Brett Santacona: The Man of Three Hats

Written by Abby Power

February 11th, 2023

“The Man of Three Hats”, also known as Brett Santacona, is a Music Business Management alumnus. Brett did not graduate from the program, but his story is important to the Music Business Management program at Durham College.

Brett Santacona is a Maître D, an artist manager, and owns a boutique label services company called Shop Class. He is always involved with the music industry in some way, shape, or form, and came out of the Music Business Management program with some huge takeaways.

In September of 2017, Brett was ready to complete his final year at Durham College. However, when the college went on strike due to the faculty operating under their old contract, Brett was unable to go to school. Luckily, an opportunity opened up for him, and he became a Maître D at Pinnacle. Going on his sixth year at the company, Brett is in charge of the executive suites at the BMO Field, Scotiabank Area, and Budweiser Stage in Toronto. Brett provides his service to a variety of high-profile clients at large events, and works closely with his co-workers. He works as an assistant manager. “We manage about 130 executive suites,” he stated, “I look after five or six myself, and in adjacent to the music, it is pretty stable.” Brett has worked for some large events, including the Raptors’ championship in 2019. “I’ve worked for Elton John about seven or eight times. Currently, I am working for John Mayor for a forth time. Drake is also a frequent client. There’s a lot of A-listers that you wouldn’t see anywhere else. I even met Beyoncé before Christmas [in 2022].”

Brett is a full-time artist manager for KOZEN, a Toronto-based progressive rock group. “They are super tight; I really hope you can check them out. I think I sort of manage Crown Lands; they are based out of Oshawa. Cody Bowles and Kevin Comeau, Cody is Mi'kmaq and Two-Spirit, and Kevin is Jewish. They are a pretty impressive duo, and quite diverse. There was a battle between their enterprises while I was at Durham. Regardless, they are a relatively known band now. I was pitching them constantly when I first started working with them.” Most recently, Brett has been managing Talking Violet, a dream pop/shoegaze group from Windsor, Ontario. “I’m in the middle of bringing them out this way [towards eastern Ontario], they play a lot of indie and shoegaze music.” Brett expressed the importance of mixing different stylings of music, and as an artist manager, diving into various genres that an artist manager would not normally dive into or give a chance to. He stated that “It is important to give different and unique artists a chance, especially when you are an artist manager who strictly manages rock bands or pop bands. Especially in this day and age, there are a lot of undiscovered artists who play various genres and are just waiting for someone like me to come around and give them a chance. What I am doing with Talking Violet is giving them a chance. They are my first glimpse into the indie shoegaze scene. I don't think I even heard about it before going to one of their shows.” He later commented on the genre of shoegaze, and said that “their work ethic, and their niche, is heavily inspiring.”

Brett Santacona is a musician and lover of music before anything else. He began working as a local promoter as a way to be involved and did it for many years while still playing in a couple of bands throughout high school and college. Brett worked heavily around Oshawa, Whitby, and the Durham region. “When I got into the [Music Business Management] program, I was in TakeOver Artist Management. I started picking acts and many solo artists. I sat down with Max from KOZEN in the summer of 2016, and we discussed other projects, grants, anything to push them into the music scene. In regards to grants, I have taken stabs at it while in the Music Business Management program. My first project wasn't even close to the mark, whereas Talking Violet collaborated with a grant writer in British Columbia to essentially look after what we've done so far. This would include funding for full record, that was with the Local Arts Council in Windsor, and taking another stab at FACTOR. To this day, we continuously apply, we continuously keep trying [to acquire grant funding].”

“Artist management has always been a passion of mine. It's kind of a medium for me, I've always had the skills in event management, but for myself I have the benefit of wearing three hats or a three-piece suit. In the summer, I got to work full concert. It seemed like such a natural path to me. Shop Class was a compilation of rebranding and refocusing during 2020. It is part of what I do in terms of freelancing. It was a major shift for me because I was out of work, as I was not needed, and a lot of the stuff I was doing for clients was making me realize what I could do for other clients.” Brett spoke passionately of his artist management experience, and had repeatedly commented about quoting his Durham College professor, Marni Thornton, about “wayfinding”. There were many people such as Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, and Matt Lane, who worked with Crown Lands, who had inspired Brett to become an artist manager. “Scooter Braun, my peers in MBM, any successful company, really... I am really fond of Shark Attack in [Los Angeles] as well.” Brett stated that his “biggest take away as an artist manager [was] wayfinding,” and that he uses wayfinding every single day. “It is the underdog mentality that keeps me going. I feel like an underdog in a way, I've done a lot as a player, I've done a lot of work with Snarky Puppy, and I've done a lot as an artist manager. Everything I do is out of passion.”

The advice that Brett would provide to someone who is looking to work as an artist manager is simply this: “Do not be afraid to get your hands dirty. Work with people who have a good personality. Do not be afraid to jump into a genre that you are unfamiliar with, as it is the people you work with that matter. And everything will eventually fall into place.”

Brett expressed that there are definitely pros and cons to the Music Business Management program. “I went into it [in my first year] with an open mind; it was eye opening, and the Music Business Practicum course was a wakeup call. I thought it would be my favourite because of working with the various companies within the course, but the mix of different people was my favourite. The following year I was with HighCut. I was fighting for hours by doing social media posts and going to events, but it gave me a bit of a chip on my shoulder... I would say that working with a bunch of teams was the wakeup call for me. It was working with a team and having that conscious mindset that made me realize that I could be doing this for a living.” Brett shared that he is still in touch with some of his professors, in that he was “thankful for the chance of meeting Kathryn Waugh.” Brett said that one should “definitely go into it with an open mind. A lot has changed since COVID-19. You never know what someone can do for you down the road, and you get whatever you put into the program.”

He often uses the skills that he gained throughout his time in the program. “I still use the tidbits from Marni, especially wayfinding... Marni's class for event management was my biggest takeaway. I still use the skills and the lessons that I learned within that class when working at events. I still use Adobe as we did in graphic design, and did mock-ups on merchandise. That was for the Warped Tour, the merchandise. I've had more active roles in projects that I've taken on.”

Brett Santacona understands that everybody has a different view and that everybody is going to work for the same common goal. Different perspectives can help the project that one is working on. There is no specific piece of advice that one should understand when coming into the Music Business Management program, but only to understand that an open mind will make the difference.