Agency Intel: Still Artists First, Fleming Artists Adapts Post-Corona

“I’ve never seen anything like this. Who has, right? This is the great reckoning,” Fleming says from his base in Ann Arbor, Mich., where his roster includes singer-songwriter and actor Jeff Daniels, Grammy winner Tom Paxton, songwriter Erin McKeown and burgeoning talent such as The Accidentals and Carsie Blanton, among others.

Although the coronavirus pandemic has dealt a double whammy to the live events industry with regular, full-capacity concerts on hold for the immediate future and no clear timeline or path back to normalcy, Fleming says an agent’s role may be more important than ever.

“We’re going to experience a renaissance,” he says. “When I say it’s a great time to be an agent, there are going to be people who read about the renaissance and there are going to people who take part in the renaissance. We’ve all gotten good at rescheduling things, but that’s going to get old pretty quick.” 

 As the pandemic hit North America and concerts were largely put on hold, Fleming Artists quickly unveiled its own virtual roster of its artists eager to perform in the virtual space, and in April put on its own Fleming Fest, an experiment of sorts that raised $3,000 that went right back to the artists.

Other projects include a virtual Pride Tour for May/June featuring Heather Mae and Crys Matthews that is already confirmed for Cambridge, Mass. (Club Passim); Buffalo, N.Y. (Babeville); Ann Arbor, Mich. (The Ark); Sheboygan, N.Y. (Paradigm Coffee & Music); Charlotte, N.C. (Evening Muse); and Decatur, Ga. (Eddie’s Attic). Tickets are $20 per person per show and went on sale May 8. 

Fleming’s virtual concert approach differs from the at-home couch performance in many ways, as the agency works with venues directly to increase the artist’s reach and still put on tour dates of sorts focused on a particular market or venue. 

“How do we create opportunities that the artists can’t create for themselves?” Fleming Artists agent Lara Supan adds, noting that artists of all sorts are already doing their own livestreams, largely for free, giving fans no shortage of choice. “If you continue to play directly to [your own social media followers], you’ll wear them out. 

“We are finding ways to pair with venues to get their mailing lists available to the artists, and flip-flopping the responsibilities. The artists are putting on the show and the venues are promoting and getting people through the door,” she says, adding that venues have been very receptive to the concept and share in revenue from ticket sales.

Also, to share ideas and hone new skills, Fleming puts on weekly “get together” Zoom meetings for artists and managers to collaborate. The star power has come in handy, with Jeff Daniels putting on a clinic for other artists on how to perform for a camera rather than a live audience.

Also notable about Fleming’s virtual performances is its partnership with Canadian marketing and ticketing company Side Door, which has developed methods of selling tickets to livestreamed events, with the ability to go on sale based on a ticket buyer’s location, meaning a virtual show’s ticket sales in Chicago wouldn’t be affected by the following night’s virtual show stop in Detroit, for instance. 

As different markets open at different capacities and on different timelines, Fleming bets it will be necessary to offer virtual tickets to live, in-person shows when they start back up, as some fans will still want the live experience but not be willing to go out, and many venues will not be permitted to operate at full capacity yet.

Although at limited capacity, “With the right camera setup, you may very well increase your gross potential substantially,” Fleming says. 

“It’s not just about the capacity, it’s about the willingness of the fans to go out. Us representing a lot of folk artists and singer-songwriters, a lot have a fanbases in that vulnerable population,” adds Supan, pregnant with a second child and saying she won’t even get takeout right now, let alone attend a concert. “You’re going to get that from so many people right now. Wouldn’t it be terrible to leave that population out from seeing a show?”

However, the most important thing for an agent right now is to do what artists are comfortable with, including physical touring.

“If it’s OK to do shows in early 2021, and you’re still feeling like, ‘I don’t know …’ that’s fine,” Fleming says. “As an artist-first agency, we’re taking that same approach here. … If they say to us, ‘I’m not going to feel good about going out and touring until there’s a vaccine,’ we say, ‘OK, cool, that’s what we’ll do.’ We‘ll do virtual tours until then, and then the virtual/live mix.”