Artist Direct to Drop Talent Agency Division

Artist Direct, the record label start-up headed by entrepreneur Ted Field, said it would exit the talent agency business after deciding the agency division could not maintain past growth.

As part of the move, Artist Direct said it lined up with Creative Artists Agency, which will handle booking tours for the label’s roster of acts. Field said he concluded in an internal review that Artist Direct’s own talent division would not maintain its historical profit.

Field co-founded Interscope Records, one of the biggest successes of the 1990s. He left the company in February.

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Jeff Leeds