The Paradigm Talent Agency was forced to lay off nearly 100 employees and implement payroll cuts across the board as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the company’s former employees have now branched off and launched a new talent agency TBA Agency, which has signed the likes of Strfkr, War on Drugs, Courtney Barnett, CHVRCHES, Beirut, Yaeji, Hot Chip, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Helado Negro.
The group’s mission statement is “Planning What’s Next,” and was launched by former Paradigm employees Marshall Betts, Avery McTaggart, Amy Davidman, Ryan Craven and Devin Landau. The group now has offices in New York and Los Angeles, where they will “initially focus on replenishing income for artists who lost touring revenue due to mass live event cancellations in the past several months,” according to Pitchfork.
Tycho released Weather last year and reworked the project to form a new record SIMULCAST at the beginning of this year. Alvvays joined up with several prominent artists such as Mogwai, Yo LA Tengo and Buzzcock’s during Belle & Sebastian’s Boaty Weekender cruise last summer.
Chvrches released a new version of “Forever” this year and played “Death Stranding” during last year’s Game Awards. This song was featured as the title track for the 2019 videogame Death Stranding: Timefall.
Barnett teamed up with Phoebe Bridgers during the Newport Folk Festival live stream earlier this year to cover Gillian Welch’s “Everything is Free.” Caribou, the electronic music project of Dan Snaith, ended a five year studio album hiatus to release Suddenly, which was supported by “Never Come Back.”