{"id":253961,"date":"2026-04-02T11:44:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=253961"},"modified":"2026-04-02T21:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:20:45","slug":"in-todays-world-what-does-the-word-manager-mean-youre-really-just-sitting-at-the-table-with-the-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/in-todays-world-what-does-the-word-manager-mean-youre-really-just-sitting-at-the-table-with-the-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"‘In today’s world, what does the word ‘manager’ mean? You’re really just sitting at the table with the artist.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

MBW\u2019s World\u2019s Greatest Managers series profiles the best artist managers in the global business. Here we talk to Jonathan Azu, founder of Culture Collective, manager of Leon Thomas, Jon Batiste and many others, who discusses his career, his principles, and his goals. World\u2019s Greatest Managers is supported by Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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You see a spaceship land and then spend over an hour staring in\u00a0awe at a barely-believable being from a distant planet. It\u2019s bound to have an impact, right?<\/p>\n

Same goes for the Parliament\/Funkadelic<\/strong> Mothership (being lowered from the lighting rig, admittedly), with the role of out-of-this-world genius\/unlikely careers officer being played by the one and only George Clinton.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is how, in 1997, the young Jonathan Azu<\/strong> barged (almost literally) his way into the music business.<\/p>\n

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He recalls: \u201cI was in college at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, the middle of America. I initially went to pursue athletics. But I got injured, so that wasn\u2019t an option anymore and I didn\u2019t know what I wanted to do. Then one night I went to a George Clinton concert. It blew my mind. They had the Mothership dropping from the lighting rig, and I\u2019m thinking to myself, \u2018This is what I want to do with my life!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how I\u2019m explaining it to my parents; they\u2019re probably going to think I want to be an astronaut when I mention the Mothership, but I want to be in this business. When the concert finished, I actually snuck backstage and met with the producer of the show. I got their number, and a year later I produced my first concert with them, a George Clinton show at my school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once Azu got the bug, he continued to put on shows, including one that introduced him to an industry legend who would play an important part in his journey.\u00a0\u201cIn my junior year I produced a Dave Matthews concert, and Coran Capshaw<\/strong> signed the contract. I still have the contract today \u2013 looking back at it now, what a full circle moment that was.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Full circle\u2019s an apposite phrase, because Azu has worked 360 across the industry, a journey that gives him a unique perspective on (and definition of) management.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cWhen I was very young, a recent college graduate, I got a lucky shot to go work on the executive floor of CBS Radio<\/strong>. I learned so much there, and built a lot of relationships. I then went to Superfly<\/strong>, they were only a few years into Bonnaroo<\/strong> at that point. They were growing the business, and that\u2019s where I properly met Coran Capshaw, because he was a partner with Superfly on Bonnaroo.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAll through that journey, I always wanted to be next to the artist. When I look at some of the things I did in college and beyond, I was always moonlighting around management, but never doing it professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

He now does it professionally, independently, successfully and very differently, as the founder of Culture Collective. The \u2018successfully\u2019 part was underlined at this year\u2019s Grammys, where Leon Thomas<\/strong> won Best R&R album for Mutt<\/em> as well as Best Traditional R&B Performance for Vibes Don’t Lie<\/em>; Jon Batiste<\/strong> won Best Americana Album for Big Money<\/em>; and Michelle Williams<\/strong> was nominated in the Best Musical Theater Album category for Death Becomes Her<\/em>.\u00a0 The week after the ceremony,\u00a0MBW<\/em>\u00a0catches up with Azu for a spot of celebration, reflection and the odd prediction\u2026<\/p>\n

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Safe to say you had a good Grammys, with both Leon Thomas and Jon Batiste winning on the night. How was it for you?<\/h6>\n

We had 10 nominations across three artists [Leon Thomas, Jon Batiste, and Michelle Williams] that we work this year. And then on top of that, we had a couple of performances, so yeah it was a good
\nweek for us.<\/p>\n

Going into it, all you can do is hope that the voters recognize your artist as the best in their category. You\u2019re also just honored to be in there. For me, I always enjoy witnessing the artists that are nominated in the same category walk up to each other to say, \u2018Hey, obviously we\u2019re competing, but I respect what you do so much.\u2019 I love seeing that aspect.<\/p>\n

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How did you feel as a manager when your artists\u2019 names were read out?<\/h6>\n

For me, at moments like that, I think a lot about the team and all the things that went into it.<\/p>\n

