CAA partner and music division head Rob Light spoke with Variety as part of the cover story on the 25th anniversary of the changeover at the top of the agency. Light was there when those seismic shifts of the mid-‘90s happened; his tenure with CAA goes back 36 years. But his mind is very much in the fraught present right now, with a concert business that’s in crisis, to risk understatement. We spoke with him about the different turns the...
CAA
Rob
Light
Managing Partner / Worldwide Chief / Head, Music
Aside from game-planning tours by top talent The Weeknd, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lady Gaga, Light’s team elevated the likes of Harry Styles, Doja Cat, Dua Lipa, Leon Bridges, Dan + Shay and Maren Morris to the next tier of success. Even with its rich roster, CAA continued to expand, with John Mayer, Alice Cooper, Koe Wetzel and Cody Johnson among the acts signed this year. The first agency to assemble sponsorship and private-events teams saw opportunities blossom on the other side of COVID-dampened years, delivering 125 sponsorship deals for $65 million-plus over the past 12 months, while private bookings yielded another $167 million over 575 events. Its comedy unit delivers, too. Witness Gabriel Iglesias selling out Dodger Stadium as the site of his Netflix special and Trevor Noah hosting both the Grammys and the White House Correspondents Dinner.