UTA‘s Cheryl Paglierani Talks ‘Astronomical’ Post Malone Numbers, Demand for Dominic Fike: ‘If You Think Long-Term, the Money Will Come’
In an industry long dominated by men, Cheryl Paglierani is among the female agents ushering in a new generation of leaders. Recently named a partner at UTA, where her clients include Post Malone, Cardi B, Dominic Fike, 21 Savage, Flo Milli and Offset, Paglierani came up under Cara Lewis, another trailblazing woman in music. Since her start in 2008, Paglierani spent multiple years at premiere agencies WME and CAA, before landing at the Agency Group ahead of its purchase by UTA.
Paglierani couldn’t be better positioned at UTA today, as the agency’s music department is seeing a 2022 peak with Bad Bunny’s current stadium tour. Also worth crowing about: Post’s own Twelve Carat trek which has sold 450,000 tickets across 38 dates and grossed $65 million (with 19 shows still left to play out) — a 10% increase from his pre-pandemic 2019 outing. The tour includes two-night stops in Toronto and Boston, four New York City area shows and four nights in Los Angeles (pairs at the Forum and Crypto.com arenas) — all of which is to say that Paglierani has been racking up the frequent flyer miles.
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She spoke to Variety from backstage at MSG about the state of live music, her career and Post’s potential future as a country star.
One thing about Post Malone is that he transcends genres; he’d make sense on a pop bill, or a hip-hop lineup or a rock festival. Was that the case seven years ago when you started working with him?
He was always like that. It comes from him having this really eclectic love of music. One of the videos that went crazy viral in the beginning of his career was him singing a Bob Dylan song. Today, look at the playlist in the arena before the show — Post hand-picked the songs and it’s country; it’s punk; and the last song you hear is Shania Twain “Man! I Feel Like a Woman.”
Backstage, while he’s playing beer pong and hanging out before a show, he’s also DJ-ing from his phone. he’s put me on to so many new things that I never would have heard. He’s like an encyclopedia, too. He knows the words to every song; who wrote what; who produced. He’s got a vast knowledge of everything in music, that’s what makes his own music so relatable and so genre-less, like you said.
Could we one day get a Post Malone country album?
I could eventually see it. I don’t want to speak for him if he’ll ever do it, but I get asked a lot by people: “When is Post making a country album? Or a folk album?” I don’t have the answer, but I do know that he loves to collaborate and there’s definitely a number of country acts that he’s truly a fan of.
How has his stage fall injury impacted this tour?
He is a trouper. I’ve represented him for seven years and it was the first time he’s ever canceled a show in his entire career. Forget canceling, he’s never even been late. He cares and he’s so reliable and dedicated. The day after, he woke up and he was in a lot of pain. He truly had to cancel the show because he was in the hospital. We rescheduled in Boston, and he just replayed. But other than that, he hasn’t let it affect the tour — and he could have. I almost encouraged him to take time off just to make sure he was OK.
Not only did he not want to cancel, but he bought everybody at the rescheduled Boston show a free T-shirt that they handed out at the end. He paid for it out of his own pocket. Like, who does that? And it wasn’t cheap either because we had to pay for the labor, too, but he was adamant. Post has got the biggest heart of anybody I’ve ever met.
It was a pretty nasty tumble; did the production have to rethink the staging?
It was a genuine mistake. He comes up on a riser, that’s how he enters the show. Then he plays guitar, turns around, puts the guitar on the stand, and then the stand goes down and the production people are there to take it off. Usually, he’s walking to the front of the stage for the next song. On this particular night, he didn’t, and turned around, forgetting what was going down behind him. Needless to say, the stage doesn’t go down anymore. He just hands off the guitar. Adjustments were made.
Post could easily cash in on festival headlining slots. How do you decide between a big festival look versus headlining his own tour?
From the beginning of his career, we’ve never been, like, let’s chase the money. It’s always been about, let’s do what’s right and what’s going to help us grow in the market. So when it’s time to tour, we’re going to tour; and when it’s time to play festivals, we’re going to play festivals. Because I believe that if you do the right things, build properly and think long-term, the money will always come.
Since UTA reps Post worldwide, how is his international business?
Astronomical. There are artists who are massive in America and can’t get arrested in Europe — like the numbers change so drastically. Post’s numbers in Europe are just as big as they are in the United States, which is something we were focused on from the beginning. When I first met Post, we talked about building globally at the same time.
