{"id":1183,"date":"2008-04-17T19:09:30","date_gmt":"2008-04-18T03:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2008\/04\/17\/clives-demise\/"},"modified":"2008-04-17T19:09:30","modified_gmt":"2008-04-18T03:09:30","slug":"clives-demise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/17\/clives-demise\/","title":{"rendered":"Clive’s Demise"},"content":{"rendered":"

1<\/span><\/p>\n

But is he still gonna have his Grammy party?<\/p>\n

2<\/span><\/p>\n

And sooner or later<\/span>
Everybody’s kingdom must end<\/span>
And I’m so afraid your courtiers<\/span>
Cannot be called best friends<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t know who signed Elton John to MCA, whether we ultimately should give Dick James credit for starting his legendary career, but someone in an inept organization whose label name was essentially unknown in the U.S. was savvy enough to realize Reg Dwight had talent, in spades.\u00c2\u00a0 He came with his own co-writer, a producer and an arranger.\u00c2\u00a0 The label didn’t meddle, they just sat back and collected the cash.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, Norm Winter deserves credit for breaking Elton in America, but do you really think he wouldn’t have made it anyway?\u00c2\u00a0 Have you listened to "Your Song"?<\/p>\n

This is how it was at the turn of the decade.\u00c2\u00a0 From the sixties to the seventies.\u00c2\u00a0 Labels signed talent and then got out of the way.\u00c2\u00a0 The record company was not much more than a marketing and distribution outlet.\u00c2\u00a0 Clive Davis says he was a player in this era too, signing Janis Joplin, Santana and making Laura Nyro a star, he takes all the credit.\u00c2\u00a0 Then how come he never signed anyone close in talent since?<\/p>\n

Maybe Patti Smith was just the buzz.\u00c2\u00a0 For Clive never signed anything so edgy, so innately talented after her.\u00c2\u00a0 And let’s not forget, Patti was a poet.\u00c2\u00a0 It was easy to listen to her music and dismiss it.\u00c2\u00a0 Which most of America did until she covered one of Bruce Springsteen’s songs.<\/p>\n

After Patti came a succession of established acts who bitched until they could leave, like Lou Reed, and MOR acts so bland as to be almost faceless, if they weren’t sold on their features.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, Barry Manilow looks like a giant.\u00c2\u00a0 He came at the beginning, before Clive had refined his paradigm.\u00c2\u00a0 Barry could actually write, even if his initial hit was a cover.\u00c2\u00a0 A song that Clive changed the title of from "Brandy" to "Mandy".\u00c2\u00a0 And with that stroke, Clive Davis anointed himself a creative genius, bigger than any act.\u00c2\u00a0 Clive Davis was suddenly the talent.\u00c2\u00a0 He made you, and killed you if you didn’t play along.\u00c2\u00a0 What resulted was a trail of pop hits almost all of which have been completely forgotten.<\/p>\n

But in an era when MTV could explode your career and AOR was dying, replaced by Top Forty on FM, suddenly, there was money in pop hits.\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe not money, but noticeability!\u00c2\u00a0 You could trot out chart statistics, which got you ink and TV exposure.\u00c2\u00a0 All those acts on Warner looked like has-beens in comparison.\u00c2\u00a0 Didn’t matter that by the fourth quarter Mo had the sales, and the profits.\u00c2\u00a0 Mo got squeezed out, but not before Donnie Ienner, Clive’s promotion\u00c2\u00a0 man, had taken over at Columbia and Charles Koppelman, who idolized Clive, ran the EMI empire in the U.S.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly, the whole business had been rebuilt in Clive’s image.<\/p>\n

Propped up by MTV and CD sales.\u00c2\u00a0 Both of which declined at the turn of the century.\u00c2\u00a0 When suddenly music was free and your only hope was to maximize the revenue of a career artist.\u00c2\u00a0 One whose catalog would pay dividends for decades, unlike any of Clive’s proteges.<\/p>\n

They tried to squeeze Clive out.\u00c2\u00a0 But he was too smart and too wily.\u00c2\u00a0 He got his own label, he got revenge.<\/p>\n

But they weren’t only squeezing him out because he was aged, but because all those chart statistics didn’t flow to the bottom line.\u00c2\u00a0 Sales were good, but profits were often abysmal.\u00c2\u00a0 Some might say the operation was all flash, and no substance.<\/p>\n

But Clive hadn’t lost his starmaking ability.\u00c2\u00a0 He built me-too act Alicia Keys on the back of a James Brown rip-off and regained his power, not only in the eye of the media, which he worked so well, but the BMG operation.\u00c2\u00a0 Many felt he was poised to gobble up Sony Music.\u00c2\u00a0 That would be his ultimate triumph, to rule Columbia and Epic once again.\u00c2\u00a0 Alas, it’s not to be.<\/p>\n

Like in the old days, the first time around, when Clive lost his job in the seventies, the person who pulled the trigger was essentially anonymous.\u00c2\u00a0 How could some nameless, faceless person kill God?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, Clive just acted like God.\u00c2\u00a0 In truth, he was just another employee.\u00c2\u00a0 Simon Cowell might be God.<\/p>\n

Simons Cowell and Fuller built a juggernaut. They’d make the star, all that would be left would be to fit the two-dimensional figure with material.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s where Clive came in, after being initially reluctant.\u00c2\u00a0 And just after pronouncing that acts shouldn’t bother to write, he got blown out.<\/p>\n

