The Col. Tom Parker Book-2

"The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership that Rocked the World": http://bit.ly/480ozGy

1

If you're going to music business school...

You'll learn more in this book than you will in class. Class will teach you the mechanics, the elements of publishing, how to put on a show, you will be taught how to be a worker bee, but all the money is in controlling talent, being on top, and most people do not possess the skills to do so.

Not that the book is the easiest read. Not that any book is an easy read. Reading demands commitment. But the amazing thing about reading is it will take you 90% there. All you will need is the cherry on top, the personal interactions, which will be easily achievable because with your book learning you will STAND OUT!

How do you manage relationships... I haven't seen this taught in any course. But that was what Colonel Tom Parker specialized in. Creating relationships and staying connected to people. It wasn't as simple as shaking hands, he created his own fictitious organization, the Snowmen's League of America, based on how one person snowed another. There were no meetings, and rules that the Colonel made up and changed and discarded on a whim. He inducted people at William Morris. Celebrities. It was humorous, it was fun. Colonel focused on this, fun. If it wasn't fun, he wasn't interested.

Fun used to be a core element of the music business, up until about twenty years ago, then it all became too corporatized, too institutionalized, too bottom line oriented, to its detriment.

What looks like blowing a ton of money is a good investment if it keeps your artist happy and producing. This is not the widget business.

Colonel was constantly cracking jokes. And in between asking for what he wanted. He was self-deprecating, stating that he could be wrong, and always warm at the end, noting a birthday or some other important milestone of the recipient of his correspondence. Sure, so much was transparent, but the letters certified that Colonel was thinking of you, you were in it together, on the same team. He continued to humorously ask for a bonus for being an outpost of the William Morris Agency at his home in Tennessee. When promised anything of his choosing from the RCA warehouse, he asked for a computer, long before there were desktop machines, when they were still huge and expensive! And you didn't always know when he was joking, he kept you on your toes.

As for the record label... He viewed Presley as an industry within the company, standing alone. Not only did he insist on the best deal, but no returns. And if the salesman screwed up and something came back, it could only be replaced with Presley product, and nothing else from the catalog.

And Elvis was in total control of the creative end. What songs to record, how to record them, the Colonel paved the way as opposed to too many managers inserting themselves in the creative process and pissing off their acts.

And the Colonel learned to trust his instincts. Told by William Morris that Elvis's initial movie deal was standard and then caving on his demands, the Colonel kicked himself soon thereafter. He knew better, as outsiders often do.

When RCA got its knickers in a twist and complained about a debt, the Colonel was incensed, you're getting all worked up for THIS sum of money?

That's the role of the manager, to be independent. And to get the most for his artist. Which means you just don't send a letter of demand and sit back and wait for a contract, you have to establish a relationship with people, show how your interests align.

The Colonel is the kind of self-made person who built the modern music business. Entrepreneurs with big dreams who couldn't fit into the corporate mold. That type still rules, but there are fewer of them.

2

The MONEY! Elvis was always running out! Spending more than he had.

At first tax rates were insane. 90%. But even when lower Elvis would buy things on a whim and his father Vernon would tear his hair out wondering how he was going to pay for all this.

For all the bad press, the Colonel kept his money separate. Elvis had his own accounts and if asked for advice the Colonel would give it, but otherwise he didn't meddle.

As for the deals...

You can ultimately say that the Colonel was self-dealing a bit, especially with RCA. He started off with 25%, it could be a third, but then he had all these theories that certain product was under the deal and the rest were special projects, for which he was entitled to 50%. And a lot of the RCA deal wasn't even on paper, but he held RCA to these oral agreements, he used his leverage.

And author Peter Guralnick says that it was not the Colonel's idea or preference to sell the assets to RCA. It is said the deal was completed because Elvis needed the money!

And even worse, at some point Elvis no longer wanted to work. He went on a spiritual journey. The work just did not get him off anymore. And while he was on his hejira obligations would go unfulfilled and money would not come in, but...

It's hard to do the same thing year after year and still stay excited about it. Singing the songs that made you famous decades ago. You grow up, you have other interests.

And Elvis surrounded himself with hangers-on, the so-called "Memphis Mafia," who bled him dry and talked the Colonel down and although providing companionship, kept Elvis isolated.

So?

People are people. A lot of the same rules still apply. Which is why I recommend reading this book if you're a wannabe. Parker ends up looking good, only those alive back then know for sure, but he was not the devious schemer he's portrayed to be. He paid his debts/bills immediately, didn't wait thirty days, not even a day! And if you didn't pay YOUR bills on time, he dressed you down.

It was all cottage industry, while interfacing with some of the biggest corporations in America. If you're intimidated by the big boys, you're never going to win. But you have to entrance them, get them in your circle, and then bend them to your desires. And don't forget, the company men have a different ethos, they want a salary, they're not dependent upon innovation, they're not as hungry. So change always comes from the outside.

All we see is brashness portrayed in today's world. And there are some like this. Then again, most people talking down today's bigwigs have never met them, don't know their people skills, which have allowed them to triumph.

I can't believe at this late date I'm finally interested in Elvis, but I am.

Because they were working without a net, innovating. Sure, he made all those junky movies, but that was the goal back then, to go Hollywood, and it was still the goal for a long time, Madonna "tried" to be in movies.

But it was all before the Beatles, who flipped the script, created a whole new business. And then came not only FM underground radio, but AOR and MTV and then the internet. Today's hits are akin to those before the lads from Liverpool, made by committee, steered by execs for a commercial return. But there are still entrepreneurs on the fringes.

Go where everybody else is not. Where there's room to be creative. Rather than complain about the label, figure out how to do it yourself, if you can create success, they'll come running.

And the Colonel was never sour grapes, he kept on moving forward.

You need that attitude, that optimism to survive.

If you have success, you can change the system, if you have none, no one is listening to you.

Remember that.


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