I.R.S. Records: Miles Copeland

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2022

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As a music industry mogul and founder of I.R.S. Records, Miles Copeland prided himself on making deals that were easy to say “yes” to. With a mixture of shrewd business skills, swagger, good taste and great timing, Miles signed or managed some of the most popular bands of the 1980's, including R.E.M., The Go-Go's, and The Police. After getting his start booking little-known British bands in the early 1970's and nearly going bankrupt after a failed tour, Miles eased back into the business by promoting punk groups—who didn’t care that he was broke. He then landed one of the most important deals of his career by convincing A&M Records to take a chance on The Police (whose drummer, Stewart Copeland, was Miles' brother). After I.R.S. dissolved in the mid 1990's, Miles remained a force in entertainment, launching new labels, branching out into world music, and managing Sting’s career until 2001.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:09.0	When you leave home, can you ever really go back?
0:12.0	Made a version!
0:13.0	Soccer legend Leo Messi and I both left Argentina as kids.
0:17.0	You know you're that piece of a puzzle that doesn't fit anywhere.
0:20.0	To so many immigrants, football is a way to reconnect.
0:23.0	Listen to the last cop in the embedded podcast feed
0:26.0	to hear the latest collaboration from MPR and Fuduro Studios.
0:30.0	I went to A&M. I knew that I wouldn't be seen by the top guy,
0:36.0	but I went to the guy that signs the artist.
0:39.0	So I went in and I said, look, I have nothing to recommend this group.
0:44.0	I've got no press, I've got no tour, they've got no fans,
0:49.0	I've got nothing except I've got a great record.
0:53.0	And here's the deal I'm going to make with you.
0:56.0	It's free. Just pay me the highest royalty A&M pays of itself.
1:00.0	But it doesn't sell? No skin off your nose, no skin off my nose.
1:04.0	The record's yours.
1:06.0	Now, let me play the record.
1:12.0	Welcome to How I Built This, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs,
1:17.0	idealists and the stories behind the movements they built.
1:24.0	I'm Guy Raazan on the show today, how Miles Copeland helped rejuvenate
	...

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