Ellis Rich is stepping down after six years’ service leading the PRS board. Charlotte Otter reviews the long and distinguished career of one of the industry’s well loved figures.
There are few music industry powerhouses who remain - more than 40 years into their career - as relevant as Ellis Rich. From an inauspicious start in the postroom of Feldman’s Music to his current position as Independent Music Group CEO, the veteran publisher has quietly managed to help change the way the industry operates behind the scenes. This is largely thanks to his subtle influencing skills, exercised during his long involvement with industry societies including the MPA and MCPS, and of course, in his current role as PRS Chairman.
After holding the title for six years, Rich is to step down at the end of December 2010, having fulfilled the maximum time allowed in the role. Sitting in his office at the PRS for Music headquarters, Rich reflects on his time in the industry he loves so much. ‘I know it sounds corny, but I don’t consider myself to have ever had a proper job,’ he says. ‘I’ve been very lucky and had some fantastic times.’
Early career and The Cowell Factor
The comment is something of an understatement, especially when you consider Rich’s history and rise through the ranks. At Feldman’s he quickly got promoted to arranging and transcribing sheet music and orchestral scores, creating all the music arrangements for Queen’s catalogue, before being appointed as international manager in 1972. The company was then acquired by EMI Music Publishing and Rich continued his role at the organisation, helping to sign acts such as Blondie to the publisher’s roster and hiring a young Simon Cowell as his assistant – the music mogul’s first industry job.
One of the stories that sticks most in Rich’s mind from this period is his run-in with Bob Dylan. ‘We used to get his songs in a white tape box without any titles on, and my job was to write down what they were,’ he says. ‘In one song he kept saying over and over “the mighty Quinn”, so I wrote that on the front of the tape. It was sent to Manfred Mann and recorded as a single before entering the charts, and I thought no more of it. Then one day Bob walks in and asks, ‘Which a***hole wrote this? It’s called Quinn The Eskimo, not The Mighty Quinn.’ So I apologised, and the record company was asked to change the title to The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo). But that wasn’t good enough for Dylan either and it had to be changed a third time to Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn). Even now you can find old copies of the single with all three versions on it.’
After 18 years at Feldman’s and EMI Music Publishing, Rich left the company and formed E&S Music with Cowell. Their first office was in the middle of Soho – in the disused toilets of a Berwick Street car park. ‘Simon’s father, Eric Cowell, was friends with Donald Gosling who owned National Car Parks and recommended it to us,’ he says. ‘So we went along and it was horrible, it smelt, it still had the bottoms of the soil pipes where the toilets used to be, so we balanced the secretary’s desk over that – but the location was fantastic!
Music Supremo
After holding the title for six years, Rich is to step down at the end of December 2010, having fulfilled the maximum time allowed in the role. Sitting in his office at the PRS for Music headquarters, Rich reflects on his time in the industry he loves so much. ‘I know it sounds corny, but I don’t consider myself to have ever had a proper job,’ he says. ‘I’ve been very lucky and had some fantastic times.’
Early career and The Cowell Factor
The comment is something of an understatement, especially when you consider Rich’s history and rise through the ranks. At Feldman’s he quickly got promoted to arranging and transcribing sheet music and orchestral scores, creating all the music arrangements for Queen’s catalogue, before being appointed as international manager in 1972. The company was then acquired by EMI Music Publishing and Rich continued his role at the organisation, helping to sign acts such as Blondie to the publisher’s roster and hiring a young Simon Cowell as his assistant – the music mogul’s first industry job.
One of the stories that sticks most in Rich’s mind from this period is his run-in with Bob Dylan. ‘We used to get his songs in a white tape box without any titles on, and my job was to write down what they were,’ he says. ‘In one song he kept saying over and over “the mighty Quinn”, so I wrote that on the front of the tape. It was sent to Manfred Mann and recorded as a single before entering the charts, and I thought no more of it. Then one day Bob walks in and asks, ‘Which a***hole wrote this? It’s called Quinn The Eskimo, not The Mighty Quinn.’ So I apologised, and the record company was asked to change the title to The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo). But that wasn’t good enough for Dylan either and it had to be changed a third time to Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn). Even now you can find old copies of the single with all three versions on it.’
