{"id":237421,"date":"2025-08-11T14:32:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T13:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=237421"},"modified":"2026-03-27T17:27:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T17:27:41","slug":"when-im-deciding-whether-to-work-with-someone-i-think-about-how-id-feel-if-it-was-3am-and-i-saw-their-name-calling-on-my-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/when-im-deciding-whether-to-work-with-someone-i-think-about-how-id-feel-if-it-was-3am-and-i-saw-their-name-calling-on-my-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"‘When I\u2019m deciding whether to work with someone, I think about how I\u2019d feel if it was 3am and I saw their name calling on my phone.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

MBW\u2019s World\u2019s Greatest Managers series profiles the best artist managers in the global business. Gabz Landman is, amongst several other things, the manager of Amy Allen, winner of the 2025 Grammy for Songwriter of the Year. Here she talks about her star client’s incredible success (and work ethic) as well as her own career, values, and goals. World\u2019s Greatest Managers is supported by Centtrip<\/a>, a specialist in intelligent treasury, payments and foreign exchange \u2013 created with the music industry and its needs in mind.<\/p>\n

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Gabz Landman was still an intern when she placed her first song.<\/p>\n

She was at what was then Sony\/ATV Music Publishing, performing duties way beyond making tea, when she was instrumental in securing the song\u00a0Melodies<\/em>\u00a0as Madison Beer\u2019s debut single.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember being very excited because Justin Bieber was in the music video,\u201d Landman laughs. \u201cIna Wroldsen co-wrote that song and she\u2019s one of my favourite songwriters ever, so I was freaking out that it worked out. It was amazing \u2013 and that\u2019s become the feeling I\u2019m chasing a lot of the time\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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Now at Warner Chappell Music, where she was recently promoted to SVP of A&R, Landman must be getting used to that buzz by now. As both manager and publisher of Amy Allen \u2013 the 2025 Grammy winner for Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical and one of the greatest and most successful hitmakers working today \u2013 she has been involved in hits for everyone from Sabrina Carpenter (Espresso<\/em>, Please Please Please<\/em>, Taste<\/em>), Tate McRae (Greedy<\/em>), Ros\u00e9 & Bruno Mars (Apt<\/em>.), Koe Wetzel (High Road<\/em>), Harry Styles (Matilda<\/em>) and many more.<\/p>\n

There is also, of course, the rest of her management roster (superstar British writer-producer Lostboy and singer-songwriter Donna Missal), plus her WCM publishing line-up (where she works with the likes of Laufey, John Ryan, The Chainsmokers, Kenya Grace and Cal Shapiro, co-writer of Alex Warren\u2019s megahit,\u00a0Ordinary<\/em>).<\/p>\n

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But it\u2019s Landman\u2019s relationship with Allen \u2013 who she first signed for publishing when working at Mike Caren\u2019s APG in 2017, back when Allen was yet to write for other people \u2013 that really stands out. As well as doing business together, the pair are great friends, regularly sharing posts on Instagram, while Landman even goes on holiday with Allen and her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cGabz is one of the most loyal and hardworking people I\u2019ve ever met in my life,\u201d Allen tells MBW<\/em>. \u201cShe wholeheartedly believed in me before I had any songs to my name and has always made me feel like anything is possible. She fights fiercely for her songwriters and producers, and I am over the moon to call her my manager, A&R and one of my dearest lifelong friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things haven\u2019t always gone quite so smoothly for Landman. Despite her \u201cconfusing\u201d accent, she is British, growing up in North-West London and starting out interning at Live Nation UK (she originally wanted to be a booking agent), before heading Stateside for a stint at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

Sony\/ATV back home gave her the publishing bug \u2013 and an early intro to her WCM boss Guy Moot. But, when she left there, she \u2013 by her own admission \u2013 struggled to find another role in the music industry. She freelanced for\u00a0Billboard\u00a0(where she\u2019d had another previous internship) from London, before convincing Ben Mawson to give her a job at Tap Music Management.<\/p>\n

She worked day-to-day on Dua Lipa, then moved to Los Angeles for Tap, before joining APG, where she forged a relationship with Aaron Bay-Schuck, then managing producer duo The Futuristics.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where she met Allen, who was pursuing an artist career in the under-rated Amy & The Engine, and they immediately clicked.<\/p>\n

