Chris Taylor, former president and CEO of Blackstone-owned MNRK Music Group, has launched a new music company called Hall of Fame Artists.
Hall Of Fame Artists will operate across management, recording and music publishing and is based in Los Angeles. The company also has staff throughout North America in New York, Miami, Toronto and Vancouver.
Hall Of Fame Artists currently represents artists and comedians including Cymande, Arkells, Kiefer, Lights, Brittany Brave and many others.
The company says it will soon announce new signings under its management, recording, and publishing divisions.
The management team at Hall of Fame includes industry-veteran Keith Hagan, a long-time publicist and marketing strategist for acts like Kenny Rogers, Paul McCartney, TOTO and Paul Weller.
He brings his management roster over to the HOF team.
Additional team members include touring and merchandise expert Sarah Osgoode (Tragically Hip, Arkells, Lights); radio promotion exec, Polo Brewster (Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Tory Lanez); and marketing team members, Kultar “KC” Chohan and Kate Stronczer.
Taylor began practicing law in 1997 with the law firm of Sanderson Taylor, representing Canadian artists including Nelly Furtado, Avril Lavigne and Tom Cochrane.
While still at Sanderson Taylor, in 2004 Chris Taylor founded Last Gang Entertainment with Montreal music mogul Donald Tarlton, in order to release Metric’s debut album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
In 2006, Taylor co-founded his own law firm, Taylor Mitsopulos Klein Oballa, which represented Drake, Avril Lavigne, Billy Talent, Three Days Grace, Alexisonfire, Nelly Furtado, and Gordon Lightfoot, among others.
Balancing Last Gang and his law firm, in 2016 Taylor sold Last Gang to Entertainment One (eOne), becoming President of the company’s music arm in the process.
The eOne business eventually sold to Hasbro in a $3.8 billion deal in 2019. In 2021 Taylor led the sale of the eOne/Hasbro Music division to private equity firm, Blackstone, for $385 million.
Taylor said: “We are providing a full suite of services for clients to take full advantage of. Today artists want to work across media: books, podcasts, film, TV and more. Hall of Fame will be a platform for them to spread their wings.”
“There has never been a better time to be an independent operator in the music industry.
Chris Taylor
Added Taylor: “There has never been a better time to be an independent operator in the music industry. At Hall of Fame we are combining decades of experience along with amazing resources to service a formidable and growing talent roster.
“I’m so excited to start this journey with our managers and our incredible artists.”Music Business Worldwide