United Talent Agency (UTA) is closing its Toronto office, the company has confirmed.
The firm, which also has offices in London, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, and Malmo, Sweden, is planning to focus on its operations in the US and UK.
The Canadian office, which was taken over by UTA in its acquisition of Neil Warnock's The Agency Group in 2015, is home to nine agents, representing acts such as Nickelback and Billy Talent. No date has been set for the closure.
UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer announced the news to staff via an company-wide email, which has been obtained by Music Week, stating the move was "the strongest and best strategic decision for UTA going forward".
"I want to share some changes we are implementing to the structure of our music group," wrote Zimmer. "With the acquisition of The Agency Group two years ago, we made our ambitions clear to build a thriving and successful global music business. Since then, we’ve expanded our roster and continued to recruit dynamic, innovative executives to our team, most recently David Zedeck as our new Global Head of Music.
"Now, after considering where we see the strongest prospects for continued growth, we have made the decision to take additional steps to focus our global music practice in the US and UK. This will mainly impact our colleagues in Toronto, where we will be closing that office over the coming months. We’re taking this step after careful consideration, and we recognize it’s a tough one for our colleagues there. They are talented professionals who we’ve collaborated with for many years and who have contributed to our success. We are incredibly grateful to every one of them. But we believe this is the strongest and best strategic decision for UTA Music going forward, one that will allow us to put even greater focus on artist development and our full-service approach to our clients.
"The future of UTA Music is very bright. Thank you to everyone for your work and creativity as we continue forward."
UTA last month announced the hiring of David Zedeck, who joined from Live Nation as global head of UTA Music, partner and special advisor to the board of directors.
