![]() ![]() They made a record, “met movie stars, partied and mingled,” Petty sings, before delivering the gut punch: “Their A&R man said, ‘I don’t hear a single.’ The future was wide open." I Won't Back Down" is a song by American rock musician Tom Petty. The song tells of Eddie, a young kid who moved to Hollywood and started a band. And he did it in the late 1990s, when he capped his concert ticket prices at $50.Īlthough many Petty songs illustrate why he enjoyed such an unparalleled career (a word he wouldn’t use, apparently), it’s a sly lyric buried in 1991’s “Into the Great Wide Open” that may mean the most for recording artists. He did it in 1981, when MCA tried to sell the band’s fourth album for a dollar more than the standard. In standing up to MCA, Petty demonstrated the premise that an artist with fans has leverage. The Heartbreakers’ next album, “Damn The Torpedoes,” went triple platinum, unleashing two of Petty’s most omnipresent songs on the radio, “Don’t Do Me Like That” and “Refugee.” (“Somewhere, somehow, somebody must’ve kicked you around some,” he sings in the latter.) In all, Petty recorded some 68 singles, a record 28 of which became mainstream-rock top 10s. In the end, Petty reconciled with MCA, signing a deal with an artist-friendly label under the MCA umbrella, and the rest, of course, is Billboard chart history. peanuts before I give in to you.” In one meeting with MCA’s lawyers, Petty’s manager later said, Petty “had a penknife that he got out, opened the penknife and started cleaning his nails.” To pay for their legal bills, the Heartbreakers went on a short tour, the “Lawsuit Tour.” They wore T-shirts that said, “Why MCA?” The companies tried to persuade Petty to drop the bankruptcy claim, to which he responded: “I’ll sell …. “As soon as they thought my action might set an industry precedent,” Petty explained, “they rolled out the big guns.” So began one of the most epic games of chicken in music-business history. And because he was the first, MCA had to make sure he didn’t succeed. Petty was the first mainstream rock star to file for bankruptcy expressly to get out of a contract with his record label. “And if you’re bankrupt, all contracts are void.” “Technically you’re bankrupt,” he later said. ![]() Then, when MCA’s lawsuit left him legally unable to do anything with it, he filed for Chapter 11. What did Petty do? Like so many artists do today, he self-funded the recording of the band’s third album, racking up more than $500,000 in debt. But when he moved to act on that premise, MCA and Shelter sued Petty for breach of contract, preventing him not only from negotiating with other labels but also from releasing music or playing live. That clause gave Petty plausible grounds to claim that Shelter had breached their contract, and that he was therefore free to shop for a new label. As part of a previous renegotiation, he had managed to add a clause to the Heartbreakers’ deal stipulating that their label, Shelter, must consult with him before selling the band’s contract to another company. “I just felt like they sold us like we were groceries, or frozen pork,” he said. When it was announced that the Heartbreakers would be transferred to MCA, Petty balked. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |