Billboard’s 2026 Top Business Managers Revealed

Billboard named its 2026 class of top business managers, a list nominated by firms and peers and chosen by the publication's editors, as managing intellectual property has taken on new urgency in the AI age. The list arrives after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia on Sept. 29 rejected the claim that AI training on copyrighted works is fair use, affirming a lower court's partial summary judgment for Thomson Reuters against AI startup ROSS Intelligence over its Westlaw legal research platform. Cal Financial Group senior managing director Rit Venerus said owning more IP "can be very helpful when confronting AI," and the RIAA and National Music Publishers' Association filed a joint brief arguing AI services that train on sound recordings and compositions "are wrong" to invoke fair use.

Billboard’s 2026 Top Business Managers Revealed Music industry headlines — from the battle over Dolly Parton's estate to the latest court rulings on AI — highlight the importance of savvy financial advice. Billboard ’s 2026 class of top business managers, nominated by their firms and peers and chosen by our editors, takes on tasks for clients that are daunting in their complexity: auditing streaming royalties, negotiating concert tours, building equity through branding deals and selling or buying music catalogs. To say nothing of conventional chores like budgeting, filing taxes and guiding investments. The challenges involved with another customary task, estate planning, hit the headlines this year following the death of Dolly Parton. In a 2020 Billboard cover story https://www.billboard.com/music/country/dolly-parton-2020-country-power-players-cover-story-1235833446/ , Parton spoke about the importance of an artist having their affairs in order. “A word to all the other artists out there: If you haven’t made those provisions, do that. You don’t want to leave that mess to your family for people to have to fight over.” But a fight is precisely what began after Parton’s death when her estate sought a restraining order against a relative who, its filing claimed, had been trying to extort money from the estate. “You can plan the inheritance as carefully as Dolly did, but you cannot guarantee everyone’s acceptance of that plan,” says estate attorney Scott Rahn who was not involved in Parton’s planning . While tasks like estate planning have long been a core service provided by business managers, managing intellectual property has taken on new urgency in the AI age. AI tools have been trained by ingesting massive amounts of data, a process that tech companies have claimed is fair use of copyrights or, in legal parlance, “transformative,” not simply duplication of a work. On Sept. 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia rejected that AI training claim. The ruling affirmed a lower court’s partial summary judgment in favor of information and technology company Thomson Reuters, which said its copyrighted online legal research platform, Westlaw, was used by the AI startup ROSS Intelligence to train a new AI-powered research tool. A joint brief in support of Thomson Reuters filed by the RIAA and the National Music Publishers’ Association explains the relevance of the case to the music industry. Record companies and music publishers “have sued AI services that train on their sound recordings and musical compositions. Those services have responded by asserting that their conduct is exonerated by the fair use doctrine,” the brief stated. “They are wrong.” Many firms have focused on AI-related advice. “We have always been advocates for clients betting on themselves and owning their IP, or intellectual property,” says Rit Venerus, senior managing director at Cal Financial Group. “The more you own, the more you can control how your IP is used, which can be very helpful when confronting AI.” Venerus puts the rise of this new technology in perspective. “The world continues to move at a faster and faster pace,” he says, “and we see the impact on our clients in real time.” 360 Business Management Reggie Gooden Founder/CEO Abacus Financial Business Management Belva Anakwenze Entertainment business manager Adeptus David Levin Managing partner Ellis Beber Tyler Kizu Bruce Kolbrenner Michael Nelson Tyler Kizu Bruce Kolbrenner Michael Nelson Partners ARC Business Management Tate Henshaw Co-founder Armanino Advisory Ed Eschleman Managing director of business management Olga Goldovskaya Director of business management and family office services Bernstein Private Wealth Management Daniel Weisman Managing principal of