Opinion certainty 3/5 debate potential 2/5

Copeland: Escalating talent costs and bidding wars ultimately killed I.R.S. Records

Miles Copeland · I.R.S. Records: Miles Copeland · Dec 26, 2022 · at 51:18

Miles Copeland, founder of I.R.S. Records, explains how major-label competition for alternative rock acts inflated signing advances and destabilized the independent label.

0:00 / 0:11exact quote · 11.3s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“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.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

More from Miles Copeland

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…”
Miles Copeland Dec 26, 2022 ▶ 47:21 I.R.S. Records: Miles Copeland
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.”
Miles Copeland Dec 26, 2022 ▶ 35:11 I.R.S. Records: Miles Copeland
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.”
Miles Copeland Dec 26, 2022 ▶ 42:09 I.R.S. Records: Miles Copeland
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…”
Miles Copeland Dec 26, 2022 ▶ 11:07 I.R.S. Records: Miles Copeland
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.”
Miles Copeland Dec 26, 2022 ▶ 14:38 I.R.S. Records: Miles Copeland
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.”
Miles Copeland Dec 26, 2022 ▶ 22:53 I.R.S. Records: Miles Copeland
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 800 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.