Paul Rosenberg
CEO, Goliath Artists Management
Eminem’s manager spearheaded Activision deal and 2013’s second-best-selling album
Paul Rosenberg — the founder of Goliath Artists Management, whose clients include Eminem, Danny Brown and Action Bronson — has learned to love saying “no.”
“I’ve never felt bad about turning something down that wasn’t right for my clients,” Rosenberg says. “It’s important to make sure you’re doing the right deals, not just a lot of deals.”
In 2013, the right deals included a landmark partnership with videogame giant Activision Blizzard for Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP 2,” which was sold at a discount to buyers of “Call of Duty: Ghosts” game — a gambit that helped propel the album to 792,000 first-week sales (according to Nielsen SoundScan).
Rosenberg will stay busy in 2014 with the businesses he and Eminem have built, including Shady Records, which will release new LPs from Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse — meaning he’ll have occasion to say “yes,” if the situation calls. “Jimmy Iovine taught me that artists are like a magic wand with a finite amount of magic,” Rosenberg says. “If you keep waving the wand, it runs out.”