Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

The debt recording artists owe to Tom Petty, who wouldn’t back down


jaxson50

Recommended Posts

Thank You Tom

There was something so Tom Petty about the way the news arrived. How the CBS report that he died the morning of Oct. 2 was later rescinded. Even in the way that the hours between the false reports and the official announcement allowed Petty fans to imagine that the man who sang “I won’t back down” was, in his last moments, not backing down.Few outside the music business know just how accurate those lyrics were. Within it, the story is canonical. Decades before Prince changed his name to a glyph and compared the major-label system to indentured servitude, Petty took on the entire industry, waging a battle for his music rights that changed forever how artists negotiate with record companies.

 

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers had released two hit albums when, in 1978, their label, Shelter Records, announced it was going to be sold by its parent company, ABC Records, back to what had been the label’s original parent company, MCA.

 

Read the entire article here...

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/10/12/the-debt-recording-artists-owe-to-tom-petty-who-wouldnt-back-down/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Then there was the time he wouldn't let MCA raise the Hard Promises album price by $1. He held the tapes back until they reneged on the price increase.

As I recall, and that's always questionable lol, the record company wanted to charge $9.99. Petty held out for $8.99 (and threatened to rename the album as such) saying that he wanted everyone to be able to afford it. Same with his holding concert prices to $65 when the promoters wanted to charge $165. Doesn't seem to have hurt him much over the years since his estate is worth (as I've read) near $100 million (And there are far worse places to live than Malibu).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...