How The Beatles Changed the Artist/Record Label Relationship.
In the in-depth essay, My Ticket To Ride, I outline why I believe the Beatles are the most impactful musicians in history by providing many, many supporting facts to back-up my seemingly hyperbolic claim. For anyone born after the mid-‘70’s, their music might be your only real link to them. But, aside from their record-breaking music accomplishments, they broke so much new ground in other areas including both their cultural impact & their influence on the music business. Many of these changes remain standard practice some +50 years after their breakup.
My focus in this article is strictly addressing how they flipped the traditional roles of the artist(s) and the record label in several noteworthy aspects.
As the music industry evolved from the 1920’s, the record label always held all the cards. Yes, the artist’s manager was responsible for getting his/her client signed to the best recording deal available and booking tour dates. But, once the artist was under contract with a label, all business aspects were the label’s province. The artist made no claim to understand the business intricacies of properly recording the music or marketing it correctly. So, for musicians who were either new or well established, they accepted their very subordinated and legally contracted role in the business partnership.
