Career
Yetnikoff was born in Brooklyn and graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1953, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After earning his law degree at Columbia University, he joined the Rosenman & Colin law firm, which represented CBS Records. He then joined the CBS/Columbia Records law department in 1962 and rose to become head of the department. He was promoted to head CBS Records International in 1971. When Clive Davis was sacked by CBS for minor financial impropriety in 1973, and the legendary CBS executive Goddard Lieberson retired in 1975, Yetnikoff was promoted to President of CBS Records and a vice president of CBS, a position he held until September 1990. During his time as President of CBS Records, Yetnikoff oversaw the creation of the most profitable and prestigious stable of artists in music history such as Michael Jackson, George Michael, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Cyndi Lauper, Meat Loaf, Boston, Living Colour and Public Enemy.
In 1986, he was executive producer of the Hollywood comedy movie Ruthless People, starring Bette Midler and Danny DeVito.
Renowned for his "colorful" personality and his abrasive management style, Yetnikoff was a key protagonist of the 1990 book Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business, Fredric Dannen's landmark exposé of the shady dealings by major American record labels in the 1970s and 1980s. The book focused on the practice of payola; the record companies' controversial connections with "The Network", a loose grouping of so-called "Indies" (independent record promoters) who were, by the 1980s, being paid tens of millions of dollars annually by major record labels to promote new releases to American radio stations and who could reputedly make or break a new record.
In the book, Dannen recounted Yetnikoff's rise to power at CBS, his "war" with hated corporate rival Warner Music Group, then owned by Warner Communications, its head Steven J. Ross and his escalating conflict with CBS Records Deputy President Dick Asher—who came to oppose the use of "Indie" promoters — which culminated in Yetnikoff's controversial sacking of Asher in April 1983. According to Dannen, Yetnikoff strongly favored the use of "Indies," and in the early 1980s he opposed a plan by the RIAA to investigate the use of "Indie" promoters after a series of NBC News reports revealed apparent links between prominent "Indie" promoter Fred DiSipio, and members of the Gambino crime family, including notorious New York Mob boss John Gotti.
The book also examined Yetnikoff's intimate links with other major industry figures, including music industry "Godfather" Morris Levy, prominent music industry lawyer Allen Grubman, Michael Jackson's one-time manager Frank Dileo and former artist manager Tommy Mottola, whom Yetnikoff appointed to a senior post at CBS Records after its sale to the Sony Corporation in 1988.
Yetnikoff renewed his public feud with Ross in 1989 when Yetnikoff interfered in Sony's negotiation with Ross and Time Warner in signing Jon Peters and Peter Guber to co-head Sony's newly acquired subsidiary Columbia Pictures (Now known as Sony Pictures Entertainment). At the time, Guber and Peters both had contracts with Time Warner's Warner Bros. unit. As a result, Sony's U.S. head Michael P. Schuloff, embarrassed by Yetnikoff's abusive behavior, quietly settled with Ross and Time Warner over Guber and Peters, who became co-heads of its movie unit.
After leaving CBS Records in 1990 (renamed Sony Music Entertainment in 1991), Yetnikoff put together an independent label Velvel Records, which debuted in 1995. The label released many records, including The Kinks catalog. It was sold to Koch Records in 1999 and Yetnikoff was no longer involved with the label. Subsequently he co-founded Commotion Records an independent label focusing on soundtrack CDs.
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