Because it is show business.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s the kernel of art that makes it all work.\u00c2\u00a0 The one genius, the one Bruce Springsteen, energizes everybody about music, it brings people into the stores, generates sales.\u00c2\u00a0 Lose the true stars, who write and play or sing from the heart as opposed to being manipulated by handlers, and you’ve got a headless, heartless corpse.\u00c2\u00a0 Otherwise known as today’s music business.\u00c2\u00a0 There are people with statistics, like Mariah Carey, but they don’t make you pay attention, at least not to their music.\u00c2\u00a0 They can be denied.\u00c2\u00a0 Like all of Clive’s post-’75, Arista era on, productions.<\/p>\n

Barry Weiss is sharp.\u00c2\u00a0 But not as sharp as Clive Calder, who came up in the business with the best producer alive today, Mutt Lange.\u00c2\u00a0 Clive was a scientist, who specialized in getting the elixir right, all at a cheap price.\u00c2\u00a0 Barry knows cheap in an era when you must look at all expenses, but he’s more of a traffic cop than a deity.<\/p>\n

3<\/span><\/p>\n

Clive had a long run.\u00c2\u00a0 He eluded mandatory retirement.\u00c2\u00a0 He got away with never anointing a successor.\u00c2\u00a0 But no one lives forever.\u00c2\u00a0 He should be able to sleep well at night.\u00c2\u00a0 But he won’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Because of the legacy factor.<\/p>\n

Without millions at his disposal, without being able to spin (buy?) the press, Clive will fade out.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like Clive Davis records will be spun on oldies stations…\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, does anybody other than an insider talk about David Geffen’s tenure in the record business anymore?<\/p>\n

No.\u00c2\u00a0 But if one does, and focuses on the early period, one can see that Mr. Geffen used his charm on his acts, not the press.\u00c2\u00a0 He found the best acts, made sure they knew he was on their side, and fought for them, stuck with them, made them stars.\u00c2\u00a0 Geffen made Joni Mitchell.\u00c2\u00a0 And Jackson Browne.\u00c2\u00a0 He built the aforementioned Laura Nyro.\u00c2\u00a0 He gave the Eagles a deal.\u00c2\u00a0 If you want a model, go back to that era, before King David got sick of the talent and decided to become the talent himself.\u00c2\u00a0 An investor, a studio head, a billionaire.<\/p>\n

Yes, in reality shepherds of talent are unsung heroes.\u00c2\u00a0 If you doubt me, go backstage.\u00c2\u00a0 The hoi polloi don’t want to hang with the manager or the label head, they want to touch the star.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ll sacrifice their bodies, anything to get closer to the person whose music changed their lives.\u00c2\u00a0 Back when music changed lives, before big time musical acts were known more for their celebrity antics.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a rewarding job midwifing talent.\u00c2\u00a0 One that oftentimes comes with riches.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s sans the spotlight.\u00c2\u00a0 All the great record men stood out of the spotlight.\u00c2\u00a0 From John Hammond to Mo Ostin.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, how much publicity does Coran Capshaw get?\u00c2\u00a0 These people realize that it’s about the act.\u00c2\u00a0 With Clive Davis it ceased to be about the act.<\/p>\n

Is Kelly Clarkson happy today?\u00c2\u00a0 Elated, I’d think.\u00c2\u00a0 The roadblock is gone.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe she’s only a mildly talented songwriter, but now she can do it her way.\u00c2\u00a0 Every artist wants to do it his way.\u00c2\u00a0 It was Clive who stood against this.\u00c2\u00a0 Clive who refused to release records.\u00c2\u00a0 The enemy is now gone.<\/p>\n

4<\/span><\/p>\n

The major labels have lost their luster.\u00c2\u00a0 By wanting to reside in the twentieth century, by playing by old rules.\u00c2\u00a0 By wanting instant success, instant riches, at a high price to the consumer.\u00c2\u00a0 But that era is never coming back.<\/p>\n

Today we’re closing the door on the twentieth century.\u00c2\u00a0 Today we’re drawing a line in the sand, that acts last, not executives.\u00c2\u00a0 The future of this business will be based on artistry.\u00c2\u00a0 The music will come before commerce.\u00c2\u00a0 It has to.\u00c2\u00a0 The old tricks of scarcity and publicity used to drive the old moguls’ priorities no longer work in the new world.\u00c2\u00a0 There will be a new set of moguls.\u00c2\u00a0 Who know this.\u00c2\u00a0 No one from the old world has evidenced an ability to adapt.<\/p>\n

Richard Sanders is not ascending to the throne.\u00c2\u00a0 But, at least, unlike Charles Goldstuck, he didn’t get completely blown out.\u00c2\u00a0 Like that old Blondie record, Charles Goldstuck is going to fade away, but he’s not going to radiate.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn’t bring enough to the party.\u00c2\u00a0 He was the sycophant to a deposed king.<\/p>\n

But now there’s a new king.\u00c2\u00a0 Nobody lives forever.\u00c2\u00a0 Every reign comes to an end.<\/p>\n

The king is dead, the king is dead<\/span>
The king is dead, the king is dead<\/span>
Long live the king<\/span><\/p>\n

"The King Is Dead"
Elton John<\/p>\n

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1 But is he still gonna have his Grammy party? 2 And sooner or laterEverybody’s kingdom must endAnd I’m so afraid your courtiersCannot be called best friends I don’t know who signed Elton John to MCA, whether we ultimately should give Dick James credit for starting his legendary career, but someone in an inept organization […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-j5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}