ICM Having Mega Problems With Clients

International Creative Management, one of the top three booking agencies in the concert business, is experiencing rough times.

In the past two years, ICM has lost such coveted clients as Paul McCartney, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Def Leppard, Queensryche, Tesla, Tears for Fears and, most recently, Megadeth.

One problem, say several music executives, is a lack of teamwork and interaction among ICM agents that has had an alienating effect on the artists. Many sources contacted pointed to “the CAA model”--the Creative Artists Agency, where the music agents share the labor and rewards of their touring artists. Both Tears for Fears and Megadeth left ICM for CAA.

“Unfair,” protests William Elson, head of ICM’s New York-based music division. “None of those situations have anything to do with lack of cooperative or collective effort. There were emotional and historical considerations which precipitated those moves.”

Emotional is indeed the best way to characterize Megadeth’s recent jump to CAA. For the past nine years, the band had been represented by agent Andy Somers, who joined ICM early last year. A disappointed Somers told us the split was simply the result of personal differences between him and Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine.

“It’s not about business,” Somers says. “Unfortunately, the personal thing means an end to business.”

Nonetheless, Elson is concerned enough that he has decided to relocate to Los Angeles for two weeks of every month to work out of his West Coast offices. Elson tells Pop Eye the move is not directly related to any roster losses, but is intended to help the agency prepare for the future.

“My move to Los Angeles is not reactive,” he says. “It’s proactive.”

But insiders, maintaining that the company’s reputation has been tarnished, say that Elson has his work cut out for him. Several point to ICM’s difficulty in attracting key new clients. One notable failure is the reunited Black Sabbath’s decision to sign with William Morris, even though Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne is signed to ICM as a solo artist.

While ICM agents are remaining outwardly calm about the situation, there are rumors that Elson hired a group therapist to help them deal with the stress of the roster departures. Not true, says Elson, who notes that he did hire a “consultant” who specializes in the field of motivation. But, he says, that was “more on a business motivation level than a therapy session.”

While ICM is certainly the largest of the “mature” booking agencies to experience such rough times, International Talent Group recently lost Depeche Mode, Sade, Erasure and Peter Gabriel, while Premier Talent has lost Bon Jovi, Hothouse Flowers, Pat Benatar, David Coverdale and Santana.

Said one top-level music executive, “It’s a new day in the agency business. The old guard doesn’t get it. They’re definitely being left behind.”