Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 – July 4, 2009) was an American businessman, music publisher, writers’ representative and record label executive. He was known for his tough persona and aggressive negotiation tactics, many of which affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits for his musician clients, who previously had been receiving less lucrative record company contracts. He first scored monetary and contractual gains for Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen, one-hit rockabillies of the late 1950s, then parlayed his early successes into a position managing Sam Cooke, and eventually managed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones simultaneously, along with many other artists, becoming one of the most powerful individuals in the music industry during his era.
Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 – July 4, 2009) was an American businessman, music publisher, writers’ representative and autograph album label executive. He was known for his tough persona and rude negotiation tactics, many of which affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits for his musician clients, who in the past had been receiving less lucrative autograph album company contracts. He first scored monetary and contractual gains for Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen, one-hit rockabillies of the late 1950s, then parlayed his beforehand successes into a turn managing Sam Cooke, and eventually managed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones simultaneously, along behind many additional artists, becoming one of the most powerful individuals in the music industry during his era.
Rather than offering financial advice and maximizing his clients’ income, as a business overseer normally would, Klein set up what he called “buy/sell agreements” where a company that Klein owned became an intermediary amid his client and the stamp album label, owning the rights to the music, manufacturing the records, selling them to the autograph album label, and paying royalties and cash advances to the client. Although Klein greatly increased his clients’ incomes, he as well as enriched himself, sometimes without his clients’ knowledge. (The Rolling Stones’ $1.25 million encourage from the Decca Records label in 1965, for example, was deposited into a company that Klein had established, and the fine print of the contract did not require Klein to freedom it for 20 years.) Klein’s involvement behind both the Beatles and Rolling Stones would gain to years of litigation and, specifically for the Rolling Stones, accusations from the help that Klein had withheld royalty payments, stolen the publishing rights to their songs, and neglected to pay their taxes for five years; this last had necessitated their French “exile” in 1971.
After years of interest by the IRS, Klein was convicted of a misdemeanor proceedings of making a false statement upon his 1972 tax return, for which he spent two months of 1980 in jail.