Question: WHO HELD BACK THE STONE?

In coining the phrase ‘marketing myopia' Levitt (1960) ensured his place in the marketing pantheon. By myopia he meant the short-sightedness that is characteristic of managers who become blinded by their belief in their product; their technology or their ways of doing business. While a pride in one's product, technology or formula for success is in right measure a good thing, if this is misplaced it can be seen to be the only thing that matters. This can miss that business relies on customers and customers' tastes changing. While Levitt chastized engineers, accountants and technologists, he did not mention that often marketers themselves can be blind to the emerging realities of the market place. During the 1960s executives at Columbia Records met weekly to discuss what singles to shortlist for release. At one meeting in June 1965 the single ‘Like a Rolling Stone' by a then relatively unknown singer called Bob Dylan came up for discussion. Most of those present, from among the artists and repertoire (A&R) to those working in promotions loved the fresh, raw feel of the work. Only Sales and Marketing had a different opinion.

Considine (2004) remarked ‘[unfortunately] their opinion mattered, for Sales and Marketing was the engine behind the label's success'. The main overt objection that they raised at the meeting was that the song's length, at just under six minutes, was well over the average length of three minutes for singles played on national radio. The solution they suggested was to cut it in half. Dylan refused to change it. Already, in 1963, he had failed to persuade Columbia to release ‘Talkin' John Birch Society blues'. Lieberson, president of Columbia, had things other than Dylan on his mind at the time, not least the move to Columbia's parent's, CBS's, Sixth Avenue address. In any event Columbia's vice-president of marketing had never expressed any great fondness for Dylan, who had, according to Considine, performed at one of their mammoth sales conventions but had never ‘mingled'. Considine notes that the Sales and Marketing people had other reasons for not wanting Dylan.

They had fashioned Columbia's success by marketing pop, country, jazz and musicals to the mainstream market and Dylan's style was regarded as being too close to rock ‘n' roll and too raucous. This attitude had led Columbia to turn down Elvis Presley in 1955 as well as the first US album by the Beatles in 1963. In the debacle surrounding the move to the new building Dylan's single was dealt with by memo; it was to be moved from an ‘immediate special' to an ‘unassigned release'. Considine interprets the situation as being that the single's launch had been deferred and was likely to be consigned to the dustbin of history. Columbia executives were caught up in the move to the new building, with all the hassle and heartache that entailed, including the decision as to what to retain of the memorabilia that had been collected over the years and what was not. A ‘welcoming' notice from Columbia's parent CBS had said that clutter would not be allowed in the building. Considine recalls how, during his last trek through the old A&R department, he was invited to sort through a stack of records and demos that were to be junked. In the collection he found a studio-cut acetate of ‘Like a Rolling Stone'.

Carefully he packaged this in an empty long-playing (LP) jacket, carried it home and played it in his apartment. He recalls how he felt exhilaration, ‘Heart pounding. Body rolling - followed by the neighbours banging on the walls in protest'. Considine brought the acetate to Arthur's, the hottest disco in town, where ironically Dylan, dressed in ‘beer-spattered Army-Navy store couture', and his rowdy friends previously had been refused admission. Considine was a club member and handed the acetate to the disc jockey (DJ) while deliberately omitting to mention the name of the artist. The DJ played ‘Like a Rolling Stone' at around 11.00 p.m., and, as Considine remembers, the effect was seismic as people stopped talking, jumped to their feet and danced the entire six minutes. ‘Who is it?' the DJ yelled. ‘Bob Dylan,' replied Considine. There were two important people in Arthur's that night. One was a DJ at WABC, the premier Top 40 radio station in Manhattan. The other was a music programmer at WMCA. Next morning both called Columbia Records and demanded to know where their copy of the new Dylan record was.

Within days, by 15 July, Dylan's single was scheduled for release. DJs were alerted that the promotional copy of ‘Like a Rolling Stone' was to be pressed on red vinyl. On side 1 of the disc the label read ‘Like a Rolling Stone (Part 1). Timing 3.02.' Side 2 said, ‘Part 2. Timing 3.02.' Considine notes, ‘The song had been cut down the middle. Sales and Marketing had struck again.' But DJs simply recorded both sides of the disc on tape and spliced the whole thing together, so that by the following week ‘Like a Rolling Stone' was released in its full version. From there on the record became the subject of legend, being nominated some forty years later by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest rock ‘n' roll song of all time. Such was the power of the song that it propelled Columbia into the era of rock. Considine recalls that the previously omnipotent vice-president of sales and marketing did not lead the new era. Instead Goddard gave a lawyer with no A&R training and no ear for music the responsibility. His first task was to renew Bob Dylan's contract with Columbia. Dylan's demands exceeded those of top stars such as Andy Williams and Barbara Streisand, yet as Considine noted Dylan's demands were met.

1. Describe, using examples drawn from the case, how Columbia's sales and marketing department could be described as being myopic in Levitt's sense of the word

2. What deep seated problems underlie these instances of myopia?

3. List each problem and discuss the possibilities of addressing it.

4. How relevant is the case to the way in which the record industry operates today?