I mean, especially in today\u2019s world, it\u2019s like, what does the word \u2018manager\u2019 really mean? You\u2019re really just sitting at the table with the artist, and no two situations are alike. As far as the team dynamics are concerned, that\u2019s unique to each artist. And the artist is the one that\u2019s really\u00a0managing, right? It\u2019s them that they look in the mirror every morning.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s our responsibility as the team around them to help facilitate what success looks like for them, whether that\u2019s an amazing R&B album, or an amazing Americana album.<\/p>\n

In the case of Michelle Williams, she was up for Best Musical Theater Album [Death Becomes Her]<\/em>. We\u2019ve been working with Michelle for 10 years and that was a historic moment, because each member of Destiny\u2019s Child, DC3 \u2013 Michelle, Kelly and Beyonc\u00e9 \u2013 have now all been nominated as individuals and as a group.<\/p>\n

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With Michelle Williams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Can you talk a little bit about your own professional journey and how Leon Thomas became a part of it?<\/h6>\n

When I started out, I was working with John Sykes, when he was running CBS Radio. I look up to John so much and he\u2019s still a mentor of mine today. I was very young, a recent college graduate, and I got a lucky shot to go work on the executive floor of CBS Radio. I learned so much there, and built a lot of relationships.<\/p>\n

From there I went to Superfly, they were only a few years into Bonnaroo at that point. They were growing the business, and that\u2019s where I met Coran Capshaw, because he was a partner with Superfly on Bonnaroo.<\/p>\n

And one day I was lucky enough that Coran said Red Light was looking for a General Manager and he would love me to join them. I spent seven years at Red Light, working with Coran and the team there, building that company. I learned so much from him in that time.<\/p>\n

Then, in 2019, for reasons bigger than music, I decided to start Culture Collective. It had really started to play on me that I\u2019d finally got a seat at the table, and I was sitting in the right rooms, meeting with the right people, but I was almost always the only person of color in the room.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, to be honest with you, on the occasions when there would be people of color in the room, none of us owned our company. We worked for somebody else. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that, but I saw an opportunity to leverage all the experience that I had around media, live events, operations, and talent management to start something of my own.<\/p>\n

That was the birth of the idea of Culture Collective, and Leon Thomas was the first artist we signed to the company. We brought artists with us from Red Light, but he was the first signed to Culture Collective as a newcomer.<\/p>\n

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How did you come to work with him?<\/h6>\n

I met him through a gentleman named Marc Byers, who, at that time, was General Manager of Motown.<\/p>\n

Leon just signed to KIDinaKORNER, Alex Da Kid\u2019s label, and Alex had the ability to be able to take artists wherever he wanted within the Universal Music system. I think that Marc was hoping that Leon would come over to Motown.<\/p>\n

Long story short, the deal with Alex kind of unwound, which meant Leon found himself without a record label. That\u2019s when we began this journey, over the next three years, of figuring out where he was gonna live musically.<\/p>\n

We had met with Ty Dolla $ign and Shawn Barron, who were starting their own joint venture with Motown [EZMNY Records]. So we ended up doing a deal with Motown through them, and we started the process again of working on Leon\u2019s debut album within that label system.<\/p>\n

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With Leon Thomas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Marc departed Motown just before we signed and then Motown CEO Ethiopia [Habtemariam] left. Not long after that Leon\u2019s deal was rolled into the Capitol Records family, which Michelle Jubelirer was running at the time. So we get back on track, getting ready to put the debut label album out \u2013 and then Michelle was let go.<\/p>\n

There were years of that sort of stop-start process before we landed with Tom March [the UK exec appointed CEO of Capitol two years ago].<\/p>\n

We got the first album out,\u00a0Electric Dusk<\/em>, in 2023, then\u00a0Mutt<\/em>\u00a0followed, and the rest is history. All of that really is a testament to Leon\u2019s dedication, focus and drive to see it through, because it wasn\u2019t easy. He didn\u2019t put out music because he didn\u2019t have it, or he didn\u2019t want to; he couldn\u2019t do it because we needed to take care of the business. And that\u2019s my superpower; working with artists on their business.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a writer, I\u2019m not an arranger. I don\u2019t really spend a lot of time focusing on which way to go creatively. But I\u2019m the Yin to their Yang, ensuring strategy development, and making sure the blueprint for the business is where it needs to be.<\/p>\n

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When and how did you start working with Jon Batiste?<\/h6>\n

I\u2019ve known Jon for a long time, just through the creative circles of artists that I\u2019ve worked with in the past. And about two years ago we started to work formally with each other.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another example of what I was saying before: what does the word \u2018manager\u2019 mean? In this case, it\u2019s less about Culture Collective managing Jon, and more about me working with Jon and his executive team. I think the question isn\u2019t, \u2018When did Jon sign with Culture Collective?\u2019 It\u2019s more, when did I join Jon\u2019s team?<\/p>\n

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