UTA has added three agents to its music division, the entertainment, talent and sports company announced on Thursday.
Mary Allen, Aaron Arkin and Vatana Shaw are the new faces in the division. Allen will be based in Nashville as a music agent, Arkin will serve as music crossover agent based in Los Angeles, and Shaw, also based in LA, joins the company as music brand partnerships agent.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mary, Aaron and Vatana to the UTA team,” David Zedeck, partner and co-head of Global Music, said in a statement. “Their combined expertise in touring, development of music-driven content and brand partnerships will be integral as we continue to expand the scope and resources of our Music department.”
With a focus on electronic music, Allen formerly served as a founding agent at Mint Talent Group. Prior to Mint, she spent six years as a booking agent at Madison House in Boulder, Colorado. Allen’s roster includes French electronic music sensation CloZee, The Polish Ambassador, The Funk Hunters, Apashe, Tripp St., MEMBA, Rome in Silver, NotLö, VEIL, sumthin sumthin, Player Dave, and others.
Arkin began his career at UTA as an assistant in the digital and talent departments. He spent the last five years working in development and production at Complex Networks, the youth culture media brand behind “Hot Ones” and ComplexCon. During his time at Complex, Arkin drove the development and production of multiple series and documentaries on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, TruTV and Meta (previously Facebook Watch), and he also led the creative development of first-of-their-kind premium series for Twitch, Snap Originals and Spotify.
In a newly created role at UTA, Shaw will lead artist brand strategy and music brand partnerships in the metaverse/Web 3 alongside the Digital Assets team. She joins UTA from Q&A, where she led Web 3 Strategy and Partnerships. Prior to that, she was the founder and leader of Earthtones, a music management company championing multi-disciplinary artists like Moses Sumney, Kelela and many others.
The hiring announcements follow a series of new hires in the agency’s music group during the last 18 months. The new hires include Scott Clayton as well as Nashville office co-heads Jeffrey Hasson and Matthew Morgan; Nashville-based agents Brett Saliba, Matt Korn, Zach Hartley, Emily Wright, Emily LaRose, Marissa Smith, Elisa Vazzana and Buster Phillips; SVP of Global Music Operations Erika Savage and agents Janet Kim, Scott Schreiber, Matt Meyer and Robbie Brown, based in Los Angeles; and Director of Growth and Strategy Rebecca Prochnik, Director of Artist Brand Strategy Irene Agbontaen, and agents Carlos Abreu and Max Lee, based in London.