The Music Biz

A look at the difficulties of getting a recording deal, as struggling band Some Have Fins try to impress industry bigwigs at a gig in north London. If you ever thought This Is Spinal Tap was too silly to be true, tune in.

What spectacular pitfalls await the unwary songwriter who doesn't pay close attention to the complicated paperwork. Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago wrote Why Do Fools Fall in Love? in the 50s, a song that has earned millions of dollars. But one of them drives a taxi cab, and the other is on welfare. Why? Because businessmen were reaping the rewards of the writers' work. Follow the history of the ten-year legal case to its dramatic conclusion.

Image has the power to make or break a musician's career. Promotional campaigns to create that image can involve press coverage, advertising, photographs and million-dollar videos. Jon Bon Jovi, Debbie Harry, Bruce Springsteen, and Aerosmith explain how they have played to the camera, while some relative newcomers -- Australian band Let Loose -- are exposed to the wonders of television.

The repackaging of Meat Loaf is one of the success stories in the 35 billion dollar global music industry, returning him to the top of the charts after years of being down on his luck. Who made it happen? How much of a record's success has to do with the music, and how much is attributable to marketing?

The most demanding of all rock 'n' roll rituals is the tour. Join US metal band Metallica as they prepare for a show at Milton Keynes Bowl, the final night of a two-year tour. While the band are on stage, piles of unofficial merchandise and touted tickets are sold outside the gates.

The music industry has gone global, carved up by a handful of multinational giants. CBS Records sold to Sony. Virgin Records, the only major independent label left by the early 1990s, sold to EMI following Richard Branson's cash flow problems. How can this $35 billion industry protect its corporate "assets" from the dangerous effects of their own traditional lifestyle - sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll - which brought so many star-studded careers of the 1960s to a premature end?