US booking agency the Kork Agency has announced it is merging with bigger rival the Agency Group. Kork's owner, Christian Berhardt, and his team, will move into the Agency Group's LA offices at the start of July.
Confirming the merger, Berhardt told Billboard: "After almost two years of negotiations with most major agencies, we finally came to an agreement with The Agency Group, who I believe will not only provide the Kork team with excellent resources, but also give us room to further expand our roster and open doors for our bands beyond music".
The deal follows comments made by Berhardt to Billboard last year in which he admitted it was harder for smaller players in the agency sector because the big guys were increasingly operating in areas previously dominated by the independents. He said: "Giant companies like William Morris and [Creative Artists Agency] are swimming in our pond where we fish for bands They didn't used to do that. Acts that were unsigned were completely not of interest to them".
The Agency Group has bases in New York, LA, Toronto and London, with fifty agents representing over a thousand artists.