The Core Entertainment’s co-founders/co-CEOs Simon Tikhman and Kevin “Chief” Zaruk like to joke that were set up on a blind date by their mutual attorney, who felt they should meet. Zaruk was still at Nashville’s Big Loud, where he was a founding partner, and Tikhman was a serial entrepreneur. “Our lawyer said, ‘I think you guys have a skill set that could complement each other’s. At the end of day, you should just meet,” Zaruk recalls. “‘You’ll probably get along and become friends.’”
The attorney was right on both counts, and a successful match was made. Shortly thereafter, in 2019 — and with Live Nation as a partner — the pair formed new management company The Core Entertainment. (They decline to say how much Live Nation, which provides shared services such as HR, owns of their company.) When they started, Tikhman and Zaruk shared one desk, sitting side by side, in a one-room office. They have now expanded to 30 employees with expansive offices in Los Angeles and Nashville.
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The Core’s management roster numbers more than a dozen artists, including Bailey Zimmerman, who heads out on his first arena tour later this month; CMA-award winning country duo Dan + Shay; and Nate Smith, whose 2023 smash “World on Fire” spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in 2024, tying a record with Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof.” Other artists they handle include hot country newcomers Cameron Whitcomb and Josh Ross, former Florida Georgia Line member Tyler Hubbard, and rock stalwarts Nickelback, whom fellow Canadian Zaruk has worked with since 1998. The Billboard Country Power Players vets also represent writers and producers, including King Henry, who was nominated for a Grammy for his work on Beyoncé’s Lemonade.
In 2023, the pair launched The Core Records with Universal Music Group. Among their releases was November’s 19-track Nobody Wants This Season 2 soundtrack, in conjunction with Interscope, featuring original songs from Selena Gomez, Chris Stapleton and Finneas. (Tikhman’s wife, Erin Foster, created the show, which is loosely based on her courtship with Tikhman.)
Sitting in their Los Angeles office in the Live Nation complex in Beverly Hills in late January, Tikhman and Zaruk discuss the delicate intricacies of building careers these days given that artists “are under a microscope,” because of social media and unrealistic expectations. “Nobody’s built for this,” Zaruk says.
Bailey Zimmerman starts his tour Feb.19. What was the key to making him an arena headliner so quickly after just two albums?
Zaruk: His growth has happened very quickly, but also it feels like this was the exact right time for this move. We didn’t force it. His going out on the stadium tours [opening for] Morgan [Wallen] and developing a show was step one. And then step two [was] starting to headline fairs and festivals. Even though it’s a built-in audience, you’re still able to track what the value is. Is the thirst there from the fans? You can tell day by day what you’re selling, so we’re able to map it out in a way of being able to be safe and know when we can make this jump. And the numbers told us this was the time to make the jump. But also, I think with the Neal Agency [who books Zimmerman], we’re not biting off more than we can chew.
How important was Bailey’s feature on BigXThaPlug’s “All the Way,” which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100?
Zaruk: Massive. Not only did his own personal numbers grow as far as streams and socials and followers, but the opportunities that came out of it. Also getting played on a different radio format, the rhythmic format, getting put on playlists that you would just never, ever get. And I think the crazy truth of all that is nobody knew it. Everyone put up their hand and was like, “Oh, this is gonna be really cool,” [but] nobody on this planet thought that song was going to be one of the top songs of the year.
Tikhman: BigX put it on his Instagram. One post and it just went. You can think about all the plans in the world and then the artist posts an unfinished version and there it goes.
Bailey has been open about having ADHD. Taking care of one’s mental health has become so key to artists and employees. The Core offers 10 free sessions a year with a therapist, life coach or business coach. What results have you seen from that implementation?
Tikhman: The biggest thing that I’ve seen that’s tangible with some of our employees that have done the coaching is patience in communication. I’ve seen employees [go], “Okay, I’m going to take this information, I’m going to dissect it, I’m going to think about it, and then I’m going to come to Chief and Simon with a real response that that isn’t impulsive.” We always joke we’re not in The Pitt. We’re not performing heart surgery. No one is dying, so let’s be more mindful of our conversations. We don’t need to respond in five seconds.
