When Marshall Betts and Avery McTaggart first began sketching ideas for what would become TBA Agency, live music had all but vanished. The touring world was at a standstill, and hundreds of agents—including the pair and their future partners—had just been laid off from the now-shuttered Paradigm Talent Agency in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. What began as a few late-night phone calls between friends became a bold bet on the future of live music at a time when there was no live music at all.

Both Betts and McTaggart had followed parallel paths through the agency world. After early stints at The Windish Agency, they joined Paradigm when Windish was acquired, helping to expand the company into one of the dominant forces in touring. “Paradigm was acquiring half a dozen agents every quarter,” Betts recalled. “It was rapid expansion—and then, in March 2020, everything stopped.” The demands of social distancing and stay-at-home notices paused the live music world for more than a year. Within weeks, entire departments at agencies like Paradigm were laid off or suspended. “No one even knew what the next week would look like,” he said.

By that Friday, Betts and McTaggart were on the phone. “We thought, let’s get the group together on Monday,” Betts said. “Everyone was just trying to figure out what was happening, calling clients to ask if they’d stick with them even though none of us had jobs. Luckily, most of them said yes.”

Those conversations quickly turned into strategy sessions. “We asked ourselves: what worked at Paradigm, what didn’t, what worked at Windish—and how could we build something better?” Betts said. Within three and a half months, TBA was born.

Launching a live-touring agency during a global shutdown was an audacious move, but the partners saw opportunity amid chaos. “We were pitching a live touring business in the middle of a pandemic,” Betts said. “But there was a real appetite for something independent. People understood that artists didn’t need a thousand-person corporate structure to succeed.”

For McTaggart, who had long envisioned a more personal and flexible model of representation, the pandemic was the catalyst. “I’d always thought there was room for a new kind of independent agency,” he said. “The business had become so consolidated—independents being absorbed by larger firms. There hadn’t been a major new agency launch in over a decade. I felt there would always be an appetite for something that operated differently, that treated both artists and employees like humans, not cogs.”

Between May and August 2020, the founding team worked nonstop to build the company from scratch. They handled everything from corporate structure and health insurance to web design and branding. “The pandemic forced us to slow down and think through every detail,” McTaggart said. “We weren’t booking tours, so we had the bandwidth to really build the foundation.”

The final phase of planning took place on the road. “Marshall and I rented an RV with our partners and spent a month driving around the country, finalizing the business plan,” McTaggart said. “We’d work during the day, park at campgrounds, and sleep under the stars. Honestly, it was one of the best months of my life.”

The First Call Sheet

When TBA officially launched on September 1, 2020, the industry was still largely dormant. Yet the agency started strong—with a roster of roughly 200 artists, including Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Jungle, Bob Moses, Hot Chip and Mura Masa, most of whom had followed McTaggart and his partners from Paradigm.

“I basically told my clients, ‘I’m building something new. Give me time, and I’ll show you who’s involved,’” McTaggart said. “It would’ve been the easiest time in the world for them to drop me—but they didn’t. Every single one of them came along for the ride.”

TBA launched fully staffed—with agents, assistants, coordinators, tour marketing, and brand partnership departments already in place. “We wanted to do it properly,” McTaggart said. “Even with no touring revenue, we made sure our employees had health insurance. We believed that if we treated our people right, everything else would follow.”

From the start, Betts said, TBA prioritized experience and personal connection over rapid expansion. “We wanted people who could have meaningful conversations with artists—not just about booking, but about their careers,” he said. “It was always quality over quantity. We built a strong foundation, and that’s paid off. We’ve tripled in size since day one, and most of our staff are still here.”

That foundation also created a culture of collaboration and transparency among other independents. “In the early pandemic, with NITO and NIVA forming, there was this sense of unity,” Betts said. “Independent agencies started talking and helping each other. It was a period of peace and cooperation we’d never seen before. Now it’s more competitive again, but those walls have come down a bit. It’s healthier.”

Five years later, the bet on independence has paid off — not only for TBA but for the entire ecosystem of agencies launched in that same window. “The success of independent companies isn’t a threat to the big agencies,” McTaggart said. “It’s good for the business. There’s more choice for artists, for agents, for employees. Healthy competition means a healthier live industry overall.”

