The Music Biz ambient background
CinebyCineby
The Music Biz backdrop

The Music Biz

The Music Biz

1995•Documentary
Similars

Dissects the complex relationships between artists, managers and labels, with help from Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Michael Hutchence and a host of hopefuls. Musicians, managers and people in the industry talk about the deals which can make, and break, musicians.

Jeremy Newson · Writer

Gina Newson · Director

Jeremy Newson · Director

StatusEnded
LanguageEN
First Air DateMay 15, 1995

Episodes

E149m

The Deal

A look at the difficulties of getting a recording deal, as struggling band Some Have Fins try to impress industry bigwigs at a gig in north London. If you ever thought This Is Spinal Tap was too silly to be true, tune in.

May 15, 1995

E250m

The Song

What spectacular pitfalls await the unwary songwriter who doesn't pay close attention to the complicated paperwork. Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago wrote Why Do Fools Fall in Love? in the 50s, a song that has earned millions of dollars. But one of them drives a taxi cab, and the other is on welfare. Why? Because businessmen were reaping the rewards of the writers' work. Follow the history of the ten-year legal case to its dramatic conclusion.

May 22, 1995

E350m

The Image

Image has the power to make or break a musician's career. Promotional campaigns to create that image can involve press coverage, advertising, photographs and million-dollar videos. Jon Bon Jovi, Debbie Harry, Bruce Springsteen, and Aerosmith explain how they have played to the camera, while some relative newcomers -- Australian band Let Loose -- are exposed to the wonders of television.

Jun 5, 1995

E4

Marketing Meat Loaf

The repackaging of Meat Loaf is one of the success stories in the 35 billion dollar global music industry, returning him to the top of the charts after years of being down on his luck. Who made it happen? How much of a record's success has to do with the music, and how much is attributable to marketing?

Jun 12, 1995

E549m

The Performance

The most demanding of all rock 'n' roll rituals is the tour. Join US metal band Metallica as they prepare for a show at Milton Keynes Bowl, the final night of a two-year tour. While the band are on stage, piles of unofficial merchandise and touted tickets are sold outside the gates.

Jun 19, 1995

E6

Corporate Rock

The music industry has gone global, carved up by a handful of multinational giants. CBS Records sold to Sony. Virgin Records, the only major independent label left by the early 1990s, sold to EMI following Richard Branson's cash flow problems. How can this $35 billion industry protect its corporate "assets" from the dangerous effects of their own traditional lifestyle - sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll - which brought so many star-studded careers of the 1960s to a premature end?

Jun 26, 1995

Recommendations

Doctor Who Confidential
This Is Pop
The Last Movie Stars
Baseball
Top Gear
The New York Times Presents
1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything
American Masters
TYSON
World War II with Tom Hanks
Eli Roth's History of Horror
Kylie
Mysteries at the Museum
Deadly Women
Biography
JANET JACKSON.
30 for 30
Leaving Neverland
How It's Made
MegaStructures

Similars

Country Music
Love Monkey
Vinyl
Throb
iAS Live Music Review
Love and Marriage
Hoshino Gen no Ongaku Kōron
Porn and Ice Cream
Boyz Unlimited
Crescendo
David Skoko: Jesti na cesti
Uwe Ochsenknecht präsentiert: Die 7 Todsünden
Confessions of a Killer
Clive Myrie's African Adventure
German Guilt
Taken at Birth
The Devil Next Door
Unlisted
Your Brain
Leavenworth