Music Industry
Copeland began his career in the music industry with the help of his brother Miles, first as a tour manager for Wishbone Ash, and then as a booking agent in London at John Sherry Enterprises, where he discovered the Average White Band and other artists. In 1977, he moved to Macon, Georgia to work for the Paragon Agency booking tours for rock groups. Ian and Miles developed a strategy of using small venues and clubs to break the British band Squeeze in the North American market, a formula they would repeat with other bands. Around this time he also helped his brother Stewart write the lyrics of the song "Nothing Achieving", which became the B-side of The Police's first single "Fall Out".
In 1979, Copeland founded Frontier Booking International (FBI) in New York, a talent agency that represented many of the premier New Wave acts of the 1980s, including the B-52's, The Cure, The Police, Simple Minds, The English Beat, and The Go-Go's. The agency grew to include hundreds of diverse musical performers on its roster (the Buzzcocks, Nine Inch Nails, Concrete Blonde, Iggy Pop, General Public, Charlie Peacock, Let's Active, R.E.M., Sting, Morrissey), as well as representing actors. The music division of FBI was merged into InterTalent Agency in 1992, and Copeland moved to Los Angeles soon thereafter.
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