Biz news: AskonasHolt is sold

The largest British classical artist agency sold 100 percent of its shares last night to an unlikely buyer – the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The deal marks a quantum leap into the major league of the music biz for the SFCM, which already owns New York-based Opus3 agency and the Dutch record label Pentatone. SFCM President David Stull believes this will give his students and faculty greater opportunities to pursue careers in all sectors of the music industry, not just as performers.

Although the two agencies will maintain separate identities in London and New York respectively, Askonas Holt chief executive Donagh Collins will oversee both management companies, reporting to Stull and his board.

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed but we understand that one of SFCM’s major donors stumped up all of the cash. Collins is insistent that AH did not need to sell, but that the opportunity was ripe for his agency to move into new relationships and new fields, including film composing and jazz. ‘It makes us more of a producing company,’ said a source close to the deal.

Collins, 48, is a one-company man, have been on the AH payroll since 1999. His agency is strong on conductors, singers and orchestral touring. Its clients include Simon Rattle, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Ed Gardner, Joyce DiDonato, Julia Bullock and Sarah Connolly.

Opus3 will continue to major on instrumentalists, amid a broa roster of artists that includes Marin Alsop, Anthony Roth Constanzo and Yo Yo Ma.

AskonasHolt artists and managers will adopt ad hoc teaching and mentoring roles for students at SFCM. some disquiet has been rippling through SFCM’s faculty at its greatly expanded role.

The deal, which will be announced later today, is a ball-breaker for the music biz, challenging traditional agencies to become bigger players in the industry and hidebound conservatories to plant a size-10 pair of trainers in the business world.

Watch this space.

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