August 26, 2010

By By Mitchell Peters

Earlier this year, the Windish Agency president Tom Windish said that opening a West Coast office was "in the back of my mind." Now, Windish has confirmed to Billboard that the Chicago-based independent booking firm will expand into Los Angeles beginning Jan. 1, 2011.

Details are still coming together, but Windish plans to temporarily move to L.A. in January and run the new branch from a rented space in Silverlake, Los Feliz or the Hollywood Hills. Windish Agency booking agent Amy Davidman will relocate to L.A. in March to head up the division after Windish leaves in April.

Windish says he doesn't have any immediate plans to add new staffers in L.A., but notes that he's open to hiring agents with established rosters. In the short term, administration for the L.A. office will be run out of Chicago.

Earlier this year, the Windish Agency expanded into New York with the opening of an office in Manhattan's SoHo district, its first outside of Chicago. To help establish the agency's presence in the Big Apple, Windish hired agent Mike Mori, formerly of the Agency Group, and agent Steve Goodgold, who had been with firm since August 2008 after coming from Chaotica/Vital Talent in New York.

Windish says that further expansion of his company is in the works, but declined to give more details.

Windish opened the Windish Agency in 2004 following a seven-year stint as an agent at independent booking agency Billions Corp. Since then, his company has built an impressive roster of more than 300 acts including Animal Collective, Hot Chip, Justice, Cut Copy, Deerhunter, Friendly Fires, Girl Talk, the xx, Miike Snow and Crystal Castles.

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