|
The way Don McLean's music thrives
By Larry
Getlen • Bankrate.com
 If
you just judged him by his songs, such as "Vincent" and "American
Pie," you might get the idea that Don McLean is a sensitive soul.
Touchie-feelie. Mellow.
The truth is different. In conversation,
McLean comes off as, more than anything else, an incredibly shrewd
and experienced businessman, more the CEO of Don McLean Inc. than
a dreamy folk singer riding the rails of life.
While he did start in the folk-singer movement, performing
benefits with the likes of Pete Seeger, McLean quickly learned the
harsh realities of the music business. Early on, McLean made an
astute move: he kept the rights to his own music. We talked to McLean
about the business end of his career, and the move made him set
for life and a brilliant business model for any up-and-coming musician
or songwriter.
BANKRATE: As a musician,
you made some incredibly shrewd business moves -- you actually own
all the rights to all your albums and publishing. Yet, you started
in an era where musicians and songwriters usually got the short
end of the stick. How did you wind up with full ownership?
DON McLEAN: I went to
college and have a degree in finance, and I actually got into Columbia
graduate school for a master's, but decided to go back to the music
business. What this did for me was, I never signed any bad agreements
with management, because I read the agreements and knew what they
meant, and I also held out for my publishing. That's one of the
reasons why I was turned down by about 30 record companies in my
attempt to put out my first record, "Tapestry." I finally reached
a wonderful little label called Media Arts Records. They signed
me and they were willing to part with the publishing.
There was a lot of pain involved, because there was
a lot of disappointment. Most people want pleasure immediately.
They say, "I want to get a record out," and they run. Unfortunately,
you have to sit back and say, "Wait a minute, maybe this isn't right."
It's a very tough thing for an artist.
B: So you had opportunities
where you could have had the record out, and you said . . .
DM: Oh yeah. Thirty different
times. There were record labels you never heard of, like Bell Records,
and labels like Columbia and RCA, but they wanted the publishing.
I can be very stubborn. I didn't want the songs because I thought
they would be worth something, I wanted them because ... I just
wanted them. They were mine. Kind of dumb, really, but I wound up
owning these wonderful songs, so it's turned out great. And "American
Pie" is certainly the star of the show, but all these songs make
money. "And I Love You So" makes a lot of money every year. There
are hundreds of recordings of that song.
B: Has "American Pie"
made you set for life?
DM: No. Actually, if
I were to sell that song today, it would be worth in the tens of
millions of dollars probably. Copyrights are very valuable.
B: How much does it bring
in every year?
DM: I would not care
to say, but it brings in a lot. But all the songs together bring
in a lot more. And all these songs are in print. Every album I have
ever made is in print.
B: How many licenses
do you sell a year?
DM: Since the Madonna
record and the Weird Al record, I have as many licenses in the last
nine months as I have in the past six years. Hundreds, hundreds
and hundreds, for all sorts of different things, but primarily "Vincent"
and "American Pie." But also "Crying," "Castles In The Air," quite
a few of "And I Love You So." These songs turn up in TV shows and
movies, like "Ally McBeal." "And I Love You So" was in the movie
"Bowfinger." You probably didn't hear it, but it made a lot of money
for the sync license.
B: Do you get a lot of
requests for the trademark that you turn down?
DM: I spend a lot of time threatening people
-- to stop using that phrase, or to change the name of your pizza
shop, or your pie store, or whatever.
B: The movie "American
Pie" seems out of character for the song -- why did you approve
that?
DM: I didn't approve
the movie. The movie just went ahead and used that song as a title,
and I had to bring an action to get some attention.
B: So you reached a deal?
DM: We have an agreement
that they had to license that name from me in order to make that
movie. That has nothing to do with the song -- the song's not even
in it.
B: Did you have the power
to say to them, "You can't use this title, end of story"?
DM: I had power enough
to make them acknowledge the ownership of the trademark and settle
the dispute with me, so they could not steamroller me.
B: So you couldn't stop
it, but you could make sure you got paid.
DM: I could definitely,
maybe not stop it, but there was a very good chance, in that I had
the trademark registered, it would have effected their ability to
market the movie to such a degree that they wanted to come to an
agreement.
B: It's very confusing,
isn't it?
DM: Yes it is, and with
the Internet there's a lot more stuff. Most lawyers' businesses
are now Internet driven. Napster -- perfect example. This guy thinks
that he can just go along and create this thing and take everybody's
copyright and infringe on them like crazy, and everybody's going
to go along with this. It's nuts.
B: So you're anti-Napster,
I take it?
DM: Of course.
B: Well, it looks like
you won.
DM: We'll always win,
because copyright laws are very powerful in this country. Intellectual
property is protected, as it should be. If you buy a car, a substantial
amount of the money for that car is royalty payments to inventors
who invented all sorts of different things involved in the making
of that machine. You wouldn't think of petitioning Mercedes Benz
and saying, "We don't feel like paying for that windshield wiper
royalty, that's just extra stuff. We want that for nothing." But
when it comes to music, somehow there's this sense that it's just
out there floating around and you can just take it.
B: People have a very
different response when it comes to creative endeavors.
DM: Well, they're
going to learn different. They're going to learn the hard way, especially
the character who started this Napster, because I'll tell you this:
If he gets on a paying basis and gets through the thicket of dealing
with the major record labels, at that point he's going to have a
ton of suits from people like me who've had their publishing infringed
for millions and millions of dollars. I'm sure I've been infringed
millions of times. He's going to start from square one, and he's
going to have to settle with us next. The only reason we're not
on his case is the record companies have effectively wrecked him.
-- Posted:
April 12, 2001
|