After 18 years at Feldman’s and EMI Music Publishing, Rich left the company and formed E&S Music with Cowell. Their first office was in the middle of Soho – in the disused toilets of a Berwick Street car park. ‘Simon’s father, Eric Cowell, was friends with Donald Gosling who owned National Car Parks and recommended it to us,’ he says. ‘So we went along and it was horrible, it smelt, it still had the bottoms of the soil pipes where the toilets used to be, so we balanced the secretary’s desk over that – but the location was fantastic!
Music Supremo
But despite the promising start and several hits, Rich and Cowell parted ways. Rich headed off to establish and run Supreme Songs. ‘It all came about after Steve Rowland and I discovered Mel & Kim after hearing Mel sing at the Valbonne nightclub,’ he says. ‘We approached her and she said she had a sister working in Lesney Toys in Hackney, so we met Kim and took them both to Pete Waterman who really loved them and agreed to write with them, record them and produce them for Supreme Records. It just snowballed from there.’
Then in 1989, three years after joining it, Rich acquired sole ownership of Supreme and went on to create The Independent Music Group (IMG), a worldwide consortium of independent music publishers enjoying world-wide representation. Rich still remains CEO of IMG to this day, an organisation that now owns or looks after more than 60,000 copyrights. Photo: Ellis, with Sheile Ferguson, presenting the Special International Award to Gamble and Huff at the Ivors
Changing times
Then in 1989, three years after joining it, Rich acquired sole ownership of Supreme and went on to create The Independent Music Group (IMG), a worldwide consortium of independent music publishers enjoying world-wide representation. Rich still remains CEO of IMG to this day, an organisation that now owns or looks after more than 60,000 copyrights. Photo: Ellis, with Sheile Ferguson, presenting the Special International Award to Gamble and Huff at the Ivors
Changing times
In all his years as a publisher, Rich has witnessed dramatic changes in the industry – but for him the one thing that has revolutionised the way it works is downloads. ‘Things are affecting us now that you could not have even begun to predict when I started out. For example there is an immediacy in the music business now that was never there before.
‘It wasn’t that long ago with, let’s say, a dance record, that you would run it for two to three weeks in a club, do a remix and run it for a further two to three weeks. During the whole of that time those records weren’t available to buy, so you could build up orders to take them into the charts in a really high position to start with. But now it’s all about shows like Must Be The Music and The X Factor where you can download your favourite song immediately after the programme has finished. Everyone - labels, publishers, societies - has had to change the way they behave to account for this.
‘Plus, societies need information a lot quicker than they used to, and if that information isn’t on their database then it means that payments don’t go out to members as early as it could, which then impacts on everything else.’
Another significant change Rich has noted is the amount of work up and coming acts have to do to ensure they get noticed. ‘Gone are the days when all you needed was a bit of talent and then the A&R men would come to you. Now you need to make sure you have grabbed their attention. You need to create a buzz around you – through networking, gigging, constant promotion etc. It’s hard work, but unless you do it then the chances are you won’t get a break.’ Photo: With Snow Patrol at the unveiling of their PRS for Music Heritage Award
In the chair
‘It wasn’t that long ago with, let’s say, a dance record, that you would run it for two to three weeks in a club, do a remix and run it for a further two to three weeks. During the whole of that time those records weren’t available to buy, so you could build up orders to take them into the charts in a really high position to start with. But now it’s all about shows like Must Be The Music and The X Factor where you can download your favourite song immediately after the programme has finished. Everyone - labels, publishers, societies - has had to change the way they behave to account for this.
‘Plus, societies need information a lot quicker than they used to, and if that information isn’t on their database then it means that payments don’t go out to members as early as it could, which then impacts on everything else.’
