Former Beatles and Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein has died at the age of 77. Rereading my copy of The Love You Make (an excellent book about the Beatles) reintroduced me to the loud, obnoxious, little bastard. What he did do, and very well, was introduce the super group to what money they were really worth. For all their success, the four lads from Liverpool were not, when Allen Klein entered the picture, stinking rich -- this was due to everything from managerial incompetence to just not knowing how to deal with such a successful pop act. This really started to change with Klein; he saw what defects were in the Beatles financial history and sought to rectify them.The fact is, for years the Beatles were often in the red, on the balance sheet. Quite simply they were spending more money than they were earning... or rather, what portion was actually making it all the way to their own bank accounts.
No comments:
Post a Comment