He points to sectors like ticketing as a cautionary tale: “The parts of the music business that are least healthy are the ones with no competition. On the live side, the rise of independent agencies has made things stronger.”

Both Betts and McTaggart believe the model has lasting power. “Artists have learned they don’t need the biggest name or biggest Rolodex to reach their goals,” Betts said. “Sometimes, it’s actually better not to have that. What they do need is people who care, who move quickly, and who understand their vision.”

As the agency marks its fifth anniversary, its founders are mindful of the challenges ahead — rising touring costs, economic uncertainty, and the pressures facing both artists and promoters. “Every side of the business is grappling with higher costs and more unpredictability,” McTaggart said. “We’re more involved than ever in tour budgeting, in understanding what things really cost. You can’t just book a tour and walk away anymore. You have to build sustainable growth.”

For Betts, the past five years are proof that independent doesn’t mean small — it means intentional. “We didn’t need a thousand-person payroll to make an impact,” he said. “We just needed the right people, the right artists, and the right values.”

For all the meticulous planning that mothers and fathers do before the big day arrives, things have a tendency to go sideways while babies are being born. Just ask Justin Bieber, who earlier this week fessed up to kind of losing his cool in the delivery room when wife Hailey Bieber was giving birth to their son, Jack Blues Bieber, last August.

During one of his now-daily Twitch streams, Bieber described to some friends what it felt like when things got tense between him and the couple’s doula, a non-medical professional who is on hand to provide emotional and physical support during birth. In a grab of the chat from a fan, Bieber says, “I remember dealing with, like… there was tension with… ’cause we had a doula and then we had a nurse as well, and the nurse and the doula were really kind of butting heads.”

Adding to the tension, Bieber said, “then I was butting heads with the doula, and it was just like this… and I was hella emotional because it’s like, this is like one of the most important times of your life, and I remember just like, I think I was being really strong with the doula.” Bieber said his advocacy made wife Hailey feel anxious. “So she’s like, ‘you need to apologize to the doula,’” he said she told him. “Just clear the air.”

So, the “Sorry” singer said he apologized, explaining that his emotions were running high at that moment. “‘I don’t want you to take away from my moment either as the dad,’” he said he told the doula. “‘I got this too.’ There’s times when I need to console Hailey and I felt like she was pushing me to the side so that she could do [her job],” said the singer, who noted that he felt he had “good instincts too” as a first-time dad.

While baby Jack has seemingly not shown up to hang out in the playpen Bieber set up in the middle of the giant studio where he is streaming on Twitch, the singer has been busy since launching the feed last week. So far, he has played a lot of basketball with his crew, sung what sounded like the beginnings of a new song on Monday and, on Wednesday (Oct. 29), did an intense trainer-led group workout with his boys.

Reneé Rapp’s North America trek has come to a premature end, on doctor’s orders.

After health problems forced her to delay shows in Atlanta (Oct. 26) and Tampa (Oct. 27), the pop singer and former Sex Lives of College Girls star has postponed a third consecutive show — the homecoming finale on this Bite Me Tour, originally scheduled for tonight, Oct. 29 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC.

“As of right now,” she writes on Instagram Stories, “I still don’t have a voice. I’m recovering slowly,” she adds, “but still not in a place where I am able to perform safely” at her hometown show. “I am so sorry and heartbroken that I have to postpone”.

The Charlotte show has been rescheduled for Nov. 7, and all original tickets will be valid for the new date. 

As previously reported, the Tampa show is now set for Nov. 4 and the Atlanta stop has been nudged to Nov. 5. 

“Again,” she continues, “I want to stress that I know the time and effort and preparation attending a show takes. I promise you it doesn’t go unnoticed or unseen. I’m taking this time to recover and then next week for these rescheduled shows I will give you the best version of me.  The best version of this show that I love so much. The show you deserve to see.”

On the weekend, Rapp revealed she had never had to reschedule a concert — until now. “I’ve been pushing through an illness but my body has finally given out,” she wrote. “My doctors have told me that it isn’t safe to perform due to the need for vocal rest and physical recovery.”

After completing those North American dates, Rapp will cross the Atlantic in early 2026 for a European jaunt that’s booked to star March 11 at Lotto Arena in Antwerp, Belgium, followed by dates in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, where here sophomore collection Bite Me hit No. 1 in August, for her first leader.