Ovitz: Record label CEOs rejected 1990s warning that physical media would vanish
Michael Ovitz · Michael Ovitz – Reinventing Talent and Building Momentum at Treville (EP.455) · Jul 7, 2025 · at 1:00:54
Michael Ovitz, co-founder of CAA, recounts how record executives dismissed early warnings he gave about the transition from physical media formats to digital distribution.
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“I told three of the five record companies I consulted for that all their packaged goods were going to disappear, because Nathan Mirvold, who is the smartest guy, was employee number three at Microsoft, was CTO, said to me in a meeting one day in the nineties, Michael, see those speakers there? I said, yeah. He said, music's not going to come through those wires. And I sat there, I said, come on, and he told me why. So I went and told the three CEOs of the three record companies that I was consulting for. One fired me, one threw me out, and one thought I was smoking crack, you know.”
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