Another significant change Rich has noted is the amount of work up and coming acts have to do to ensure they get noticed. ‘Gone are the days when all you needed was a bit of talent and then the A&R men would come to you. Now you need to make sure you have grabbed their attention. You need to create a buzz around you – through networking, gigging, constant promotion etc. It’s hard work, but unless you do it then the chances are you won’t get a break.’ Photo: With Snow Patrol at the unveiling of their PRS for Music Heritage Award
In the chair
Hard work is a subject Rich is all too familiar with. Since his appointment to PRS chairman in 2005, he has worked tirelessly to help to change the public face of the organisation. ‘I sat down recently to make a list of all I get up to on a day-to-day basis as part of my position, which I could then pass onto my successor,’ he says. ‘Once I had written everything down, I couldn’t believe it – there were more than 80 tasks. I thought there would only be about nine or 10. It came as quite a shock.’ But far from seeming like a chore, his role ‘was more fun than anything else’. ‘I can’t honestly remember having one day when I dreaded going to work – it’s always been extremely enjoyable,’ he says.
From personally proposing a reduction in the PRS membership fee - a move which saw the organisation’s new membership applications exceed more than 1,000 in one month for the first time in its history – to promoting the diversity of both the society’s membership and staff, it is clear that Rich’s time as chairman has been fruitful.
‘I’d like to think that I’ve really broadened the role of chairman – it’s now much more socially inclusive than it used to be,’ he says. ‘For example, I increased the chairman’s political networking. Anything that can be done to support UK music in the eyes of government is essential.’
Rich says he hopes his successor will be able to continue with some of the innovations he introduced, and emphasises it’s important that whoever takes the mantle up needs to ‘get out a lot’. ‘It’s important to be seen at events as well as communicating with PRS for Music members,’ he says. In that respect the monthly Chairman’s Dinners, introduced by Rich, have been a real success, giving high-profile members who are not on the board a chance to come and voice their views about what goes on.
‘It’s equally important to make sure that management and the CEO realise what the board’s issues are and visa versa. Sometimes there may be a difference of opinion on a matter and both sides need to be able to understand where the other is coming from. In this respect I have also tried as much as possible to make sure that people reach a consensus. I hate taking votes - you can’t disenfranchise chunks of people. There are many different groupings within PRS – as well as the obvious ones of publishers, writers and externals – and they all need to be able to understand each other.’
Rich’s departure as PRS Chairman will not see him leaving the society altogether. Instead he hopes to stay on as a board director. He has one final piece of advice to his successor: ‘When I was appointed to the position I was given a book called How To Be An Effective Chairman and one of the pieces of advice that stuck in my mind was “a good chairman makes everyone else looks good”. This is something that has really stuck with me, and a philosophy that I hope will be taken up by whoever follows in my stead. I just hope my legacy as chairman will be remembered as such.’ Photo: With Michael Eavis
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From personally proposing a reduction in the PRS membership fee - a move which saw the organisation’s new membership applications exceed more than 1,000 in one month for the first time in its history – to promoting the diversity of both the society’s membership and staff, it is clear that Rich’s time as chairman has been fruitful.
‘I’d like to think that I’ve really broadened the role of chairman – it’s now much more socially inclusive than it used to be,’ he says. ‘For example, I increased the chairman’s political networking. Anything that can be done to support UK music in the eyes of government is essential.’
Rich says he hopes his successor will be able to continue with some of the innovations he introduced, and emphasises it’s important that whoever takes the mantle up needs to ‘get out a lot’. ‘It’s important to be seen at events as well as communicating with PRS for Music members,’ he says. In that respect the monthly Chairman’s Dinners, introduced by Rich, have been a real success, giving high-profile members who are not on the board a chance to come and voice their views about what goes on.
‘It’s equally important to make sure that management and the CEO realise what the board’s issues are and visa versa. Sometimes there may be a difference of opinion on a matter and both sides need to be able to understand where the other is coming from. In this respect I have also tried as much as possible to make sure that people reach a consensus. I hate taking votes - you can’t disenfranchise chunks of people. There are many different groupings within PRS – as well as the obvious ones of publishers, writers and externals – and they all need to be able to understand each other.’
Rich’s departure as PRS Chairman will not see him leaving the society altogether. Instead he hopes to stay on as a board director. He has one final piece of advice to his successor: ‘When I was appointed to the position I was given a book called How To Be An Effective Chairman and one of the pieces of advice that stuck in my mind was “a good chairman makes everyone else looks good”. This is something that has really stuck with me, and a philosophy that I hope will be taken up by whoever follows in my stead. I just hope my legacy as chairman will be remembered as such.’ Photo: With Michael Eavis
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