How George Martin Changed The Finances Of The Record Business

The recent passing of record producer George Martin has brought effusive thoughts, memories and well-deserved accolades from all quarters of the music business. Most have dwelled on Sir George’s creative accomplishments, and truly there were many. Just his work with The Beatles alone changed the way we make music forever, not to mention his work with other top selling artists like America, Jeff Beck, Paul McCartney, Little River Band, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Kenny Rogers, Kate Bush and many more.

But an unsung Martin contribution to the music business is the way he changed the finances of making a record. And, as sometimes happens with many giant changes that occur, it has been to the betterment of some and at the expense of others.

Martin’s career as a producer began in 1950 when he joined EMI Records as an assistant to Oscar Preuss, the head of EMI's Parlophone Records. When Preuss retired in 1955, Martin took over as head of the label, which at the time specialized in classical and Baroque music, original cast recordings, and regional British music, and was a rather insignificant subsidiary of the company.

Martin turned the rather sleepy division into a moneymaker though, by concentrating on comedy and novelty records by the likes of Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Dudley Moore and Peter Cook, among others, but it wasn’t until he signed The Beatles that the label hit gold - vaults of it. The band went on to sell hundreds of millions of records worldwide and reap EMI record-setting profits within a very short period, but Martin was still only a salaried employee with no participation in the profits he had such a big part in developing, which was a common trait of record producers of the time.

In 1969, after being passed over for a small bonus even though The Beatles had made EMI another year of historic profits with a succession of #1 worldwide hits, Sir George decided to use his considerable leverage to obtain a piece of the action by leaving his EMI staff position and going his own way. Soon many other successful producers followed, finally starting to cash in on large advances as well as receiving a piece of their best-selling artist’s pie. Read the rest on Forbes.

Some of the above is an excerpt from The Music Producer's Handbook. You can read more from The Music Producer's Handbook and my other books on the excerpt section of bobbyowsinski.com.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Former EMI Records President Rupert Perry On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

I'm very pleased to have former EMI Records president Rupert Perry on the latest episode of my Inner Circle Podcast.

Rupert spent 30+ years at the highest levels of EMI, working as the head of A&R for Capitol Records for a time, then moving on to heading the EMI label operations of America, Europe and the UK.

He was also chairman of both BPI and IFPI label trade associations, and was awarded a CBE (one step below knighthood) by the Queen for his excellent service to the British music industry.

In the intro I'll take a look at the uproar over Apple Music's free trial period and the real truth behind Beats headphones.

Remember that you can find the podcast at BobbyOInnerCircle.com, or either on iTunes or Stitcher.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Abbey Road Studios Not For Sale After All

According to a BBC report, EMI Records emphatically stated that the famed Abbey Road Studios are not for sale after all, although EMI is looking for investors in the property. It's easy to believe that the major uproar over the studio's potential sale had something to do with taking the property off the market, since the last thing EMI needs right now is any negative publicity or further confirmation of their weak financial status.

Even if a sale would've occurred, there appeared to be some buyers in the form of uber-composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and former Beatle Paul McCartney, as well as interest from the National Trust (the UK agency tasked with preserving historical sites). In fact, there seems to be ongoing plans to list the Abbey Road as a historical site, which will no doubt be accelerated due to the recent publicity.

According to the story, EMI had an offer for the property last year for approximately $46 million, which the company turned down. If it wouldn't take that offer, which sounds generous, it's hard to believe that it would find a better one now.

While it's true that studios like Abbey Road are dinosaurs in these days of extremely powerful and inexpensive personal recording setups, there will always be a place for a large studio capable of recording an orchestra since not many are left anywhere in the world. In fact, any kind of commercial studio with proper acoustics and a high quality signal path is getting harder and harder to find, which means that the ones left are still pretty busy since there are enough budgets to afford them (but barely so, it's still a struggle).

There will always be high-end projects and clients and they'll demand a studio like Abbey Road. It's unknown whether they'll be enough of them to keep the doors open, but at least it's good to know that the studio will probably have alternatives to stay alive if ever EMI should choose to liquidate it (which is still likely at some point).

Abbey Road Studios For Sale - A Video Tour

EMI Records has had a tough go of it since the investment fund Terra Firma purchased it right before the world economic collapse a couple of years ago. What made it particularly difficult for Terra Firma is the fact that they borrowed most of the money for the sale from Citibank. Now TF needs gads of money to pay off Citi, which means they have none to invest in just the thing that drives the record business - new artists.

So EMI has been in a death spiral. It can't pay it's bills and artists with half a brain won't touch them with a ten foot pole. What can they do? Sell off parts of the company, of course.

Now comes word that the revered Abbey Road Studios are now on market, according to an article in the Financial Times. The studio, which was purchased in 1929 for about $160,000, reportedly will bring in tens of millions of dollars, since the brand name is worth far more than either the studio or real estate. That will hardly put a dent in the more than 5.5 billion dollars still owed to Citi, but the studio is bound to prosper more away from EMI than within it. If you're not much into music history, Abbey Road is where some of the biggest selling records of all time were made, including most of The Beatles recorded output, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and many many more.

So if you're thinking of buying a studio, let's take a look inside Abbey Road.



Notice a few things in the video (you never see the entire complex - only the entrance and studio 2).

1) All the equipment in the hall. This is something that you just don't see much any more, but it was a pretty common sight in the days of the multi-studio complexes.

2) The analog tape machines, both in the hall and in the studio. The studio also had an old Sony 3348 digital tape machine as well.

3) The console is at right angles to the window viewing the studio. This was also common in studios of the time, but practical too, since you'd never be able to see in the studio if the console was placed traditionally in front of the window.

4) The control room is high up on the second floor. It sure was easy to see just what was going on in large studio like Abbey Road #2, but I imagine the assistants must get pretty tired having to climb those steps all day.

Whatever happens, let's hope that Abbey Road lives on and on. It's a special place.

If you read my Music 3.0 blog, sorry for the cross-post, but I thought the topic fit for both.