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MARC GEIGER
Partner/head of music, WME
SARA NEWKIRK SIMON
KIRK SOMMER
Partners/co-heads of music, WME
BRENT SMITH
Partner, WME
Last Year’s Rank: 16
BIG GROSSES AND KEY POACHES: WME represented 10 of Billboard‘s top 25 touring acts of 2017, including Bruno Mars, Depeche Mode, Roger Waters and the late Tom Petty, which collectively grossed over $750 million on the road. The agency also lured away Scott Clayton, former co-head of Creative Artists Agency’s Nashville office, to run WME’s rock division, and Kings of Leon and Dead & Company followed.
GENERATION NEXT: WME has played a role in developing up-and-coming acts Brockhampton, Grace VanderWaal and the Led Zeppelin-esque rock band Greta Van Fleet. “All of us are music people, so we’re most proud of that,” says Geiger.
BOOK THAT RECENTLY INSPIRED HIM: (Geiger) “When Breath Becomes Air, because it addresses the meaning of life and facing mortality, which are current study topics for me.”