national sports and entertainment group Business Management LAB Angie Barajas Louis Barajas Co-founders Business Wealth & Tax Management John Shaheen Managing partner Cal Financial Group Rit Venerus Senior managing director Butch Gage Dan Goscombe Dan Goscombe Managing directors Sarah Dellimore Cara Jeffrey Amy Self Cara Jeffrey Amy Self Directors With the rising concerns surrounding AI, climate change, global political conflicts and more, it’s a difficult time for many, including those in the music business. “The world continues to move at a faster and faster pace, and we see the impact on our clients in real time,” says Rit Venerus, senior managing director at Cal Financial Group, which stands out among business managers as a go-to firm for its broad perspective and top-grossing touring acts. “Whether it’s geopolitical, economic, AI, weather or fires, we are always working with clients to help them navigate through these challenges.” The firm — whose artist clients include Jack White, Phoebe Bridgers, John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Dead & Company and Soundgarden — has one important piece of advice to share when it comes to the increasing use of AI in the music industry: “We have always been advocates for clients betting on themselves and owning their intellectual property ,” Venerus explains. “The more you own, the more you can control how your IP is used, which can be very helpful when confronting AI.” An investment trend that Venerus has noted lately is in collectibles. “Clients collecting memorabilia has continued to grow. For example, look at the recent auction of David Gilmour’s guitar,” Venerus says of the famed “Black Strat” used by Gilmour on iconic Pink Floyd albums including The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall . The instrument sold for a record-breaking $14.55 million at Christie’s in June, becoming the most expensive guitar ever sold. “It’s an area where we expect continued growth, and it’s one where clients can have unique access and insight into the market.” While the recent past has brought many challenges, Cal Financial has celebrated milestones as well. “We are thrilled to be heading into our 25th year and still being a privately owned and managed firm,” he says. And among achievements by his clients, he points to the 60th-anniversary celebration of the Grateful Dead with Dead & Company in 2025 at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. “Grateful Dead 60 at Golden Gate Park was an incredible event to be a part of, with an incredible team around the band,” he says. “It was also very touching that those shows turned out to be Bob Weir’s final performances.” —ANNA CHAN Camaleon Jose Luis Aristizábal Founder/CEO Capeles Edgard Capeles CEO CC Young Colin Young Founder/director Reviewing the finances of some of the industry’s biggest stars as well as its more promising upstarts has given London-based business manager Colin Young a bird’s-eye view of the music business that few people have. In his estimation, it’s a great time to be a star — and a hard time being an upstart. “Touring at the arena and stadium level has been very buoyant, but touring at the theater level and below has been very problematic for clients,” says Young, the founder and owner of firm CC Young. He points to the high costs of being on the road, which he says never fell post-pandemic as some had expected — and combined with back-end taxes, those expenses can push shows in certain countries entirely into the red for the average artist. “When touring happens in some countries, we pay withholding tax on profits,” he explains. “But in other parts of Europe, like Spain, the tax is punishing and based on gross, not profit.” While Young declines to name his clients, his practice — which has 135 employees and offices in London, Los Angeles and Stockholm — has become known as a go-to for high-profile artists who want a royalty audit from their label or publisher. This year, Young says that “the resistance by record and publishing companies is ever more profound. There’s been a conscious decision by the record companies to reduce their internal staff levels, so they simply don’t have the capabilities to service the requests and it just gets pushed back and back.” With the rise of AI licensing deals, Young says that while artists could stand to make a little bit of money from such agreements, “the ship has sailed” on deciding whether they want to participate. “That bit is just down to the record companies, and it’s at their discretion,” he claims. As Billboard reported earlier this year, some record companies are taking the