Triple A Talent has just launched in Vancouver, Canada representing dance music artists across the country. The booking agency is a collective of music industry vets and serious music lovers at their very core. Passionate about their artists, Triple A Talent plan on growing both their talent and company with integrity and care. Working closely with their artists to achieve their goals in creative ways, the team represent an under-serviced market in Canada, working with partners and friends locally, nationally and globally.
Triple A Talent boasts some of Canada’s top electronic music artists such as experimental bass music producer Abstrakt Sonance, deep dubstep artist ColtCuts, one of North America’s first dubstep ambassador’s Joe Nice, Vancouver’s uniquely infectious duo GREAZUS, drum & bass duo Mystic State, and relentless forward-thinking rapper, lyricist and vocalist Raquel Divar to name a few.
The company is built on a philosophy of respect. Respect for the hard work it takes to elevate one’s talent to a level where it can sustain you. Respect for people’s time. Most importantly, respect for everyone as individuals, and their ability to represent their ideas and ambitions.
Each of the founders works in the music industry because of their passion for music, and this is something that was more than visible when we spoke with Severine Erickson, President / Talent Agent and Manager at Triple A Talent.
Hi Severine, congratulations on the launch of Triple A Talent and thank you for taking the time to talk to us here at 6AM!
Thank you, itās a pleasure!
Can you tell us when the idea of launching a talent agency first came up?
One night over dinner, 5 of the company’s founders were recounting horror stories working with various agencies in various capacities. We joked that if we started our own agency, we could avoid many of the issues we saw. Well that joke actually resonated with everyone, so we decided to go out there and do some market research.
What is the void or problem you are hoping to fill/fix with Triple A Talent?
We were surprised to see a pretty big gap in the market for agencies in Canada in general, and specifically the types of underground music that are hugely popular in clubs and festivals. We knew that with our collective experience and team we could tap into the market and hit the ground running.
You’ve amassed a very good roster for your launch. Can you tell us a little bit about the selection process behind these artist choices?
Most of the artists weāre working with come from relationships we had established over many years, and we were always impressed with their passion and work ethic from the get go. The connections were formed either through our existing record label, Aufect, or through bookings or other professional or personal engagements. We also look at factors like personality (seriously, no creeps!), track record, potential, social impact, and āX factorā.
Does the current roster reflect the sound and direction of Triple A Talent or is this “just the beginning”?
Yes, this is ājust the beginningā, so to speak. We believe we already offer a diverse range of artists, but weāre going to round out our roster with even more different styles. We donāt want to pigeonhole the agency, nor miss out on any new and exciting opportunities by being caught flat-footed on current industry movements.
Tell us about the goals you have with the agency in the next year, 3 years and beyond?
We have ambitions to eventually represent other performance mediums and disciplines. We also want to grow our agent and artist roster gradually, working with more international partners.
How do you hope Triple A Talent will be different than other talent agencies in the same industry?
Our business model is different than most. All of the partners have successful ventures elsewhere, so we donāt need to cut corners or make sacrifices based on desperation. We can make morally sound, democratic decisions as a team. It can be challenging, but we find a way to create a middle ground to accomodate all voices.
You state in the press release that this has been a big learning experience for you already. Can you tell us about the difficulties you have encountered so far with this project and how you overcame them?
I donāt think we were truly prepared for the initial workload. Once we started to break everything down into tasks, we realized this was a monumental feat of organization. Using certain tools like Slack, Asana and G Suite allowed us to keep track of timelines, delegate tasks and communicate clearly, cutting down on the āchatterā. Each director had a set of tasks to tackle and we all were able to pull through and accomplish it all, including organizing our 3 launch events in 3 different cities.
In your mind, what are the three key fundamental qualities an agent in this field needs to have?
Passion, work ethic and organization skills!
Let’s reverse that question: what should a talent agent NOT be?
Haha! Unmotivated, lazy, disorganized…Seriously Google Drive has existed for years, thereās no excuse!
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