Austin Mahone

Austin Mahone, a San Antonio 17-year-old, may be the latest to emerge from YouTube, but his vault to touring artist landed him on Taylor Swift’s very large stage as an opener on her Red tour and a booking on the MTV Artists to Watch tour.

What put Mahone in the vanguard of a DIY YouTube generation is his deftly developed social media universe, creating a built-in legion of “Mahomies” – as his fans are called.

Photo: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

One of those who began following Mahone’s YouTube channel was Rocco Valdes of Chase Entertainment Corp. who, along with partner Michael Blumstein, is now the emerging star’s managers. The pair put together a team for Mahone that includes Paradigm agent Matt Galle, publicists and a label deal.  

“I liked what Austin was doing and spoke with his management,” Galle told Pollstar. “We both had the same vision for him.

“When Chase Management brought Austin to me, his demographics and online stats were already crazy. He had a huge fanbase already and he’d only played a few shows that he’d booked on his own. He’s always interacting directly with his audience. That’s really key now for a lot of artists,” Galle said.

Photo: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Beyond holiday radio shows and TV appearances through the holidays, Mahone is back on the road for his rescheduled MTV tour Feb. 24-March 9. Soon after, watch for a new album followed by a summer 2014 world tour.
 

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