ABSTRACT
I still find it hard to credit the full extent of The Beatles’ impact on the machinery of the modern music industry. It’s not that I have any deliberate desire to underplay the massive songwriting talents of Lennon and McCartney or to understate the innovative musical achievements of the group, but I believe I stood too close to the core of Beatlemania to be completely objective about the wider significance of the whole phenomenon, namely the direct and forceful influence which The Beatles exerted on established industrial practices. Once they became sufficiently successful to wield the necessary power, The Beatles made specific proposals and demands which led to lasting and dramatic changes in some of the traditional strategies employed by UK record companies, particularly in their relationships with artists. This all had the effect of making the music business a more comfortable workplace for the recording artists who came after them.
