Talent Agencies Are Scooping Up Web3 Brands– But Should Creatives Be Asking Harder Questions?

Last month, United Talent Agency (UTA) announced its latest talent signing – Bobby Kim, better known as Bobby Hundreds, who will help the fashion designer, author, and Web3 creator expand his personal brand across screenwriting, film, television production, and publishing. 

Kim, the founder of the iconic 90’s streetwear brand The Hundreds, has spent the last two decades shaking up modern day fashion and culture that has been championed by Hollywood elite, including, but not limited to Jay-Z, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jonah Hill, and more. 

In the Web3 space, Kim and his business partner, Ben Hundreds, have taken their Adam Bomb Squad NFT project to the next level as one of the industry’s most celebrated projects. The Hundreds’ beloved ‘Adam Bomb’ became the centerfold of the 25,000 ‘bomb’ PFP collection that was undoubtedly well received by those familiar with Kim’s long standing streetwear brand. 

2022 Was A Busy Signing Year For Web3 Startups

There’s no question that 2022 was a pretty busy year for traditional talent agencies, as they scooped up some of Web3’s biggest creative talent. 

UTA, for example, has been on a mission in building out its Web3 portfolio under the leadership of Lesley Silverman, who has taken on the representation of projects, including, but not limited to CryptoPunks, Deadfellaz, Diana Sinclair, Andrew Wang, Vinnie Hager, and digital publisher Metav3rse’s MV3 NFT collection. 

In January, the agency announced its latest signing – Kevin Rose’s Proof, the company behind the popular NFT project, Moonbirds, during CES 2023 in Las Vegas. UTA’s partnership with investment firm Investcorp, is one of the new mechanisms the agency says it will leverage as it continues boosting investments in Web3 startups. 

On the other hand, WME, has also been boosting its investments in Web3 startups and talent, beginning with its enlisting of Misha Vladimirskiy as an agent in June of last year. 

Vladimirskiy, the founder of Filterless Co., a management agency that represents creators and artists in Web3 and fine arts, has previously worked with brands like Levi’s, Uber, Vans, Converse, and more. 

At WME, he has brought some of his more notable clients over, including, but not limited to Apex, Franynines, Ilse Valfre, Madsteez, Gena Milanesi, Stix, and Spencer Guilburt. 

In addition to Vladimirskiy’s hiring, WME has also expanded its reach into Web3 by bringing on talent like Dapper Labs co-founder Mack Flavelle and NFT projects like Non-Fungible Heroes and Escapeplan, a Bored Ape NFT duo.

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) also announced its signing of Web3 entertainment company, Hume, in January of this year, according to Deadline. 

The Web3 record label raised $11.7 million in 2022 from investors including Gmoney, Aloe Blacc, Evan Bogart, and more, as it plays host to artists like Selena Gomez, G-Eazy, and Demi Lovato. Hume co-founder Jay Stolar shared his excitement for CAA to help “bridge the gap between traditional media and Web3 to bring metastars into the mainstream.”

Last October, CAA posted a job listing looking for General Counsel who would be able to help manage legal business matters pertaining to Web3 and the metaverse. 

Tastefully Deploying Resources Across Talent Rosters

Yet, with all these major talent agency signings, the question remains as to whether these agencies are capable of deploying all their resources they have at their disposal for each talent they have signed.

There’s no doubt that agencies like CAA, WME, UTA, and the like all have a massive resource deposit and bandwidth to deploy capital and infrastructure. 

But what we don’t yet see much of is how these resource pools are “shared” across the respective talent rosters – talent working with other talent when it’s appropriate and leveraging those powerful industry relationships whenever possible. 

Talent agencies are focused on signing incoming deals rather than proactively building long-term value in the web3 space.

According to Metacurio co-founder, Jeff Hood, that presented a huge opportunity to build an all-in-one “solution” for creators.

Metacurio, the brainchild of both Hood and STX Entertainment co-founder Sophie Watts, is a leading Web3 creative agency and  management company that provides end-to-end solutions for global talent and brands who need help from the point of inception to point of distribution and support going forward

Hood, who quietly operates “behind-the-scenes,” is best known for having helped integrate Mike Tyson, Dennis Rodman, Odell Beckham, Jr., Wesley Snipes, and other Hollywood talent like KMoney and Beyond Media’s Nicole Behnam deeper into the Web3 landscape. 

From administrative support and legal support to accounting support and deal flow capital, both Hood and Watts have put these often “left out” infrastructures under the Metacurio umbrella that allows the agency to come in and create shared resources for its talent, while taking a venture capital approach to protecting their investment – even if it means saying “no” to millions of dollars. 

Only 22 months old, Metacurio is no longer a startup, having successfully undergone two capital raises and launched and facilitated over 20 Web3-based drops and brand integrations including, but not limited to Mike Tyson X Cory Van Lew, Moodies by Hanukkah, Vandals for Ukraine and Iron Pigeons,

“In general, I believe Hollywood doesn’t yet fully understand how to navigate Web3. Agents typically book business, and a manager guides a career to a certain extent, but there was a huge opportunity to create infrastructure that supports scaling and building a global brand,” Hood explained. 

While Hood does work regularly with talent agencies like WME and UTA, he also cautions against the traditional agency model no longer being the “go to” framework for the new creator economy in Web3:

“I think a lot of people in traditional entertainment take a risk coming over to Web3,” Hood says. “I’ve been in this space for over a decade. You have to be in the game a while to understand that there are landmines in a new economy, and the question you have to ask is how to navigate those while protecting your client.”

He praised certain Web3-focused agents, like UTA’s Head of Web3, Lesley Silverman, who he described as “brilliant,” and someone who knows what she’s doing when it comes to understanding what it takes to represent today’s new creator/brand entering into Web3. 

By taking a “venture capital” approach, Hood believes that it is essential for an agency to provide their talent roster with the necessary infrastructure and safety net to protect them from those in the industry who look to exploit, while actually bringing capital to the table to help the talent build a business they actually own – something they have equity value in that creates long-term generational wealth and a healthy “exit.” 

As a venture capitalist, Hood differs in his methodologies when choosing to deploy capital, choosing to bet on the potential of people at the end of the day – specifically, the founders of these underlying startups. 

An Eye-Opening Crypto Winter

There’s no question that today’s Web3 landscape is full of smoke and mirrors, which is evident with the increasing volume of legal cases flooding our courts that speak to fundamental issues involving creator ownership and royalties, as well as the criteria that sets apart a long-term growth oriented business from a fraudulent “rug-pull” that is nothing more than an overnight cash grab. 

For a lot of the talent that have captured media headlines, there’s still a belief by traditional agents and managers that throwing huge chunks of money at the wall will stick – but in reality, what it shows is an attempt to scoop up these innovative brands as quickly as possible, without understanding that at the end of the day, all these creators want is a life that doesn’t restrict them to living paycheck to paycheck and to create a sustainable future for themselves and their families. 

“I believe that you can have a great idea, but with a shi**y person executing that idea, it won’t go anywhere. However, if you have an exceedingly organized and talented operator, that operator can probably take a less than stellar  idea and turn it into something profitable,” Hood said.

Last year’s crypto winter was an eye-opener on a multitude of levels, with 2022 ending with the collapse of FTX and spotlight on its disgraced founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. 

While the FTX saga is far from over, analyzing current market conditions on both a macro and micro level, will allow for both management and the creator/brand to start asking one another the right questions. 

Hood referenced Metacurio talent and Beyond Media’s Nicole Behnam, a former Hollywood reporter turned media personality who broke barriers in the early days of Clubhouse to go on to create a global platform for thought leaders to have meaningful conversations that drive innovation and curiosity.

“Nicole obviously brings a huge community of trusted people in Web3 to a project to expose it to them. In alignment with her brand, you also get these immeasurable and intangible benefits such as the credibility of being associated with a premiere thought leader who also happens to be one of the strongest female voices  in Web3. Can I put a price tag on that? No, but it’s definitely of value to the brand, right?”

Web3’s nascency also brings to light a crucial question for today’s creatives and brands – what separates a “good” manager from a “transactional” manager?

And that, according to Hood, requires asking the question of how to participate together in building out that brand long-term, where that equity will create long-term wealth generation for the brand. 

“It’s changing the way you think from ‘how do I as a manager get the most dollars out of this one deal or how do I just get to that next deal?’ to ‘how do I get this talent off the hamster wheel of living paycheck to paycheck, and help them create the financial stability and true equity in a brand that allows them to be the creator they want to be.” 

A Fundamental Flaw With Today’s Desire to “Create” 

One of the biggest problems for creators today is knowing when to say “no” – even when there’s a lot of money on the table that could probably change the financial situation of the artist right then and there. 

“I’m a firm believer in ‘no,’” Hood emphasized. “I think a lot of creators will just take checks, and they’re just saying ‘yes’ to every opportunity – but they’re actually never building any brand value because they begin to dilute their own credibility in return for short term financial gains . I’m looking at this, I’m saying ‘no’ every day to all kinds of opportunities for the people we work with, because it doesn’t create long-term value.”

Turning back to the increasing rise by traditional talent agencies in scooping up Web3 talent, there’s an argument to be made here that with all the resources at their disposal, that they’re not deploying all of those resources – every tool in the tool belt and every person in its network – to their full extent and to the success of every talent underneath their roster. 

Right now, there seems to be a fundamental disconnect between many of today’s traditional marketing media companies who advise these big brands on how to enter Web3, and the value it’s actually creating for Web3. 

Are we becoming too comfortable watching major brands just drop impulsive NFT collections to simply make money and bounce? Over the past year, we have already witnessed major Web2 brands come in expressing their interest in participating, thinking they can just throw their gigantic marketing budgets against the wall – and that it will stick.

Unfortunately, what we have seen time and time again are feeble attempts to be “transactional,” blurring the lines of what it means to be a “capitalist.”

We have become too comfortable watching “influencers” say what they are told to say, just to collect big checks – rather than showing up and spending the necessary time to educate themselves and their communities on the projects they choose to attach their NIL to. 

And to Hood’s point, the fundamental flaw lies in the questions not being asked. Specifically, how do we create an environment where this “brand” enters Web3 and creates opportunities for people to either create jobs, education, interaction, conversation, narrative, opinion, and culture as the entry point versus the desire to just make money off a drop? 

If everything we are building is going on-chain, establishing a level of permanence, then why is it we aren’t seeing the level of innovation where in five years from now, we’ll still be here creating that same value for people that choose to participate in the ecosystem?

The nascency of the space affords many advantages and opportunities for both emerging technology and fringe culture to evolve. For those Web3 “leaders” that have done that one drop and walked off with millions of dollars overnight – that doesn’t make you an expert, it makes you lucky.

And being “early” or the “first” doesn’t make you an expert – it just makes you “earlier” first. 

However, that requires the creator economy to really push for brands and creators to come in and take the time to really understand how they can create an impact – and that means asking the right questions, the harder questions. 

Ultimately, the “success” we saw from 2021 and even 2022, isn’t anything “exciting” – it was just a case study of many Web3 startups and businesses raising a lot of money. 

We haven’t yet seen the full byproduct of those investments – that long-term value that comes back to both the community and the overarching brand.