Assertion Not checkable as stated
Jerry Moss refused to offer A&M equity to acquire I.R.S. Records
“Jerry Moss, I wanted to merge with A&M and get shares in A&M. And Jerry Moss had said initially, yes, we'll do that. Then when I went in to finally make the deal, he said, well, we can't give you shares in A&M, but we'll buy IRS. And he quoted a number which w…”
Opinion
Copeland: Spotify generates real revenue for artists through sheer streaming volume
“Spotify now, because there's billions of people who have signed on to it, that zero, zero, zero, one cent times X billion actually is real money. So you can make money now with having, being on some of these platforms.”
Insight
Miles Copeland: There is no loyalty in the record business
“As somebody once said to me, if you want loyalty, get a dog, because there is no such thing in the record business, you know, because everybody has, starts whispering in their ear, you could make a lot more money if you were so-and-so.”
Opinion
Copeland: Escalating talent costs and bidding wars ultimately killed I.R.S. Records
“Yes, that is exactly what happened to IRS records, which meant that the money I had to offer to sign the act had to increase, which meant the risks increased, and I think in the end it finally killed IRS.”
Insight
Copeland used his American accent to project authority when booking UK clubs
“I think one of the advantages that I had was I had an American accent. So when I'd call up a club, you know, it'd be, hi, my name is Miles Copeland, I've got this new band to book, you know, and They would not be quite so sure as to who this guy was. Well, may…”
Insight
Copeland: Billing emerging artists with major headliners inflates their perceived status
“The idea of the tour was if you could associate your up-and-coming artists with bigger names, then people would assume your artists were bigger than they really were.”
Assertion Supported
Copeland: The Police originated as last-minute fill-ins for punk bands
“So the police ended up being a fill-in act for a lot of the punk groups.”
Assertion Supported
Copeland: The Go-Go's remain the only female rock band with a #1 album
“Well, they remain the only female rock band to ever have a number one record on the Billboard charts. There've been plenty of singles that were number one, but never an album.”
Assertion Supported
Warner Bros. outbid I.R.S. Records' $6 million offer to sign R.E.M.
“Jerry Moss and he says, well, I'll contribute you three million. And I was putting up three million. Anyway, I say to the group, this is what we'll offer. And it ended up between us and Warner Brothers. And then the manager and the lawyer come to me and they s…”
Assertion Partly supported
Jaguar committed an $18 million ad budget to Sting's 'Desert Rose' video
“I had asked Jaguar what they were going to spend on putting out that video. So they gave me the advertising schedule. Eighteen million dollars. Including an ad on the Super Bowl.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Copeland: Jerry Moss refused funding to sign The B-52's to I.R.S.
“So I went to Jerry Moss. He wouldn't give me the money. So I didn't sign the B-fifty twos because I didn't have the money, but I loved them and I thought they were great.”
Assertion Supported
Copeland: College Event succeeded because no direct UK competitor existed
“And actually the magazine kind of took off, because unbeknownst to me, there was literally nothing like it. So a lot of the agents and everybody began to take advantage of it because now they could advertise for, you know, 52 cents and reach who they wanted to…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Copeland avoided bankruptcy by negotiating a 50 percent payout over two years
“I went to all the people I owed money to, and I said, look, if you bankrupt me, you know what's going to happen. You know, it'll go to the courts, and you'll end up with one penny for every pound that you're owed, if that. But if you give me a couple of years,…”
Assertion Partly supported
The Police recorded their debut album for £1,000 in a doctor's studio
“And he said, look, I've got this studio I've built in the back of my medical practice, and I'll give you a month in the studio for a thousand pounds. So I said to Stuart, how about let's make a police album? So I became effectively the record company. So the p…”
Assertion Supported
Copeland traded The Police's master recording for A&M's highest royalty rate
“It's free. You've got it. Just pay me the highest royalty A&M page if it sells. If it doesn't sell, no skin off your nose, no skin off my nose. The record's yours.”
Disclosure
Copeland paid early employee Jay Boberg $100 weekly plus 25 percent equity
“I'm going to pay you a hundred bucks a week, which was a joke. But I'll give you five percent of the record company each year you stay with the company for the first five years. So Jay ended up with 25% of the label.”
Disclosure
Copeland acquired foreign-language acts cheaply because the American market undervalued them
“World music was not considered a big music. You know, acts that sang in foreign language were not doing well in America. So you could pick up a lot of these acts for very little money. So a lot of the acts that I would sign later on in life were acts that were…”
Assertion Contradicted
Copeland: R.E.M. was the only I.R.S. Records act to reach five albums
“Well, I look at IRS records and say, how many acts ever got to five records? Only one. It was REM.”
