The New Bosses 2024: Tom Matthews, UTA

The 17th edition of IQ Magazine’s New Bosses, in association with Futures Forum, was revealed in IQ 129, recognising 20 of the most promising 30-and-unders in the international live music business.

To get to know this year’s class a little better, IQ conducted interviews with each one of 2024’s New Bosses, discovering their greatest inspirations and pinpointing the reasons for their success.

Tom has risen swiftly through the ranks and is enjoying a standout year. Alongside colleagues, Jbeau Lewis and Jules de Lattre, he aided the success of Karol G’s record-breaking Mañana Será Bonito tour. Demonstrating his ambition, Tom was recently made the point person for Asia in UTA’s London office, ensuring fellow agents find the best possible partners across the region while guaranteeing clients find their audiences on relevant Asian social media platforms like Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, QQ, and more.  

You’re working with some superstars, while also beginning to build your own roster. Are there any lessons you can learn from stadium acts that can help with those who are just performing their first club shows?
Whether it be a stadium show or a debut show in a 150-cap venue, the principles are still the same. The fan has purchased a ticket to see an artist give the best performance they can and that’s what I say to all of my artists. If you can get 150 people in a room, make sure that 150 of them want to buy a ticket to the next show and they tell five of their friends how incredible it was, and suddenly you’ve got a powerful multiplier on your debut show and you will see great growth in the market. I’m also huge on the visual aspect of a performance. The better the visuals, and the more immersive an experience can be, the more it gets shared across socials and that in itself is a great way to build your fanbase.

With all the competition out there, how do you persuade a new act to allow Tom Matthews to represent them?
The one main focus for me is ensuring that my clients really do get a fully tailored experience. One that matches both their long-term goals and also pays attention to the data points that we get from the online analytic tools that we have access or the information our IQ department is able to gather. It’s incredible how much further an artist can develop if you really pay attention to the markets in which their fans are organically engaging, both from a streaming and social media perspective. One artist may start to break in Germany and another may start to break in parts of Southeast Asia, and I make sure that we strategise around those important markets and build out the global strategy from there. Natalie Jane is a great example – we saw huge social media growth (through her 10M+ followers) and streaming growth in Germany, and she just sold over 3600 tickets in Germany alone on her recent European tour.

Do you have any mentors or people you can rely on to bounce ideas off?
Before becoming an agent I was lucky enough to spend the first half of my career at UTA as a booker to Gary Howard. Gary is still to this day my go-to for advice on navigating what can be at times a complex but incredibly rewarding career. I also need to give a huge shout-out to Jbeau Lewis (partner, UTA) and Jules de Lattre (agent, UTA) who I both work with on KAROL G. They’re not just colleagues, but also incredible resources who constantly share their expertise not just to me, but agents globally at UTA.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
In the famous words of our global head of touring, Neil Warnock… “Pick up the [insert word of choice here] phone!”

“Seeing 500,000 in the queue to buy a ticket to the second night of Karol G at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium was surreal”

What’s been the highlight of your career so far?
Okay so this is a tricky one… Refreshing my laptop and seeing 500,000 in the queue to buy a ticket to the second night of Karol G at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium was quite a surreal experience, but also comforting knowing that we did the right thing and held a few more nights so we were definitely prepared! The shows in Madrid were without a doubt the best shows I have ever seen in my career.

The other highlight that springs to mind is, before I recently moved out of London back in June, I lived 15 minutes from North Greenwich, where the O2 Arena is. Having two nights sold out for Karol there was definitely a great moment for me after seeing the venue almost every day for two years and the shows were the same week that I moved out, so it was a really great send-off to that part of my life. I had my fiancé and parents there for the second night which made it all the more special.

And are there any particular platforms, venues, or events that you favour to discover new talent?
I’m definitely deep into the TikTok algorithm these days as I’m sure most of us are, but I still get great tips from people working in the industry, whether that be an A&R at a record label, a manager of a client or a promoter that I work with.

Which one act on your roster should promoters be keeping an eye on in the next few months?
asiris is a client of mine who I am sure will be on everyone’s radar in the next 12-18 months. Originally from Texas and now based in Virginia, he is one of the most talented songwriters I’ve come across in recent years. He recently released a song named ‘miramar’ which is a truly stunning record. Promoters – you know what to do!

“Kindness really isn’t a weakness, it is a key ingredient to a successful and fulfilling career for yourself”

You’ve recently been made UTA London’s point person for Asia – a massive market. How do you keep on top of everything that’s happening out there, business-wise, while learning about the nuances of cultural differences, language barriers, exchange rate fluctuations, and opportunities for clients?
Between all of the agents at UTA who book in this region, we ensure that there is a constant information flow between all of us. It’s not just me who gathers the data for this region, it’s agents who are booking there and providing feedback from their experiences, it’s information that we get from our promoter partners out in the region who provide us with their local expertise and it’s my responsibility and that of the of the wider team to be on hand to pass that information across to agents when needed. Being a global business, we also have point people based in our US offices, so in a 24-hour period it’s highly likely there is someone awake and on-hand to assist. I recently spent some time in Taipei and Shanghai for the Elijah Woods tour, and being on the ground seeing these venues first-hand and not just from seeing images online really does make a difference. It allows us to correctly advise our clients when we’re proposing our touring strategies.

As a new boss, what one thing would you like to change to make the live music industry better?
The relentless drive for success in the music industry can often overshadow the importance of kindness. As an agent, I see firsthand the toll that extensive touring and relentless pressure can take on artists and their teams. Burnout is a real threat, and it stifles creativity and long-term health. A kinder music industry attracts and retains talent who feel valued, respected, and empowered to do their best work. Kindness really isn’t a weakness, it is a key ingredient to a successful and fulfilling career for yourself and massively impacts the people you work with on a day-to-day basis in a positive way.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
I think it goes without saying that I want to continue to sign incredible artists to my roster and continue to develop live strategies for them on a global scale, but I also want to continue helping the next generation thrive in this business. I feel a tremendous amount of happiness seeing my fellow colleagues succeed and I would love to see my assistant grow into the incredible agent I know they will be one day. It’s down to me to make sure I’m giving them all of the tools they need to learn and succeed, the same as I was given by my mentors starting out.

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