5 Business Lessons from The Eagles
5 Business Lessons from The Eagles
After watching The History of the Eagles on Showtime for the fifth time this week, I started to shift my interest from the music fandom aspect of the terrific Alison Eastwood-directed documentary and began to assess the lessons learned in a business context. Here are the five lessons from The Eagles that could apply to any business:
1. Never sacrifice the quality of the product: when Don Felder brought “Victim of Love” to the band to record, he insisted on singing lead vocals on the track. Glen Frye and Don Henley were not convinced his vocal chops were good enough. They both agreed that Henley (one of the great voices in rock history) provide the lead vocals. Now, Don Felder is a good singer. However, he’s not as good as Henley (how many are?), so the track was demoed and recorded with Henley on vocals over the loud and impassioned objection of Felder. Why? “The vocals simply weren’t up to band standards,” explained Henley. Put another way, Henley and Frye refused to compromise the quality of the product even if it meant causing internal turmoil. Are you prepared to defend your standards with the same passion?
2. Develop a viable succession plan: when Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner left the band, Frye and Henley know exactly who should take their place based on the direction they wanted to take the band. Frye knew Timothy B. Schmidt was the perfect choice to replace Meisner because he was not only a terrific bass player with the same exact (unique) vocal range as Meisner, but also because he already successfully replaced him once in a previous band (Poco). When Leadon left, Frey and Henley wanted someone who could rock out a little more and bring a rebellious street cred to the band. Enter Joe Walsh.
3. Listen to your customers and give them what they want. Every time: Randy Meisner had a vocal range that was quite unique for a rocker. He was able to hit some extremely high notes. When performing their first Billboard number one hit, “Take it to the Limit,” live in concert, Meisner was called upon to hit a signature note at the very end of the song. It was a huge fan favorite at every concert. At one particular performance, Meisner refused to perform the song because he didn’t feel he could hit that note that night (for reasons best discovered while viewing the documentary). Frye tried to convince him that it was his duty to perform the song because there were thousands of people who waited months and paid good money to hear Meisner perform that song. Frye was so adamant that Meisner do the song that he was willing to physically duel with Meisner to get him to see things his way. Pleasing the audience was that important to Frye as it should be to every business that wants to maintain a loyal following.
4. Make sure the key principles are on the same page when it comes to financial planning: Ultimately Don Felder left the Eagles as a result of years of conflict between him and Henley/Frye. The likely main cause of the tension between the artists who collaborated on the brilliant musical masterpiece “Hotel California” was a difference of opinion on how the band revenue should be divided. Felder thought the band was operating in a “One for all and all for one” model where all the proceeds were split equally among the band members. Frye and Henley had a completely different vision for the compensation structure which demanded a bigger portion of the dollars go to the main drivers of the success of the business, the songwriting team of Henley and Frey. Henley and Frye argued that because they wrote the hits that generated the revenues (even as solo artists during the Eagles 14-year hiatus, thus indirectly keeping the Eagle relevant), they should be paid more. Guess who won that argument?
5. Sometimes being successful means being unpopular: Irving Azoff is the manager of The Eagles., who acknowledges that in order to ensure the success of the band, he had to do some pretty unseemly things. This list includes firing people who were friends, initiating hard-line negotiations with industry giants who had done a lot for the band to ensure The Eagles were treated fairly, taking care of certain “regulatory issues” that could have stymied the creative process, etc. At The Eagles’ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, Don Henley acknowledged Azoff’s approach by offering the following compliment: “He may be Satan, but he’s our Satan.” Azoff’s response: “Show me a manager who has a lot of friends in this business and I’ll show you a manager who sold out his artist.” Sometimes you gotta break a few eggs…
The History of the Eagles is airing on Showtime. Check it out for the musical, cultural and business lessons.
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