizations for long periods of time and continuity can be a great driver of growth for a business. Every organization needs to be thinking strategically about what the bench looks like underneath that CEO and if it’s likely that we’re going to be able to promote from within. If so, is there any work that needs to be done with the future leadership to get them ready for that change? I think that they are well-run organizations with very strong leadership teams who are going to be ready to take up the reins as and when a change might be needed.
We’re quite privileged to get a view of the industry’s talent at various different levels. You might not be aware of the talent underneath that’s coming through and still improving. We’ve seen very successful transitions with Apple and recently Spotify. Just because you might not be aware that these conversations and forward planning is taking place doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not.
How do your PE clients think about the indie music space?
Mackereth: We’re seeing very sophisticated private equity partners move into that space because they see that opportunity. They’re partnering with very impressive entrepreneurs, whether it’s Too Lost or Create. We’re seeing great leaders make big swings.
Do you find yourself suggesting coffee dates between people like Pophouse’s CEO and executives at live entertainment companies? Do you take those kinds of people skiing, golfing, to concerts?
Becher: We’re always thinking about introductions that can be helpful, even if it’s not for any particular purpose of ours. We’re always putting groups together. I like the skiing element. We hosted our first Deer Valley [Canada] trip a few weeks ago, which was a lot of fun with clients.
Where do you take people for first meetings? Where is your power breakfast spot in London?
Becher: Definitely not breakfast. I think breakfast is the biggest momentum killer of the day.
Mackereth: The Wolseley does a great breakfast in London, and Greek Street. [I often say] ‘Come for a stroll with me.’ When the sun’s out in London, you have to make the most of it. So why wouldn’t you go for a stroll along the river?
What is your biggest pet peeve?
Becher: Punctuality is No. 1 on the list. If someone turns up late, then it’s game over because they’re going to turn up late for a client as well. If they’re not punctual, if they don’t turn up prepared, if they don’t have questions and angles and thoughts around opportunities, then they’re probably not going to represent us well with clients.
How do you think about or manage someone who shows up with a grand sense of self?
Mackereth: A big thing that we look to do is marry the right executive or the right culture, and part of our analysis is understanding what sort of personality we’re dealing with, and is that going to be a right fit for the board of directors.
Why do you think there are so few women leaders in music?
Mackereth: It’s fair to say there’s work to be done. But on a positive note, every day, we are engaging with more and more fantastic women who are coming up through the ranks. [The industry can help by] removing any barriers for entry. Merlin just announced an initiative to help female leaders within their organization.
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