JEFFREY AZOFF, 28
AGENT, CREATIVE ARTISTS AGENCY
Jeffrey Azoff grew up in a household where huge deals went down at the breakfast table — his father is industry legend Irving Azoff — but he stands on his own as a critical player on the team that put together Britney Spears’ Las Vegas residency (125,000 tickets sold since December 2013, per Azoff). Azoff has also developed Mac Miller and Icona Pop, and handled big-scale runs like the Eagles’ sold-out arena tour and Journey’s “pretty incredible” tear through the sheds this summer.
The band that made me want to be in the music business “Years of growing up on the road watching the Eagles left me no choice.”
If I weren’t in the music business, I would be “A virgin.”
SCOTT MANTELL, 35
HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL TOURING, ICM PARTNERS
As the global agent for the Mrs. Carter Show, Scott Mantell can confirm that Beyoncé is hands-on. “Unlike a lot of artist and agent relationships, where they’re strictly dealing with managers and attorneys, we had several conversations about how she wanted to tour,” he says. The result? A worldwide gross of $219.2 million, according to Billboard Boxscore.
My big break “Working in the mailroom at APA, I’d come in at 4 a.m. to work with the international concert agent.”
The best way to manage stress “Shake it off. If all else fails, a good glass of 18-year-old scotch will do the trick.”
JOEL ZIMMERMAN, 36
PARTNER, WILLIAM MORRIS ENDEAVOR
How hot is Joel Zimmerman’s EDM at WME? “Our business continues to grow 300 percent every year,” he says. A pioneer in lucrative DJ residencies in Las Vegas, Zimmerman oversees some 50 agents and 200 artists, including Calvin Harris, Deadmau5 and Steve Aoki. On tap are tours by Pharrell Williams, The Weeknd, Deadmau5 and Aoki, plus a $60 million deal for “a series of shows” for one client “to be announced soon.”
My BIG BREAK “I was a concert booker in college but ended up working on 20/20 at ABC. I wanted to get back into music. Marsha Vlasic [at ICM] knew I was into electronic music. She said, ‘If you can create your own lane in this space, it could be yours.'”