IG: @daswartzy & @singularartsgroup -- -- -- David Swartz founded Singular Arts Group (originally in partnership with creative director Matt Lambert) in the Spring of 2019. David is originally from Los Angeles and has been based in Berlin since 2015. He has worked around music for two decades going back to the early 2000s, primarily as an independent entrepreneur, although he has done some stints working as part of bigger companies. Live music served as the foundation of his initial love of music and it was within the live sector of the business that David spent the early part of his career — he worked as a concert promoter and then booking agent from 2001 through 2009 before settling into the space of artist management where he felt most well-suited to thrive.
After a year of living in Berlin, in September 2016, following the advice of a longtime friend and mentor Merck Mercuriadis, David took a position with !K7 Music who were expanding their artist management division. During the years that followed while David was at !K7 where he was the most senior member of the artist management team, he looked after a roster of artists which included primarily Mykki Blanco and the legendary English trip hop pioneer Tricky; whilst at !K7, David also signed in avant-garde electronic artist Lotic to the management roster, helped to bring in Kele Okereke (of Bloc Party) as a signing to the label services side of the !K7 business, and also helped to contribute in advising on other management clients on the !K7 roster (incl. FaltyDL, Niklas Paschburg, and LAFAWNDAH).
In early 2019, after a chapter of about 2.5 years with !K7, David decided to move on to go back to his entrepreneurial comfort zone again with starting his own new artist mgmt business (at first, in partnership with creative director Matt Lambert). Shortly after David’s decision to depart !K7 to go back out on his own, Mykki Blanco as well as FaltyDL (both artists who had previously been working with David at !K7) made the decision to leave to follow him, and the two of them became the basis of the original roster (along with young singer-songwriter gem Finn Ronsdorf) of Singular Arts Group.
In October 2021, the management relationship with Mykki Blanco came to an end. Following the closing of that 5+ year of managing Mykki, David subsequently opted to take a brief sabbatical to do some intentional and thoughtful reflection to determine the path he wanted to chart on ahead with for the next chapter of the business.
In April 2022, Matt Lambert officially exited the business to focus on the pursuit of his high volume of other personal creative endeavors; this has now put David fully in the driver’s set as the sole proprietor of Singular Arts Group — enthusiastically energized to continue on with the work of managing Finn (and releasing Finn’s music via the Singular Arts Group label imprint via their deal with AWAL), as well as navigating the expansion of the scope of the business to include the further service offering of work strategic business consulting to select projects in the arts & culture sector.
Projects credited in
- OTHER FUTURES PRESENTS: MYKKI BLANCO + BODY PARTYQUEER & RADICAL CLUB NIGHT MYKKI BLANCO / KAREEM REID / CKTRL / BWALYA & SPECIAL GUEST IB KAMARA After an inspiring day of recreating the future let’s dance ourselves into other futures during our exciting night programme. Other Futures presents the London-based club night: Body Party. Body Party is an intentionally queer space for black & brown bodies. All bodies are welcome. (!) With a Body Party ticket you can also check out the Mykki Blanco show at 22h15. So be on time! Founder Kareem Reid
- Mykki Blanco - Out of This WorldOut Of This World, a new i-D documentary series, journeys with American rapper and activist Mykki Blanco as he explores queer culture in Johannesburg. Captured intimately in an experimental hybrid-documentary by director Matt Lambert, Mykki meets boundary pushing artists Umilio and FAKA, designer Rich Mnisi and Bradley and Nkulsey, a model and dancer of the 'Born Free' generation - all using their platforms to give a voice to issues surrounding the politics of their sexuality, gender, identity a
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Work history
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Artist Manager + Arts & Culture ConsultantSingular Arts Group
- Kreuzberg, Berlin, GermanyFull Time
In early 2019, after a chapter of about 2.5 years with !K7, David decided to move on to go back to his entrepreneurial comfort zone again with starting his own new artist mgmt business (at first, in partnership with creative director Matt Lambert). Shortly after David’s decision to depart !K7 to go back out on his own, Mykki Blanco as well as FaltyDL (both artists who had previously been working with David at !K7) made the decision to leave to follow him, and the two of them became the basis of the original roster (along with young singer-songwriter gem Finn Ronsdorf) of Singular Arts Group.
In October 2021, the management relationship with Mykki Blanco came to an end. Following the closing of that 5+ years of managing Mykki (between the time together at !K7 where their relationship began and the time after they both departed !K7), David subsequently opted to take a brief sabbatical to do some intentional and thoughtful reflection to determine the path he wanted to chart on ahead with for the next chapter of the business.
In April 2022, Matt Lambert officially exited the business to focus on the pursuit of his high volume of other personal creative endeavors; this has now put David fully in the driver’s set as the sole proprietor of Singular Arts Group — enthusiastically energized to continue on with the work of managing Finn (and releasing Finn’s music via the Singular Arts Group label imprint via their deal with AWAL), as well as navigating the expansion of the scope of the business to include the further service offering of work strategic business consulting to select projects in the arts & culture sector.
Education
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BachelorUniversity of Colorado, Boulder
- Boulder, United States
University of Colorado, Boulder - Bachelor of Science - Sociology (2006)
• Honorable Mention for Freshman Writing Prize for 25-page research paper on the then- current state of Napster and a vision on the possibilities of a new era of music consumption entitled “The Napster Generation.”
• Teacher’s Assistant for two semesters of upper-division Sociology courses (“Perspectives on Violence” and “Deviance in Society”); this was rather unordinary for an undergraduate student.