In these post-pandemic times, what are the new challenges of a return to normal?
The oversaturation of the market has been a challenge for everybody because you can’t pinpoint when something will and won’t work. Even with Post, since the “Stoney” album was released, he’s never played a show that was not sold out. So going into this tour coming out of the pandemic, it was never a question of: are we worried that people won’t want to come? We knew people will want to come, but will market conditions allow them to be able to afford to come? Gas is so much more expensive, the tickets, parking, everything associated with going to a show is expensive. So weighing those challenges is tough and I don’t think anybody has the right answer.
What are you seeing right now in terms of growth areas for live music?
I definitely think production is growing. There’s a healthy competition among artists in terms of who can outdo whom. That never slows down, right. The bigger you get, the bigger you want your production to be.
And Latin is having a huge moment. I was at the Bad Bunny shows at SoFi Stadium and it was incredible to see that growth. He’s a UTA client — represented by my colleague Jbeau Lewis — and it wasn’t just a big win for us as a music department, but also for the genre. It’s really going to open a lot of doors.
You trained under Cara Lewis whose roots in hip-hop agency run deep. What did you learn from that experience?
Sitting on Cara Lewis’ desk — I went from CPLAsst No. 3 to No. 1 in, like, two weeks — was going from not being in the mix of anything to literally in the middle of everything. She represented everyone at that point and that was really inspiring to me because she was such a trailblazer. At that point, it was even more of a male-dominated industry. Today, we’re seeing more and more women, not just in agent roles, but in in the business as a whole, which is great. So to learn from her … of course it was tough, but it was never boring and was always exciting. I learned everything I know about perseverance; about not taking no for an answer; about how to deliver; how to work with artists. I learned all that from her and that’s what made me want to go and build my own roster.
Being able to offer a full suite of services to an artist remains in strong demand. With a client like Dominic Fike, who had a breakout role in “Euphoria,” he could use the experience as a springboard to an acting career. What does that mean for you as his music agent?
First, he is one of my favorites. I always look for multi-hyphenates, and he is it in every sense of the word. When “Euphoria” started, I would tell him I was terrified that he was going to leave me and just become an actor. But music is 100% still his main passion. He’s gotten many offers to do different acting jobs, and we’re weighing them both, but music is really important to him. We just announced his tour and blew out the whole entire thing in one day of pre-sale. He hasn’t put an album out in two years! So it’s exciting seeing that the business is still healthy, that things are still breaking and there’s still demand for new artists. We’re going to continue to build both hand-in-hand.
How did the “Euphoria” role come to Fike?
A colleague in our music crossover group, Peter DeSantis, walked into my office one day and told me he had just been sent a casting opportunity for a new role on “Euphoria” that he thought Dom would be perfect for. At the time, Dom had just started his first tour and was solely focused on his music career. Pete and I were convinced that this role was perfect for him and spoke with Dom about the opportunity. Somehow, we convinced him to self-tape, even though he had never acted before! One tape turned into another and another which led to the show’s creator, Sam Levinson, wanting to meet Dom, which ultimately resulted in Dom getting the role. It was such an incredible moment for all of us, as it highlighted the need to think about opportunities outside of the box and really utilize the 360 degree resources we have as an agency. The role ended up being a gamechanger for Dom’s career and has opened so many doors for him. It also led to the brand team helping secure partnerships with Calvin Klein and Saint Laurent. We are very excited to continue to build his business and brand across all areas.
What about a client like Offset; does his breaking out from Migos require you to retool your approach?
There’s nothing really for me to retool. It’s the same kind of build with any artist. He has an album coming and we’re working on a strategy of how to move forward with selling tickets. At the same time, we’re looking at using every aspect of the agency — whether that’s finding brand deals or him being on the the TV show “The Hype.” It actually helps us that he comes from the Migos. And I think he’s going to be the one that has the standout career. He’s definitely the Beyoncé of the Migos.
You’re now a partner at UTA, does that change anything in your day-to-day responsibilities?
Not in the sense of the work that I’m doing, but it definitely changes things in terms of how much I focus on leadership and mentorship. I want to be able to deliver for my clients and also be the role model that other women in the company have been for me. People like Tracey Jacobs or Blair Kohan who’ve taken me under their wings and are always there to offer advice. As partners, of course we want to bring in good agents, but we also want to build from within, and you need your partners to be examples and willing to teach the young people we have in the building how to be an agent.
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