MAKING A SOUND LIVING
The Music Industry . . . The Madness And The Rules By Lori Baldassi
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he biography “Anything for a Hit” is written about surviving the music industry by the first woman A&R Executive in the history of Atlantic Records. However, don’t get too excited! Atlantic Records was founded in 1947 and it wasn’t until well into the ‘90s that Dorothy Carvello held that title. Born into a middle-class, tough Italian family in Brooklyn, New York, she was the first woman at Atlantic to move in the circles of the most powerful movers and shakers in the music industry. Sounds glamorous, doesn’t it? Read on. I recently spoke with Carvello from her home in New York about her experience chasing the bullet to number one. So let’s reflect now on how her career began. Carvello started as an assistant to Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. Imagine sitting in on the most monumental meetings shaping the music and the talent of the label, only to be smacked down, humiliated, overlooked and punished for being female. A woman who could run the company but, in a room full of men, was subjected to numerous scenarios and situations that today you would be arrested for. Fighting the misogynistic, self-indulgent egomaniacs of all-male executives around her was one thing, but on more than one occasion she had to physically defend herself. For all her hard work and dedication, she was labelled with the nickname “Bossy Bebe” by her coworkers. Women were seen only as accruements even though she was producing results. The old boys’ thick as thieves network pretended to let her in, but never did. Proving her team spirit, Carvello brought the attention of the label to a young band that Atlantic signed and out of the gate became multi-platinum selling rock stars. The male co-worker, whom she worked with on the deal, received a brand-new, high-end car from the label as a bonus for signing the act and her . . . a cheque for $1,200. Work friendships forged through the years always came to a ‘me or you’ situation that never worked in her favour. As Carvello clearly puts it: “the betrayal to me was of monumental proportions.”
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Make no mistake — Carvello was a sharp female executive producing milliondollar results, but to them, she was invisible and should have known her place. Holding up her hands for mistakes and lessons learned, she had a few cringe-worthy forgivable moments; however, this was nothing compared to what was done to her by executives and socalled “friends”. Not to make excuses, but when you’re neckdeep in the rarefied Released in 2018 Author Dorothy Carvello’s air of rock star egos, book “Anything For A Hit” struck a nerve in the testosterone, money music industry board rooms that went deep. entitled, powerful men According to a review by Homeland actor Maury — mixed in with a lot Sterling, it is “an amazing testament to her experience of free drugs, alcohol as a woman in the complicated, fast-moving abusive and compelling world of business and rock and a group you’re n’roll.” Front cover photo from the book courtesy of marginally part of — Mia McDonald. well, ya’ make mistakes. After a particularly ugly incident, Carvello said enough is enough and went to human resources where she was guaranteed she would not lose her job nor be punished for speaking up. Both happened. She writes how time and time again she was subjected to sexist racists, homophobic and toxic workplaces, no matter what record label she was at. How brave is she to write this book? She names, names!
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