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Shelter Music’s Carl Stubner on Why Managers Must Become Their Artists’ ‘Best Friend’
Shelter Music Group's Carl Stubner talks what it takes to manage artists, from ZZ Top to new stars, in the modern music industry.
“The worst thing that can happen to a manager is dreading phone calls from a client,” says Shelter Music Group founder/chairman Carl Stubner from Sun Valley, Idaho. Stubner says that when then-BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch approached him in 2019 about investing in an artist management venture, “I told him the only way I’ll do something is if I can start a company where I have fun. In December of that year, BMG announced a partnership with Shelter — but shortly after Stubner committed to an expensive suite of offices and hired staff, the pandemic hit.
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