Wow they even dared to mention Gary Glitter too. Maybe they haven't heard that history has been rewritten.

The quotes from the two economists are not very promising. Why didn’t they research the British market? There are more than enough studies of the US record industry.

The stories about Epstein’s two big mistakes are well worn … and were his mistakes really that big?

“One was to allow music publisher Dick James to keep 51% of Northern Songs, the company set up to publish Lennon-McCartney compositions, which means that Paul McCartney gets no money from the early songs.”

The joint venture Northern Songs was a revolutionary concept for its time and place. Lennon/McCartney (The Beatles/Apple Corp.) could have (easily) gained complete control later. And McCartney earns a lot of money from “the early songs”.

The merchandising deals were renegotiated after a few months …

“What happened from the mid-50s to the mid-70s was revolutionary, Gourvish says. "It involved the fragmentation of an earlier business model in which large companies dominated music production and music sales”

Revolutionary? Really? The old powers were swept away by the revolutionaries?

There was a fragmentation of the market, and the business model changed (independent production, outsourcing etc.), but record sales were always (and still are today) dominated by the majors.

“(…) the mid-60s were a low point for America's major record companies as they struggled to compete with a succession of mega-bands from the UK.”

Low point? The majors lost some marketshare: in the 50s and in the singles market. Struggled? In the mid-60s they had more control than ever before. Competed? (Almost) all of the “mega-bands from the UK” were released by the US majors.

“The US recovery was built on Tamla Motown and the soul sounds popularised in northern clubs such as the Twisted Wheel in Manchester and the Wigan Casino. There then followed another British boom built on progressive ("prog") rock with bands such as Genesis and Pink Floyd and glam rock with T Rex, David Bowie, Sweet and Gary Glitter.”

Recovery from what? From the R&R-boom? Tamla Motown was before The Beatles. Northern Soul was a local phenomenon in the late 60s/early 70s - and had no effect on the US record market whatsoever.

The “British boom” build on prog and glam is pure fantasy: Pink Floyd was the only mega seller, the success of Genesis and Bowie was much later, T. Rex and Gary Glitter were one hit wonders.

Agree with a lot of your points DJ though I think Bolan and Glitter were more than one hit wonders!

Yes, Glitter had two No.1s and four No.2s in the UK, plus several more top ten hits. Not to mention several years of sell out tours. T.Rex had four No.1s and seven other top ten hits, plus Marc Bolan inspired many other artist and was an icon for his era.

A long way off being one hit wonders.

Bolan and Glitter were more than one hit wonders!

I was refering to their AMERICAN (Hello BR!) chart performances:

Gary Glitter:
Rock And Roll Part 2 reached No. 7,
I Didn't Know I Loved You peaked at 35 (everything out of the Top 20 is not a hit in my book)
There was no action in the album charts.

T. Rex was a little bit more succesful:
Bang-A-Gong reached No. 10
Electric Warrior reached No. 32, The Slider No. 17

Apart from very small scenes in New York and Los Angeles, nobody cared / knew about British Glam rock in the US of A.

In the long run, these artists had some cultural / musical influence (mostly via Bowie). But they had NO ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE for the US record industry.

The ESRC mess up most research projects because they want something visibly 'scientific' to reassure themselves that they haven't wasted money on something horribly speculative like Wittgenstein or John Stuart Mill. Hence endless graphs, statistical claptrap and jargon. But it's good to see a couple at least try to examine this area with a modicum of honesty and integrity. Who knows, they might use the interesting and insightful material elsewhere for human consumption. And well done for including JK.

A well researched recent book about the British pop business in the 60s is "Please Please Me. Sixties British Pop, Inside Out" by Gordon Thompson (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Thompson interviewed lots of musicians, producers, songwriters, engineers etc. for his "ethnomusicology of sixties British pop":

"Interviewing musicians and others seemed daunting at first, but almost all proved ultimately to be warm, open, and generous. Every time we talked, I learned things that changed how I understood this cultural milieu. At the mundane level, the people I interviewed provided me with the “who, what, where, when, and why.” More important, Malcolm Addey, Eric Allen, James Baring, Stan Barrett, Dave Berry, Charlie Blackwell, Joe Brown, Stephen Candib, John Carter, Clem Cattini, Bill Covington, Bryan Daly, Arty Davies, Roger Dean, Bob Efford, Matthew Fisher, Vic Flick, Herbie Flowers, Mo Foster, Bobby Graham, Arthur Greenslade, Bill Harry, Les Hurdle, Nazir Jairazbhoy, Viram Jasani, Peter Knight, Jr., Derek Lawrence, Spencer Leigh, Mark Lewisohn, Carlo Little, Joe Moretti, Mitch Murray, Tony Newman, Peter O’Flaherty, Margot Quantrell, Les Reed, Norman Smith, Geoff Stephens, Big Jim Sullivan, Shel Talmy, Ronnie Verrell, Pip Wedge, Allan Weighell, Michael Weighell, and Andy White shaped how I think about this milieu. Many others contributed to my research (including John Warburg, Dawn Eden, and Brenda Tseunis) and helped me to better annotate the story. I regret that I have not been able to use everything I learned and that I have been unable to give everyone more attention in this text. Nevertheless, what I have learned has been invaluable."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Please-Me-Sixtie...Inside/dp/019533325X