Worst/dumbest music business decisions/actions of all-time

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by shnaggletooth, Sep 13, 2020.

  1. shnaggletooth

    shnaggletooth Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NJ
    Did not know this until recently, but Columbia Records dropped Chicago in 1981 because Chicago XIV stiffed on the charts. Columbia apparently thought Chicago's hit-making days were over. Yes, they actually thought that. Chicago then signed with Warner Bros. -- and you probably know the rest.

    [​IMG]

    Has to rank in the Top 10 of all-time goddawful music business decisions, if there is such a thing. What else would fill the list? Elvis sticking with Col. Parker? Badfinger not ditching their ripoff manager?
     
  2. rs4951

    rs4951 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ireland
    Warner were on the other side of the equation when they let Rod Stewart go...they saw no potential in him doing the Songbook...he went on to have s9me of his career best album sales during a decade with J records. (Not commenting on the artistic merit).
     
  3. tug_of_war

    tug_of_war Unable to tolerate bass solos

    Usually when artists start their own label they regret it soon afterwards.

    There's one big example but if I mention the band's name, the butthurt haters will complain as usual, but said band's label launched the career of James Taylor - to give you a clue of what I'm talking about.

    In spite of signing a few succesful acts, the label was mostly a money ripping machine.
     
    BeatlesBop, Wil1972, Rojo and 31 others like this.
  4. Big Jimbo

    Big Jimbo Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    Virgin Records and Mariah Carey
     
  5. mercuryvenus

    mercuryvenus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    I mean, obviously Decca and the Beatles.
     
  6. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    Murry Wilson selling the Beach Boys publishing.
     
    Mr Hankey, Booyaa73, Exotiki and 74 others like this.
  7. spencer1

    spencer1 Great Western Forum Resident

    I honestly don't know the rest. I lost interest and drifted away from them sometime in the mid 70's. Never bought another LP by them.

    I'm guessing that's when they became more of a successful ballad pop band centered around Peter Cetera.
     
    krock2009, bever70, Keith V and 15 others like this.
  8. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    Paul McCartney letting Michael Jackson buy the Beatles! because he was too cheap. ; )
     
  9. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    We all cut Sam Phillips some slack, but if we didn’t...
     
  10. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    Leonard Cohen's business relationship with Kelley Lynch comes to mind.
     
  11. PapaMuerte

    PapaMuerte Zappatista

    Location:
    Neverland
    MC Hammer is the champ in every aspect.
     
  12. micksmuse

    micksmuse Forum Resident

    Location:
    san diego
    almost everything dave clark has done with the DCFIVE catalog in the digital era.
     
  13. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    his own worst enemy...what a waste.
     
  14. GoatsHeadSoup

    GoatsHeadSoup Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Signing a deal with Allen Klein.
     
  15. Indeed.
     
    groundharp likes this.
  16. wildstar

    wildstar Senior Member

    Location:
    ontario, canada
    I don't think it was a bad decision to drop Chicago at the time, since if they had continued the way they were their hitmaking days would have almost certainly been over. What turned things around for them was David Foster. As producer, he told them the songs they had written for their first WB album were simply not good enough. He then co-wrote a new batch of songs with the band members and they also did some songs by outside writers for the first time.

    Arguably other things helped - like placing heavier focus on Cetera as lead singer and toning down the prominence of the horns over the next decade. Basically the band was pretty heavily re-tooled from what they had been on Columbia. If they had stayed on Columbia instead, just continuing to do things the way they always had, then the downward slide in popularity and hits would have likely continued.

    Plus it wasn't just their latest Columbia album that had flopped when they were dropped - the album previous to that had underperformed as well (no hit singles on either album).
     
  17. Crimson jon

    Crimson jon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston
    Grapple?
     
  18. ________ (fill in the blank) getting involved with drugs. Take a pick because it's the error that keeps getting made, from managers like Bill Aucoin or Doc McGee to producers like Dave Jerden or Andy Johns to more musicians than we can count.
     
  19. wildstar

    wildstar Senior Member

    Location:
    ontario, canada
    Only in retrospect. Just going by the actual quality of their Decca audition tape, Decca made the right decision. It was hardly indicative of great things to come.
     
  20. dudley07726

    dudley07726 Forum Resident

    Location:
    FLA
    That was not the case. He felt it was only fair that he ask Yoko if she wanted to buy in as well since both he and John wrote the songs. There was some wrangling going in between the two and MJ then swooped in on the purchase.
     
  21. TheHypnoToad

    TheHypnoToad Senior Member

    Anyone who decided to fill the drummer's chair in Spinal Tap.
     
  22. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    well that's what I read...please prove me wrong as I must have read fake news. If so, I'd like to know the TRUE story...
     
    Crimson jon likes this.
  23. formbypc

    formbypc Forum Resident

    Universal keeping their master tapes and such all in one place, as opposed to over multiple sites.
     
  24. sons of nothing

    sons of nothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Hendrix staying with Michael Jeffreys.

    In fact, tons of bad decisions were made by Hendrix. The whole Yamata saga can be a book on its own.
     
  25. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    I have no qualms about mentioning THE BEATLES on any thread if it's applicable. And so it is here.
    THE BEATLES Apple label could have been great but it was somewhat mismanaged and then fell prey to its own mismanagement.
    But , speaking of THE BEATLES , let me just throw Allen Klein's name into the mix.
     
    BeatlesBop, TimB, PhoffiFozz and 21 others like this.

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