The talent scout who turned down the Beatles has long been credited with committing the music industry’s biggest gaffe.
But Dick Rowe’s billion-dollar boo-boo has been beaten to the top spot on Blender magazine’s list of the “20 biggest record company screw-ups of all time” by the failure of record companies to capitalize on the Internet.
The major labels took top dishonors for driving file-sharing service Napster out of business in 2001, instead of figuring out a way to make money from its tens of millions of users. The downloaders merely scattered to hundreds of other sites, and the industry has been in a tailspin ever since…
Rowe came in at No. 2 for politely passing on the Beatles after the unpolished combo performed a disastrous audition in 1962. Beatles manager Brian Epstein later claimed the Decca Records executive had told him that “groups with guitars are on their way out,” a comment that Rowe denied making.
World-class screw-ups and still in charge.
Not to change topics, but i have been reading a few blogs about people who are ditching their TV subscriptions and opting for buying the seasons of their shows they watch through a service such as iTunes rather then pay so much every month when you only really watch a few things. It’s a very interesting proposition as I only prefer to watch a few shows. Why not buy a subscription for the season of a show (35 a season usually) and let it last the whole season where im paying 59 a month for tv at an INTRO price. Will tv make the same mistake or are they destined to fail?
As for this article, “Brian Epstein later claimed the Decca Records executive had told him that “groups with guitars are on their way out,” a comment that Rowe denied making.” They must have predicted boy bands were the wave of the future.
The problem is, unless you literally watch one or two shows, it quickly becomes cheaper to have cable.
Add to that the fact that they are drmed video files that cost as much as DVDs (or more), and its a losing proposition.
#1 where do you live that there are 35 shows in a season? In the US we are lucky to get 18-22.
He lives in 1965. =)
#3 he meand $35 per season. Still waaaaaayyyyyyyyy too steep.
Along with cable’s waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy too steep pricing, and there waaaaaaaaaaayyyy too steep bundling, im suprised that any of them are in business still.
There is one product and one product only that cable needs to sell, a high speed data connection….
#3 he meand $35 per season. Still way too steep.
Along with cable’s way too steep pricing, and there way too steep bundling, im suprised that any of them are in business still.
There is one product and one product only that cable needs to sell, a high speed data connection….
man is this comments section screwy……. somebody better look at it.
Yeah, it’s tough to hit submit once and simply wait for the comments to refresh.
As far as the original story goes, the music industry started tanking big time not because of napster, or music piracy, or anything other than the labels’ insistence on pushing garbage, pure, utter garbage out the door as it was cheaper to sign this new ‘talent’ and reap all the profits than it was to put up with established artists who had influence and power and contracts that benefitted them as much as the labels.
Yall missed the point. Its not that people wont pay for shit. They just wont pay when its free across the street (TVShack!). Remember that Dave Chappele where the internet is an actual place? its like that.
This is the most inane comparison I have ever read. It was a horrible audition, Beatles polished up and made a better product and sold it somewhere else. This happens ALL THE TIME in every business. Record companies are not making this same mistake. Napster was a product that distributed music for free. It infringed on copyrights. Record companies are not making “the same mistake”. Who rites this crup?
I can’t believe the record companies didn’t decide to just give away their product for free. Shocked I am.
And now people are saying movie studios should be selling their movies for $1, and anything less is ridiculous on their part.
the music industry’s entire business model is based on screwing people out of money
they pay a few artists a ton of money and screw all the rest out of theirs
they have always acted this way — why is anyone surprised by their shenanigans?