“I booked her in some sessions to check out how she works, and Amy was like, \u2018OK, I have a session every day, but what am I going to do at night?'”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAmy is just so charismatic, natural, effortless and likeable that my Spidey senses kicked in immediately where I was like, \u2018Any artist or songwriter is going to love working with her, based on personality alone\u2019,\u201d Landman says. \u201cThe part I had to figure out was work ethic \u2013 I immediately booked her in some sessions to check out how she works, and Amy was like, \u2018OK, I have a session every day, but what am I going to do at night? I should be in doubles\u2019. I was blown away by how on it and ambitious she was.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she left APG, Allen asked Landman to become her manager and Bay-Schuck, by now CEO and co-chairman of Warner Records, brought her in as VP, A&R \u2013 where, despite some interesting signings, she found record company artist development to be a rather different animal to publishing.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaren Kwak [Warner Records EVP\/head of A&R] has a quote \u2013 which I find hilarious \u2013 where she told me, \u2018You\u2019re an amazing person, activist and publisher. Label person? Not so much!\u2019\u201d she laughs. \u201cI was not good at it, it just wasn\u2019t my talent. That was a wake-up call for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little bit na\u00efve and I guess I thought my role was to make the public care about an artist,\u201d she adds. \u201cBut a big part of it is also getting everybody at the label to see what you see. There are people who are so good at that, I just was not, but I love everyone that works there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, after moving from the second to the fifth floor at Warner\u2019s downtown LA HQ when she moved across to Warner Chappell in 2022 (\u201cIt\u2019s a better view from here\u201d) \u2013 and swiftly signed Allen for publishing \u2013 Landman remains a daily visitor to both the Warner Records and Atlantic Records offices.<\/p>\n

She even signed Cadillac Dale after she and WCM senior manager Lulu Largent heard the then-unreleased Jack Harlow track,\u00a0Lovin\u2019 On Me\u00a0\u2013 which samples Dale\u2019s\u00a0Whatever (Bass Solique)\u00a0\u2013 through an office wall and realised the Detroit R&B artist was unsigned for publishing.<\/p>\n

That sort of attention to detail has undoubtedly helped make Landman and her charges such a success. But there is also huge passion behind what she does. Today, she arrives to meet MBW at Warner Music\u2019s LA HQ in a whirlwind, talking ten-to-the-dozen to make up for being stuck in traffic, and displaying unbridled enthusiasm for Warner Chappell, her bosses (co-chair\/CEO Moot and co-chair\/COO Carianne Marshall) and every aspect of the publishing and management games.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s not planning on growing her management roster any further, but she\u2019s certainly buzzing with current and future plans (\u201cMore hits!\u201d). First, however, it\u2019s time to talk rejections, 3am phone calls and why Amy Allen is not<\/em> on a hot streak\u2026<\/p>\n

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What makes Amy Allen such a great songwriter?<\/h6>\n

She\u2019s a generational talent. Her impact on pop radio alone over the past 12 months speaks for itself, but an incredible facet of her career is also how eclectic the genres she works across are.<\/p>\n

Even as someone who knows her schedule, I\u2019m like, \u2018How do you have the same amount of days in the year as everyone else? How is it possible you\u2019ve done eight songs on this album, eight songs on that album, an entire project with an artist and still have all these one-off hits?\u2019<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know how she does it, but it\u2019s a testament to both her talent and her demeanour, because it means people want to keep working with her. Her long-term relationships with artists really set her apart.<\/p>\n

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Celebrating with star client Amy Allen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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How do the two of you decide who she collaborates with?<\/h6>\n

Amy is open-minded to an extent that would surprise people.<\/p>\n

I have some clients who say, \u2018Gabz, use your judgement, I don\u2019t need to know everyone that reaches out\u2019. Amy wants to know every opportunity that\u2019s been presented to her and then we get together to discuss.<\/p>\n

The most important thing is that she feels inspired, but we think strategically, big picture and long-term about whether an opportunity makes sense. Amy doesn\u2019t want to be pigeon-holed by genre, she always wants to try different things.<\/p>\n

She also has an amazing instinct for which projects are worth the most time. When she and Sabrina [Carpenter] started working together, Sabrina \u2013 who is remarkable \u2013 already had a big fanbase and had been in movies and TV shows, but she wasn\u2019t as big as she is now.<\/p>\n

The first day they met, Amy was like, \u2018I believe in her so much, I want to do as much as possible with her\u2019. That\u2019s a gut instinct thing.<\/p>\n

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