The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 12 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Arista required Reid to replace Clive Davis as condition of buyout
“The owners of Arista, they said, we'll buy your label, but you'll have to agree to a move to New York. B, you'll have to replace Clive Davis and take over Arista Records as its president.”
Reid refuses to let prospective superstar artists leave meetings without signing
“Yeah, I don't let people leave. If I think you're gonna be a big star, I don't let you leave, you know. Sometimes people insist, hey, can I think about this? You know, and then the answer is usually no, you can't, you need to do it right now, because the minut…”
Reid: Leading a music label is like leading a band
“There's not very much difference between being a band leader and being a CEO of a music company, because it's managing talent, and I won't say that I mastered it, but I certainly knew something about it when I started the company, and I figured the rest out.”
Reid: Label buyers acquire future creative output, not just back catalogs
“The way it really works is, I'm the manager of the talent, and what you're buying is really me. You're not just buying those records that have already been massively successful, you're buying what you hope the future will be.”
Reid: Great talent scouts act as super consumers, not detached professionals
“I think of myself as a super consumer. I don't think of myself as a professional. I think of myself as a fan”
Reid: For 20 years, I was the only Black top record executive
“You know, for 20 years I've been the only black guy.”
Luther Vandross tour shifted Reid from performer to talent scout
“And I think I became more fascinated by the talent that we were around than I was about actually being a performer on stage. And I think that was probably the beginning of me sort of drifting. Into a talent finder and a talent nurturer more so than a performer…”
Reid: Boomerang soundtrack launched Toni Braxton, TLC, and sold 3M copies
“We sold three million copies of the album, and we launched Toni Braxton, We launched TLC off that album, and we won Grammys with Boyz II Men for End of the Road.”
Reid: Selling LaFace Records ultimately led to my firing three years later
“And the takeaway was, if I not sold my company, then I wouldn't have gotten fired three years later, because I was the owner, you know.”