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How I Destroyed The Music Industry. by Jonathan King
Or, rather, how I could have saved the music industry by making different decisions. Many may consider that I ruined music with my appalling tunes.

But some feel my contribution was stellar - with some decent, even classic songs recorded by the likes of Nina Simone and Doris Day and performed by Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich and Bette Midler amongst others. Some may feel the artistes I discovered, created, and named, like Genesis and 10cc, contributed to the creative heights of music even if others like The Bay City Rollers and The Rocky Horror Show did not hold such artistic merit.

And there are many who feel that my questioning who let the dogs out or whether we should get up again after being knocked down only contributed to the sports industry.

Whilst I was given the Man of the Year Award by the British music industry for winning the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK and saving the annual Brits after the disastrous year of 1989 by taking over as writer and producer (I still feel my creative high point was getting then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to croon How Much Is That Doggy In The Window on national television), there are some who feel I did not deserve such an august prize when fellow inductees included George Martin who produced The Beatles.

But I did form my own record label - UK Records - in 1972 - having had great success before that as a singer, writer and producer - distributed by my mentor’s company, DECCA. Sir Edward Lewis was a dear friend and quite understood when, after our deal finished, I moved to PolyGram. He was aware, as I knew, of how much less the label was worth than the huge sum offered by the other corporation.

When he was dying Sir Edward offered to give me his record company. It was worth around 85 million pounds at the time (probably ten times that in today’s money). His only condition was that I would run it for the rest of my life. I refused, gratefully and politely, as I’d hated running UK Records. Meetings with lawyers and accountants and tax people and - God forbid - human rights types. You could NEVER snap at a secretary, especially if they were female. I snap at everyone and do not care about their gender, skin colour or religious beliefs and praise them as well, likewise, if they do a good job. This was OK with UK Records and a staff of six (at one time we had three hits in the British top five). But I never enjoyed being a Boss. I liked music. Finding it, making it, breaking it. Money was of no interest at all, neither was political correctness. Still isn’t.

So I declined Sir Edward’s generous offer (he later said to his wife that I was the only person he’d ever met in his life who had never wanted anything from him. He was wrong; I wanted his friendship and he gave it to me).

First mistake. I should have taken Decca and hired people to do the day to day running and stuff I hated. If I had, it and London Records in the USA would still, today, have been independent global leaders in music.

I went on making hits and finding artistes. I started The Tip Sheet, based on my dear friend Bill Gavin’s Report in the 1960s. But the century ended with three specific giant smashes by Chumbawamba, Baha Men and The Cuban Boys.

I think it was that Cuban Boys hit (Cognoscenti vs Intelligentsia better known as The Hamster Dance song), which I placed with EMI, that alerted the Boss of EMI, Eric Nicoli, to my potential as a future leader for his company. After several meetings in 2000, he offered me the global Chairmanship of EMI at the then reasonable sum of £5million a year. I accepted, by then having realised that I could hire great deputies to run the corporate side. Rupert Perry, a dear friend who was superb at leading teams and dealing with share holders and was, at the time, Chairman of EMI Europe, and Paul Conroy, another dear friend who was the best marketing man I knew.

We were just about to announce my appointment when Surrey Police knocked on my door. Totally false charges had been made against me through the publicist Max Clifford. The deal collapsed; I was wrongly convicted (my appeal is ongoing) and, eventually, EMI broke up and was sold in pieces.

I have since been told, by reliable sources, that a certain EMI executive in America who was being fired (on my advice to Nicoli before he made the offer), had organised my demise (actually, it was said to me, it had been started by his wife, a friend of Max Clifford).

I have no idea whether or not this is true but would be interested if anyone has any evidence.

The resultant slow collapse of EMI, one of the great original record companies alongside Decca, was inevitable and the entire music industry has now reverted to providing luxury, specialist goods as opposed to necessities like food, water and air. Which I find sad.

Streaming is apposite. It passes by like a river, in and out of life, meaning very little at the time, fading in memory. Cheap, easy, unimportant.

So there you go. How I ruined the music industry. You may or may not believe that it is now shattered. That I’m a sad old man of 77 who whines “they don’t make ‘em like they used to”. You are entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine. And I have just expressed mine.

Jonathan King March 2022

What intrigues me, as someone who used to be obsessed by music and now couldn't tell you what singles and albums are in the charts, is that - maybe encouraged by lockdown - lots of fans of older music (some of them middle-aged but some of them in their 20s) have started YouTube channels celebrating and exploring the music of the 60s through to the 90s.

Here are just three:







There are loads of these channels, and they're very well-subscribed. Which surely begs the question: why is the music indutry and related media pretty much ignoring this market these days? These people actually WANT music to buy and music shows to watch. There's actually a very broad demographic for, say, a relaunched Old Grey Whistle Test, and some shows that celebrate some older a well as young performers. And yet that huge consumer market is barely even tolerated. You get the increasingly smug and cliquey Jools Hollad, and the uber-camp TOTP re-runs. That's about it. Do the excutives even look these days at what is going on?

I find it hard to hear new music these days. What I do is bloody Ed Sheeran or Harry Styles in supermarkets.

Supermarket's have or phased CDs. HMV got rid of the listening booths which were great. Even the independents shops don't that any more.

If I see youths blasting crap music out of their crappy it sounds garage music from the 1990s or we called it 'garden shed music'.

Sorry, a bit off topic, but there's an addictive YouTube channel called 'Yesterday's Papers'. It basically covers the Melody Maker feature from the sixties where celebs reviewed the singles of the week. Fascinating to hear contemporary reactions to now famous and also obscure records. Here's George Harrison being a little bit rude about JK!

Fascinating. Great idea even though he didn't like Don't Push Me.

George Harrison, was an odd bloke, some of his stuff did sound novelty to me even back then and still does.

Love your article JK
I miss the old record business but to be honest I never made any money out of it..
I got in at the end of vinyl although we did press 12” & 7” singles for a little while before moving to CD’s.

But here it was a small market with poor independent distributors and a non supportive mainstream radio for the most part.

Had I been in the pop record business in the UK in the 70’s and 80’s I think that would have been the golden era..

it's a terrific story JK. Shame this forum doesn't have a "like" button.