{"id":181999,"date":"2023-12-14T17:05:33","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T17:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=181999"},"modified":"2023-12-14T17:05:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T17:05:33","slug":"we-are-looking-towards-ed-and-taylor-right-now-as-the-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/we-are-looking-towards-ed-and-taylor-right-now-as-the-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We are looking towards Ed and Taylor right now as the inspiration.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

MBW\u2019s World\u2019s Greatest Managers series profiles the best artist managers in the global business. In the last of 2023’s profiles, we meet Drew Simmons, manager of Noah Kahan, the biggest breakthrough artist of the last 12 months. World’s 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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When Drew Simmons first found Noah Kahan on SoundCloud, he was convinced he\u2019d discovered someone special. Only one problem: the feeling was not mutual.<\/p>\n

\u201cNoah really didn\u2019t have any concept of what the music industry was,\u201d laughs Simmons. \u201cHe didn\u2019t think I was real \u2013 he thought I was catfishing him.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, Simmons drove hundreds of miles to Kahan\u2019s rural Vermont home in order to convince the musician that, not only was he real, but that he was the manager to help the nascent singer-songwriter take on the world.<\/p>\n

The fact that, right now, Kahan is the hottest breakthrough act on the planet shows that Simmons succeeded in his mission. But, although there was less than a year between Kahan supporting Amos Lee at Red Rocks, and selling out the storied venue in his own right in July, this was no overnight viral success. Kahan\u2019s rise has been an old-fashioned story of artist development, albeit one in which he reversed the traditional alternative-to-pop direction of travel.<\/p>\n

Because Kahan actually started his recording career making mainstream pop music, his obvious songwriting prowess made him a good fit for collaborations with top hitmakers such as Joel Little and Julia Michaels.<\/p>\n

He had some success too.\u00a0Hurt Somebody\u00a0<\/em>was big in Australia in 2018 (\u201cWe joked about how inconvenient it was for a kid from Vermont to have his first hit on the other side of the world,\u201d laughs Simmons. \u201cBut he learned how to travel, tour and go do it\u201d). But it wasn\u2019t until Kahan went for a radical alt-folk overhaul of his sound on 2022\u2019s\u00a0Stick Season<\/em>\u00a0album that things really started moving.<\/p>\n

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Since then, the title track has become a global smash, gone platinum and been covered by Olivia Rodrigo and Maisie Peters; the album has gone Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic; he\u2019s collaborated with everyone from Post Malone to Zach Bryan to Kacey Musgraves; he\u2019s sold 600,000 tickets for his North American tour; and he\u2019s even raised $2 million for his own mental health initiative, The Busyhead Project.<\/p>\n

No wonder Kahan is up for both the 2024 Best New Artist Grammy and Pollstar\u2019s New Headliner of the Year prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the dream combination of commercial success and artistic respect from the community,\u201d says Simmons. \u201cThat means the world to Noah.\u201d<\/p>\n

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