Rascal Flatts signs management deal with Spalding Entertainment

Rascal Flatts is arguably one of the most successful bands in recent history, selling more than 20 million albums as the headline act on Disney’s Lyric Street Records until that label succumbed to the effects of illegal digital downloading that has a stranglehold on the music industry.  When that happened, the band moved to the wildly successful label that the Swift family and Scott Borchetta built, i.e., Big Machine Records.  Now, Flatts is making another significant move.  Just a few short weeks ago, they parted ways with the management company that took them to the top, Turner Nichols & Associates.  Now, they have inked a deal with Clarence Spalding and his firm, Spalding Entertainment, for personal management.  Spalding is, perhaps, a bigger icon in the industry than Rascal Flatts, as he begin managing the career of Brooks & Dunn in 1991 and continued during their heyday.  He continues to manage the post-B&D solo career of Ronnie Dunn, as well as the musical careers of Jason Aldean, Terri Clark, Pat Green, and Ashley Monroe.  Spalding serves on the board of the Country Music Association,  the Academy of Country Music, Vanderbilt’s Bill Wilkerson Center, and is a member of NARAS.  He received CMA’s President’s Award in 2009 for his service at the helm of that organization.  In an article by Peter Cronin for American Chronicle, Mike Dungan, President and CEO of Capitol Records Nashville said that Spalding was “at the top of his game.”  Dungan described him as a “people person,” and as a “very bright guy who has a firm grip on all aspects of our industry.”