position that they already have the rights needed to include their entire catalogs in AI training once licensing deals are struck, without asking artists. “Yes, it will generate some revenue,” Young says. There will be some benefit to his clients, “but will it ever get us back to the CD era ? No.” Amid all the challenges of his job, Young remains a music fan at heart. “I look at Bob Dylan. I look at Leonard Cohen. I look at Nick Cave,” he says. “When I look at what they’ve achieved, when I look at the emotion they express in their music — it means something. Their emotion really means something, and that’s what music is about. It really connects. I have optimism in this game. I’ve never been more optimistic than I am now.” —KRISTIN ROBINSON Citrin Cooperman Chris King Partner/music industry practice leader Maria del Pilar Lopez Errol Wander Errol Wander Partners Shu Li Managing director CohnReznick Sean Granat Partner of private client services Dales Evans a division of BKL Lester Dales Paul Makin Partners David Weise & Associates, a division of NKSFB David Weise Founding partner Jaime Masuda Rob Salzman Rob Salzman Partners Dunn Pariser & Peyrot Mark Pariser Tony Peyrot Partners Empower Business Management Sally Velazquez Founder/tax attorney/business manager Tracy Miller Vp of operations/business manager Farris Self & Moore Kella Farris Stephanie SelfCatherine MooreStephanie Alderman Partners Fasbender Financial Management Tina Fasbender Founder/president FBMM Julie Boos Owner/chairman/business manager Duane Clark Owner/president/business manager Jamie Cheek Owner/CEO/business manager Erica Rosa Owner/managing director of royalties and contract compliance David Boyer Jen Conger Dan Killian Carmen Romano Jen Conger Dan Killian Carmen Romano Owners/business managers Paul Barnabee Director of West Coast operations/business manager Fineman West & Co. Adam Caswell Director of business management Heather Gruber Royalty manager Roger Ramos Account manager Focus Partners Wealth Amir Malek Pam Malek Co-heads of business management FTS Global Management a joint venture with ADA Music Travis D Wilson CEO/business manager Gelfand Rennert & Feldman Tyson Beem CEO Christopher Fazzolari Shane Glass Todd Kamelhar Willie LaRose Ewen MacNeil John Menneci Melissa Morton Mike Skeet Bill Tannenbaum Shane Glass Todd Kamelhar Willie LaRose Ewen MacNeil John Menneci Melissa Morton Mike Skeet Bill Tannenbaum Managing directors Glocal Management Group Derick Luna Managing member Gold Business Management Ed Gold Founder/CEO Grid Financial Management Bryan Patrick Franklin CEO Joey De Leon Partner/director Ground Control Business Management Kevin Dalton Steve EggartRob TaylorDwight Wiles Managing directors of music division David Murray Business manager Grupo Silva Global Business Management Jose Alberto Silva Managing partner HHB Company Becky Harris CEO John Huelsman President KLBM Kristin Lee Managing director ICONAC Daniel Berrocal Founder/CEO LC Business Management Lauren Cooper Founder/CEO Leftbrain Nicholas Judd Founder/CEO Nicholas Brema Graham Helser Graham Helser Business managers LL Business Management Marius Bercovici Justin D. Kobay Partners Luma Business Management Adrien Good Founder/business manager Mallori Kirchenschlager Partner/business manager MAI Capital Management Matt Klarberg Senior client advisor/managing director Mann Gelon Smith Sroka Lee Alex Smith Co-managing partner Justin Sroka Partner Martin Business Management Josh Martin President Melby Wealth Management Shaun Melby Founder MGO Tony Smalls Partner/entertainment, sports and media industry group leader Michael Meschures Partner Miller Kaplan Michael Kaplan Managing partner NKSFB Michael Karlin Founding partner Melissa Earnhart Steve Landau Matt Segal Mabel Tash Steve Landau Matt Segal Mabel Tash Partners O’Neil Hagaman Kerry O’Neil Alvin Hagaman Jr.Legina ChaudoinCheryl HarrisSam PowersLynda RagsdaleLillian Williams Partners Since 1984, Nashville-based O’Neil Hagaman has been a leading entertainment-focused business management and consulting firm, representing entertainers, producers, publishers, labels, songwriters and industry executives, in genres including country, R&B, Christian, rock, alternative and adult contemporary. The company’s executives have regularly been recognized in the category of business manager of the year at the annual Country Music Association Touring Awards, while O’Neil Hagaman partner Cheryl Harris was inducted into the SOURCE Nashville Hall of Fame last year. O’Neil Hagaman partner Lillian Williams notes that as economic and political climates continue to shift, affecting