Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead
Just in case you need some academic justification to start treating your art like the business it really is, a Nova Southeastern University business professor is delving into what made the Grateful Dead one of the most profitable bands in history.
Among the practices the band innovated were:
- incorporating their business early on
- a telephone hotline for fans
- an in-house ticket distribution house
- a profitable merchandise division
- aggressive pursuit of copyright infringers
These may sound like common practices today, but for many businesses of the 1960s and 70s–let alone for bands–the Dead were really ahead of their time.
The story, which appears in the March issue of The Atlantic is definitely worth a full read.