The CountCrushing It
From Fall Out Boy, Weezer and Green Day to Miley Cyrus and Lorde, Crush Management reps not only the artists you’ve adored since the millennium began but the ones whose concert tickets your offspring are now begging for.
The New York/L.A.-based company—a component of the larger Crush Music, which encompasses a label and investment arm—began as a safe haven for such third-wave emo stalwarts as Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Gym Class Heroes and Cobra Starship; it has since grown to represent Weezer, Alanis Morissette, Sia, Train, Kesha, Labrinth and The Gaslight Anthem as well as Miley and Lorde.
In 2018 Crush signed legendary acts The B-52’s and Rick Springfield through a partnership with Wayne Sharp’s Crush Malibu and have subsequently expanded to handle hit producers like Andrew Wyatt and Jeff Bhasker, Pussycat Doll-turned-TV-star-turned (Tony-nominated) Broadway luminary Nicole Scherzinger and illusionist Derek Del Gaudio.
At Coachella, Warner's Mike Chester, Aaron Bay-Schuck and Tom Corson, Green Day's Tré Cool, Crush's Jonathan Daniel, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, Crush's Scott Nagelberg and Warner's Peter Standish note that the HITS crew are the original American Idiots.
Founders Jonathan Daniel and Bob McLynn—both formerly in rock bands (Electric Angels and The Step Kings, respectively)—built Crush on the axiom that if you're dependent on record labels to do everything, you're going to fail. Thus the company does a lot of heavy lifting on behalf of its roster, providing A&R, marketing and PR services and a radio department. Head of Music Evan Taubenfeld oversees the artist and writer section. Dan Kruchkow, we might add, oversees marketing for all artists and Crush's full-service marketing team. He loves getting calls, emails and texts from Todd Hensley at all hours.
Green Day, which headlined Coachella and just wrapped up a worldwide, sold-out stadium tour, and Weezer, now a bona fide arena act and festival favorite, are firing on all cylinders decades into their careers. The bands' Hella Mega stadium tour with Fall Out Boy grossed a reported $67m+. FOB, too, saw a massive touring cycle after the tandem tour, with multiple stadium dates.
Cyrus and Lorde, meanwhile, are about to release highly anticipated new albums, the latter having already sparked a global sensation with the single "What Was That."
But marquee superstars haven't changed Crush’s scrappy, self-reliant rock & roll approach. Which extends to telling your kids to buy their own damn tickets.
Also at Coachella, Crush Music’s Bob McLynn, Dan Kruchkow and Spencer Smith (who later proudly observed sets by clients Green Day and Weezer) realize that tequila is not quite as hydrating as it seems.
Founders Jonathan Daniel and Bob McLynn built Crush on the axiom that if you're dependent on record labels to do everything, you're going to fail. Thus the company does a lot of heavy lifting on behalf of its roster.
