IRA BLACKER’S ACT 2 IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS

Leaving a business he himself helped to create was not the same as leaving music. Ira Blacker had been an entrepreneur behind American Talent International, a rock agency which included the Faces, Rod Stewart, Deep Purple, the Eagles, ZZ Top, Nazareth and Uriah Heep. He had been undertaking a negotiation process that had taken years for the business that never made an appearance. Outside of ATI, however, he would have a new challenge on his hands: the creation of a career beyond ATI, a company that had become so much a part of his identity.

Blacker was an established band, “Rush,” from Canada with no connections to an American record label. Sure, he had already proven himself instrumental in the placement of the band on Mercury Records, and the support and help he received from radio and promotion had taught them how much could be accomplished by having a good ear and taking a chance. Now he was engaged in artist management, and it was his duty to remain that way even after an act had booked their next gig.

A ROSTER THAT DIDN’T FIT ONE MOLD

Blacker established a firm to oversee management and entered into an agreement with an unusually varied collection of artists: Kraftwerk, Brainstorm, Ronnie Laws, the Crusaders jazz ensemble, the musical artist Princess, along with a number of music groups from Germany. It was hardly a roster chosen to satisfy one narrow idea of what a successful act should sound like. Instead, the diverse lineup offered music lovers a wide range of styles and sounds. These musicians were from diverse corners of the musical realm, and their audiences, aspirations, and issues were different.

Kraftwerk stood out. The group wasn’t looking to impress people with yet another version of a guitar band; they had acquired their own musical jargon, self-control, and musical persona. Blacker was captivated by that originality. However, an original might make for an onerous business. Getting people to support an act fitting a set category was one thing, but convincing them that the unknown act they proposed was indeed one of those is quite another matter. Talking them into understanding the value of other things was quite a different ball game. Being different, that’s both the opportunity and the challenge for Kraftwerk.

The Jazz Crusaders and Ronnie Laws were very different from an electronic German group. Then Princess and the rest of the bands added even more. But a team like this required Blacker to employ several strategies to help him manage his life, if the basic requirements of business did not change, such as making deals, arranging tours, chasing recording deals, creating opportunities, and getting the artist moving.

All those jobs sound like they were in a neat/tasks list when all out there listed them; the music business was not always so accommodating. The timing may be off-schedule and spoil the best-laid plans. Before a promoter would date a record,d they might want it to have been aired by a different promoter to have proof of an audience, and vice versa. An artist could be ready for the next step while the people controlling the money were not. IRA Blacker understood that a manager’s job was often to push several reluctant pieces into motion at once, balancing competing interests while keeping an artist’s career moving forward.

THE PEOPLE BEYOND THE SPOTLIGHT

Blacker had been around long enough by this point to decide that he didn’t want to take what seemed like a “cleaned up” version after the event. Outside, a band was found, signed, released, and celebrated. Inside, it was a mishmash of calls, argumentation, favors, risks, false starts, ts and much good fortune. Those who were skeptical about whether one could have a great passion or appreciation for a particular artist, as soon as they reached some degree of fame.

The person was also acquainted with the fact that a renowned name wasn’t at all correlated to an easy deal. In fact, “arts and parties” had different expectations, even if all they could agree on was having a similar goal. A negotiation in some cases was more a contest for control than for cash. In some cases, it well may have been that when it mattered most, the one with the biggest name wasn’t the one that could make the decision. At times, it was important to know how and when to remain silent in a good agreement.

Those are the parts of rock and roll history that tend to disappear when the past is reduced to a string of platinum records and backstage photographs. Blacker could appreciate the glamour, but it never told the whole story. He had lived the unglamorous part too: the uncertainty before a deal, the pressure to make good on promises, and the knowledge that talent alone was no guarantee of a career.

KNOWING WHEN TO WALK AWAY

By 1990, Blacker’s relationship with the business had changed. He had worked through the agency years, management, touring, record deals, R&B projects, and songwriter representation. The field that had once brought him immense enthusiasm was no longer providing the same financial benefits or personal fulfillment. A divorce was pending. The numbers were not making sense, and neither was the idea of going through another cycle simply because he had always been able to find a way forward.

He decided to leave. Not to change companies or take a short break, but to quit the music business. Then he did something that was both impractical and entirely consistent with the man he had been: he threw away his Rolodex. It contained names and telephone numbers accumulated over decades, the sort of contacts many people would have guarded as their most valuable possession. Blacker knew the gesture was foolish. He also understood what it meant. Keeping those connections close at hand might have made it too easy to drift back into the same world. Discarding them was his way of making the departure real. No ceremonial farewell, no plaque, no final curtain call, just a decision and an address book he no longer wanted to keep.

Those experiences were put together into From Royal Heights to a Lesser Crown years later. The book was more of a celebration of customers and was a score sheet of contracts. It was about great things being possible, terrible things being the price, and what it was to come up against the end. Blacker’s experiences also highlight lessons relevant to any local business, where strategic deals and sound judgment can shape long-term success. As Blacker’s music insider stories make clear, the deals mattered. So did the decision to stop making them.