Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records and a longtime friend / supporter of U2, spoke Tuesday night at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. The event was a celebration of reggae music as part of Black History Month — Blackwell, of course, launched the career of reggae legend Bob Marley.

He also launched U2’s career, and that topic came up during Q&A with attendees. One of our good friends in Cleveland was at the event and shared these thoughts (and a photo below) about the proceedings….

—————-

My favorite story: Blackwell’s first “contract” was two lines written on the back of a check referencing the payment was for a particular recording, so that when the check was signed, it was an agreement. He also explained that in the early days, no thought was really given to royalty payments because there was no expectation that these recordings would have ongoing value. It was simply, we’ll press x copies, sell x copies, end of transaction. Another fun story was that as a young man his career path choice of Record Company over the Movie industry was result of a visit to a fortune teller.

A couple of interesting comments….

When asked about advice for young bands starting out these days, he stated they should do as much as possible themselves. “It’s not expensive to record yourself these days. You can promote yourself on a website, play out in clubs to get known. It won’t be a fast process but you can grow an audience”. He lamented that there was “nothing happening in the music industry” and that it “lacked vitality.” He also lamented that there was no element of mystery between an artist and their audiences today, there’s no holding back, compared to Dylan about whom so much is still unknown to his fans.

When asked about how he came to be aware of U2, he explained that at the time he had an A&R man focused on press and another focused on radio - because some artists tended to have better press reviews than airplay. It was his A&R press rep who encouraged him to come see this new band. U2 was playing in south London, the same night that Bob Marley played the Crystal Palace in London, and so after the Marley show, he went to see U2. He said he really didn’t get their music because he was more of a reggae fan, but he sensed “something magical” about them and really responded to their music. He added “the more you get to know them, the better they are.”