‘IT WAS IN MY BLOOD’

Manager and label head Isael Gutiérrez reflects on making history with Grupo Firme

WHEN ISAEL GUTIÉRREZ signed Grupo Firme to his independent record label and management company, Music VIP, four years ago, his goal was to grow the band stylistically and geographically. Having managed and toured with acts such as Banda Rebeldía, Los Buitres de Culicán Sinaloa and El Komander since 2007, Gutiérrez has now scaled back his roster to just two artists: El Mimoso and Grupo Firme. “I’ve never liked managing many artists at once,” he says. “I could have 20 right now, but I want to focus all of my knowledge.”

A trained graphic designer, Gutiérrez first worked in the music industry alongside his father, who opened a recording studio in Guerrero, Mexico, in the 1990s. The company couldn’t survive the piracy boom of the early 2000s, however, and shut down, leaving Gutiérrez with limited options to continue working in music. “I thought, ‘Maybe I should manage bands and help them book shows.’ It seemed like a natural fit,” he says.

Negotiating deals has always been “in my blood,” says Gutiérrez, who adds that his deep industry knowledge was learned “sobre la marcha” (“on the job”) while working with his family. “There’s no school that teaches you how to be a manager. It’s all lived experiences,” he says, crediting other independent executives such as Room 28 founder and Banda MS manager Sergio Lizárraga, Rancho Humilde founder/ CEO Jimmy Humilde and DEL Records founder/CEO Ángel del Villar with guiding his early career. “It was a small circle, and we all started from scratch. We learned from each other.”

While Gutiérrez’s vision for Grupo Firme is still evolving, it’s clear that the band’s “time is now,” he says, especially after making history as the first Latin act with the most bookings in a single year at the Staples Center. The group is eyeing another large-scale trek for 2022, but this time “touring and selling out stadiums across the U.S.,” he says. “We want to continue the party.”