The most recent addition on the artist roster is top country duo Dan + Shay. What’s their second act look like under your guidance?
Zaruk: They have had a great career, and they’ve built an incredible fan base and an incredible catalog. But when we look at them and how music has changed, how it’s digested, they ‘ve done sort of the baseline social media stuff, but they haven’t really dove into, like, “How are we going to release new songs? How are we going to release a new album? How are we going to put a tour on sale? How are we going to touch and get to an entire new fan base that is just going to discover us for the first time?” The guys have so much more room to grow. We believe [they] should be a stadium act with [their] talent and songs. New music could start as early as April and then tour and album in the fall.
What can young acts learn about longevity from a band like Nickelback, who Chief has worked with for nearly 30 years?
Tikhman: I’ll ask Chief: How many shows has Nickelback ever canceled?
Zaruk: Next to none.
Tikhman: Consistency is so important. This is your job. If you say yes to something, you’re going to go to it on time and you’re going to be a professional. Inconsistency for young artists is where they can meet their demise when people don’t know what they’re going to get. But with Chad [Kroeger] and the guys, you know what you’re going to get when you see them: a professional, incredible show. And when they’re there to work, they work.
Zaruk: And staying true to yourself and your brand. If you look at some of these bands like Nickelback, AC/DC, or Metallica, they never wavered. You see a lot of artists that just chase trends and it becomes not authentic and the fans don’t believe it. When you know who you are, what you are, your brand, your music, believe in it and then go sell it. They were Nickelback from day one. They never changed.
For the last few years, coastal labels have been signing country talent. As managers, how do you decide between a coastal label and a Nashville label for one of your acts?
Zaruk: A lot of people would probably say it depends on the artist. For example, if you have [neo-traditionalist] Zach Top, you’re probably less worried about a coastal label right now. You want to break in country, and you want the country label to do all the things like the Grand Ole Opry that are really ingrained in the community. There is definitely value to that. But if you have an act like a Megan Moroney or what Ella [Langley] is doing or Bailey, where you start being like, “Is this a global artist where we can do features with Big X?” BigX’s [duet] came from [Zimmerman’s label] Atlantic. That does not happen from a Nashville label. No one from Nashville is calling and going, “I’ve got a BigX song.” If we have an artist that we believe is global, 100% we’re going to have a better opportunity at success by bringing in a coastal label. Not even a question.
Nate Smith, who had been publicly apolitical, recently put on a MAGA hat a fan threw on stage and then later posted that it was his “proudest moment” to speak out on his beliefs. What advice do you give when an artist wants to get political?
Tikhman: We encourage our artists to not speak about politics. It’s dicey because you don’t want to be censored, but I think that it’s a very polarizing thing and sometimes people want to just go to a Nate Smith show and just hear the songs and the music. We’re like, “Let’s make it about the music. The other stuff is going to distract from the thing that got you the platform in the first place.”
Zaruk: If you’re going to take a stance, then you’d better be very educated on why you’re taking that stance and why you feel like you need to. We’re never going to tell an artist what they can and can’t do, but we are going to then educate [them] on the negative consequences that might happen. So even though Nate’s got the biggest heart in the world and what he meant was to try to bring people together, it certainly wasn’t received like that. But let’s not kid ourselves; there’s people that are not Nate Smith fans because of that.
What does The Core Entertainment look like five years from now?
Tikhman: Chief and I have always said from day one that this company is way bigger than just the genre, and we’re looking at artists in different genres all the time. It’s not just country. We want to be global and that means musically, too. Cam Whitcomb is this kid who’s going to be able to play Stagecoach and Lollapalooza and I think he’s a real window into where we’re trying to spread our wings.
This story appears in the Feb. 7, 2026, issue of Billboard.