the music industry, the firm “continues to study the economics of touring stateside and globally to plan accordingly.” As costs and low ticket sales have forced some artists to cancel shows or tours, Williams says that “it is our job to educate our clients on these volatile times. Now is not the time for quick fixes or making reactive decisions but instead helping our clients to carefully navigate the financial intricacies of their career with thoughtful planning. For example, with tour cancellations the client needs to be very careful when committing to long-term bus and equipment leases that don’t have a right to terminate the agreement if the tour cancels.” As artists face headwinds in the touring sector, they also face new challenges in the era of AI. O’Neil Hagaman partner Legina Chaudoin advises that artists look at the current technological landscape to “protect your voice and likeness by knowing how your music, recordings and identity are being licensed and used.” Authenticity and transparent connection are still key in her view. “A genuine story will remain valuable. Keep making the human connections through live performances. The relationship between an artist and an audience will matter more moving forward,” Chaudoin says. Transparency with clients remains paramount for those in business management as well. “Clear and consistent communications have never been more important in our role as business managers,” O’Neil Hagaman partner Kerry O’Neil says. “In the digital world, direct conversations with the artist and their team are still the only way to ensure best results from everyone’s efforts. No shortcuts ” As the industry keeps navigating change, Chaudoin says recent months have also brought heartfelt moments. “My favorite musical moment has been all of the outpouring of tributes to Dolly Parton since her passing,” she says. “From the performance on MTV’s Video Music Awards , 78th Emmy Awards and so many more. In a world with so much friction and division, there is something profoundly comforting about seeing music still unite us. They encourage us all to be a little more like Dolly: genuine, humble, generous, kind and giving.” —JESSICA NICHOLSON Oak Haus Business Management Mallory Pascal Owner/business manager OAK Management Group Sumby Kuti Founder PARR/3 Mike Merriman President Bryan Gott Director of business management Brandon Russell Sunny Sanghera Sunny Sanghera Executive account managers Megan Goodrich Odette Moradians Odette Moradians Senior account managers Pinnacle Financial Partners Brock Kidd Founding partner/managing director; private wealth manager, RJFS Polyak Business Management Teresa Polyak Founder/business manager Teresa Polyak, founder of Polyak Business Management, takes pride in “finding custom solutions for clients’ particular scenarios. “Maybe a client needs funding, but they’re not ready to sell a catalog,” she offers as an example. “Well, there are different ways to monetize that catalog to get the best of both worlds. Sometimes the easy answer is not the only answer, and it’s about finding solutions to a client’s problems and concerns that gets them what they want and checks all the boxes but may not be the first one the client thinks about.” Polyak keeps her client list confidential but she reports that her firm oversaw a “massive, two-and-a-half-year tour cycle for one of the largest tours out there in 2023-24. It takes a while to financially close these things out when it involves multiple countries and multiple taxing authorities. But they were very large dollar amounts and it was a profitable tour — a nice, big accomplishment.” When advising clients regarding the rise of AI, she says to “find a way to use it that benefits you, and I don’t mean in making music. I mean the ability to leverage the abilities AI can bring us, but it’s also about having a strong team to protect assets you’ve created. “The biggest concern for me, and for what I’ve seen for the artists, is replication, soundalikes, fake music sounding like … somebody. How are you going to protect that specialness and who you are? And how do we catch an AI fake and bring it down — and at the same time use the benefits of AI to promote yourself as an artist with your real music?” Witnessing the very real musical talent of favorite superstars offered two highlights of the past year for Polyak. “One was P nk on the Tony Awards in June because it demonstrated an incredible range of talent that was incredibly different from what we’ve normally seen from that kind of artist, which I thought was amazing,” she says. “The other was Bruce Springsteen on the Land