ARTISTDIRECT LEAVES TALENT AGENCY BIZ, PACTS WITH CAA

The move was approved by ArtistDirect’s Board of Directors following an internal review, according to a release. As part of this strategy, the company has allied with talent giant CAA, which will take on former AD Agency Prexy Don Muller and agent Marlene Tsuchii.

The two will continue to book the AD artists they represented at the company; they’ll also collaborate with CAA on behalf of ArtistDirect tours Fan Nation, Sno-Core and Revolucion. In addition, CAA will extend AD services such as ticket pre-sales and "proprietary brand advertiser entertainment marketing initiatives," which, whatever they are, sound totally rock ‘n’ roll.

"Upon joining the company last summer, I undertook a review of our business segments to evaluate their long-term value," declared Chairman/CEO Ted Field. "We concluded that in the current competitive marketplace, ArtistDirect’s agency business would face challenges maintaining its historical growth and profitability.

"Also, considering potential conflicts with our record label initiative," Field added, "we determined that the company would be better served by exiting the agency business and creating a relationship with industry leader CAA. Thank goodness we steered clear of that whole dot-com thing, eh?"

That’s a joke. We’re joking. AD will maintain its online enterprise, artistdirect.com.

CAA Music Department head and agency partner Rob Light praised Muller and Tsuchii in his own inimitable way—which was then translated into PR boilerplate. "Don and Marlene will be an exciting addition to our department and our company," he signed off on being quoted as saying. "Their experience with and knowledge of ArtistDirect will be an invaluable asset as we move forward with this relationship to create more opportunity for the artists and fulfilling experiences for the fans. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my snowboarding lesson with Marc Geiger."