of Hope and Dreams Tour this year — and I’ve seen a lot of Springsteen shows,” Polyak adds. “But it was one of the best. And it was a political show done in an extremely well-handed way, where it was truly about the music and the people and not a grandstanding thing. It was an amazingly well-scripted journey up and down the catalog parallel to what is going on in the world.” —GIL KAUFMAN Prager Metis Thomas Smith Partner/entertainment industry leader Joseph Callaghan Mark Carter Simon Winters Mark Carter Simon Winters Partners Scott Dunnachie Director PS Business Management Phil Sarna Founder/senior managing director Andrew Britton Cat Marcasciano Ryan Shaw Molly Taylor Cat Marcasciano Ryan Shaw Molly Taylor Managing directors Amy Hertz Eugene Lee Abner Monegro Hyun-Joo Park Eugene Lee Abner Monegro Hyun-Joo Park Directors Red Mind Global Marco Fonseca Founder/CEO Richburg Enterprises Michelle Richburg President/CEO Richman Business Management Murray Richman Nathan Richman Owners Royal Entertainment Business Management Jordan L. Josephs Founder/managing partner RZO Bill Zysblat Co-founder/managing partner Tom Cyrana Lia Sweet Lia Sweet Partners/managing directors RZO represents the estate of David Bowie, who would have turned 80 on Jan. 8, 2027, and the firm is overseeing an expansive, yearlong celebration of the pioneering artist’s music and cultural impact. “We launched Bowie80,” says Bill Zysblat, RZO co-founder and managing partner, who shares recognition with the firm’s partners and managing directors Tom Cyrana and Lia Sweet. “We have created 50 or more events to happen during the next year.” Bowie80 will include a partnership with premium retailer Nordstrom’s on exclusive clothing lines and immersive displays at its flagship stores in Seattle, Chicago and New York; new exhibits at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; a photography exhibition titled Strange Fascination opening in February at Morrison Hotel Gallery locations in New York and West Hollywood; and BOWIE breaking GLASS, a new symphonic concert production that will debut in Copenhagen in the spring, setting Bowie’s songs and voice against the music of Philip Glass, who wrote his “Low” and “Heroes” symphonies inspired by the Berlin albums with those titles that Bowie made with Brian Eno. In addition, Bowie’s previously unseen 1978 concert film, Stage , will play venues next year as an “immersive experience.” Planning for Bowie80 began two years ago, says Zysblat, who was Bowie’s adviser and friend during his lifetime. But RZO’s long history, strategy and client list goes beyond Bowie. In 1975, Zysblat and the late Joe Rascoff began advising The Rolling Stones, forming RZO in 1988. In addition to Bowie’s estate, RZO’s clients include U2, Lady Gaga, Steely Dan, David Byrne, Shania Twain, Sting, Yoko Ono and the estates of John Lennon and Tom Petty. The firm does not represent any music companies or executives, only artists. Touring remains a mainstay of the finances of RZO’s clients. With decades of data on touring deals, RZO is uniquely positioned to negotiate the best terms for its clients on everything required to mount a major concert outing. It has collaborated with AEG for The Stones and with Live Nation for acts like U2 for its upcoming stadium tour and Lady Gaga for her record-setting Mayhem Ball, the most successful outing of her career that grossed $362.9 million and sold 1.6 million tickets across 87 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore. Zysblat also highlights the success of Byrne, whose Who Is the Sky? tour named for his 2025 album concluded Sept. 19 at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens. For the 45 shows reported to date to Billboard Boxscore, the tour had grossed $26.5 million and sold 205,000 tickets, including a four-night run at London’s Eventim Apollo that grossed $1.9 million. “He’s just such a sweet guy and he always gets his due from a credibility point of view,” Zysblat says. But now long-standing critical acclaim for the artist has translated to ticket sales. “An amazing tour.” –T.D. Solución Estratégica José “Pepe” Cruz Director SRLV Charles Bradbrook Consultant Janice Lloyd Stephen Marks Tina Sunderland Steve Wren Stephen Marks Tina Sunderland Steve Wren Partners Sussman & Associates Charles Sussman President Sympathy for the Lawyer Lidia Gámez Manuel López Co-CEOs Daniel Ruiz GM TKG Business Management Joshua Klein Founder/CEO Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group Lou Taylor Founder/CEO Deedra Carroll Chief deputy director Heather Kinder Chief client officer, office of the CEO Lahteefa “Lah” Parramore Chief growth officer, East Coast Bret Guest Business manager UBS Wale Ogunleye Head of sports and entertainment David Schachter Managing director of wealth management/private wealth advisor; UBS Financial Services, Endurance Management Group Vibras Lab Iván Alarcón CEO Carolina Medina Juan Guillermo Rodriguez Laura Suarez Juan Guillermo Rodriguez Laura Suarez Project managers For Vibras Lab founder and CEO Iván Alarcón, the business of managing artists’ finances begins with a deceptively simple goal: help them understand the numbers behind their dreams. That responsibility has only become more important as Latin artists take on stadium tours, immersive venues and ownership stakes in their careers. “Most of the artists are creative people. They are not finance people,” Alarcón says. “So I help them through the process to understand what each number they have means.” Recent months have given him plenty of large-scale numbers to navigate. The executive highlights Karol G’s 2026 stadium run, Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour. So far it has grossed $220.7 million in North America, according to Billboard Boxscore, with additional dates in Latin America and Europe. “These amounts of grosses competing directly with what we thought was going to be hard or impossible without U.S. artists or English-speaking artists — that is always amazing,” Alarcón says. “Seeing 50,000 people screaming in a stadium is something I dreamed about, but I didn’t know it would happen with a Latin artist. The tour is a challenge. It’s crazy but it’s beautiful.” For Alarcón — who also works with Bad Bunny through Rimas Music , Grupo Frontera, Natalia Lafourcade and Ryan Castro, among others — the role of a business manager is not simply to approve expenses or report profits but to ensure artists can evaluate the business in real time. “It starts as something that you want to do because you dream of being a singer, but it ends as a regular business,” he says. “So you need to treat it like that.” He describes the artist as the company’s CEO, supported by a manager serving as COO, a CFO or bookkeeper, a lawyer and other types of specialists. “You need to be the leader,” he says, “and the more time that you have in the career, the more that you need to understand each of the pieces and be able to make the right decision.” Alarcón sees AI as a new tool for that same kind of informed decision-making. He advises artists to use it to review tour settlements, contracts and financial information, then bring questions back to their business managers and lawyers. “It’s a tool for you as a CEO,” he says. “You can use it to confront your team.” Another client milestone this past year was Carín León’s residency at Sphere in Las Vegas, a project Alarcón and León’s manager discussed as a dream only two years earlier. “Sphere was a totally different world for me and the team,” he says. Vibras also was part of the team that renewed Karol G’s deal with Interscope, helping her become the owner of her masters and her own label, Bichota Records — an important step toward long-term autonomy. Alarcón is also a business partner with J Balvin, who returned to his native Colombia for his Ciudad Primavera Tour, where he performed across nine stadiums in the country. —ISABELA RAYGOZA Wiatr & Associates Kris Wiatr President Sarah Hamner Kim Olson Valerie Shelton Kim Olson Valerie Shelton Senior vps Yorkshire Management Group Adam Yorkshire Founder Contributors: Trevor Anderson, Anna Chan, Ed Christman, Hannah Dailey, Kyle Denis, Thom Duffy, Chris Eggertsen, Eric Frankenberg, Gil Kaufman, Ariel King, Taylor Mims, Gail Mitchell, Jessica Nicholson, Sigal Ratner-Arias, Isabela Raygoza, Kristin Robinson Methodology: Nominations for Billboard ’s executive lists open no less than 150 days in advance of publication, and a link is sent to press representatives by request before the nomination period. Email thom.duffy@billboard.com for inclusion on the email list for nomination links and for how to obtain an editorial calendar. Billboard ’s Top Business Managers for 2026 were chosen by editors based on factors including, but not limited to, nominations by peers, colleagues and superiors, as well as music industry impact of clients cited in nominations. Client information is not printed in profiles if honorees cite issues of confidentiality. Industry impact is measured by metrics including, but not limited to, chart, sales and streaming performance as measured by Luminate and social media impressions using data available as of Sept. 15. This story appears in the Nov. 7, 2026, issue of Billboard.