Pang explaining a personal photo of her and Lennon. Photo Credit: Lisa Occhino.

This past Wednesday afternoon May Pang stopped by Berklee to give a seminar and promote her book, Loving John: The Untold Story, detailing her time together with John Lennon. Her story is quite interesting; she worked for Lennon and Yoko Ono for a few years before dating Lennon. Although it may seem as if there were tension between Pang and Ono, the relationship was actually suggested by Ono in private, until Lennon made his own pursuit. Over the course of their 18-month relationship, Lennon was on hyper-speed in terms of creating and recording. Mind Games, Walls and Bridges, “Too Many Cooks Spoil the Soup,” and a rock ‘n’ roll project with Phil Spector were just a few things Pang and Lennon accomplished together. Although Pang is proud of her musical accomplishments with Lennon, she is most content with the work put into John’s relationship with his fellow Beatles, and most importantly, with his son Julian.

Photo Credit: Lisa Occhino.

John hadn’t seen Julian for three years before Pang suggested they should see one another. The disconnect occurred after Lennon’s relationship with Ono took off. The two moved to the U.S. leaving behind many loved ones who they’d later have to rebuild relationships with. Pang shared stories of spending time with “the boys,” as she called them. One story was about the first day the agreement was supposed to be signed to officially end the writing partnership of the Beatles. Every member except for John was present, along with a room full of lawyers as well. John didn’t want to go and left everyone at that meeting hanging, but it mostly offended George Harrison.

John was on good terms with everyone but George, which is sad because he always viewed him as a kid brother. “George was just George,” said Pang. Since he and John were equally stubborn, George was the Beatle that John really needed to come face to face with. After a while John apologized, and when asked why he wasn’t there for George, John replied with, “I’m here now.”

Pang spoke of a night when she was hanging out with John, Paul and Linda McCartney. Paul told them of a new project he would be going down to New Orleans to record, which later became Venus and Mars. That night, after the McCartneys left, John confessed to Pang that he wanted to go down to New Orleans with Paul to write. Pang looked at him and said, “Now that you are not bound by a piece of paper, I think it’s a great idea.” Sadly it never happened, but it makes you wonder, what if?

Pang worked for Apple Records for quite some time, but before that she never had an expansive knowledge of music. I had a moment with Pang and asked her: “How deeply were you involved in the music scene when you applied for the job at Apple Records?” Her answer was, “I wasn’t much of a performer, but I was always interested in who wrote the songs and created the harmonies, the behind the scenes aspects of the music.” Pang had a great ear for what sounded good, and in the music business, that is what really matters.

Along with Loving John: The Untold Story, she also released a book of photography called Instamatic Karma. They are both available in bookstores around the world as well as online.

The years Pang worked for Apple was definitely a highlight of her great career. She’s brought much knowledge and information to the surface, and what she’s accomplished in her life is very impressive and inspiring.

Article By: Lisa Occhino

Despite the pouring rain, there wasn’t an empty seat in the David Friend Recital Hall on Friday, February 25 for the 18^th Annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture. Presented by the Music Business/Management Department, the event brings guest speakers who possess the qualities of “progressive thinking, passion, and vision for a better music industry,” according to founding chair Don Gorder. This year’s lecture definitely did not disappoint; it featured James Diener, Founder and CEO/President of A&M/Octone Records (home to Maroon 5, Flyleaf, K’Naan, and Hollywood Undead).

Before A&M/Octone, Diener served as both the head of A&R and Marketing at Columbia Records (it was virtually unheard of for one person to simultaneously be in charge of two different departments of a record label in the ‘90s).  His holistic approach to artist development is so effective that it was published in two case studies by Harvard Business School. Diener has a very unique perspective on the music industry because he has experienced the changes it’s gone through firsthand as an executive. He refers to the last 8-10 years of the music industry as “A.D.” and the 35 years before that as “B.C.” It’s too early to tell if this new era of music technology, the Internet, file sharing, and social networking will be good, bad, or both, but Diener insists that “we will never see anything like this again.”

Since the title of his lecture was “A&R and Artist Development Strategy for a Changing Music Industry,” Diener made certain to define each of those terms. He said that A&R is a very broad term because approaches to it can be totally different depending on the decade or the person. Artist Development is basically breaking an artist in the marketplace, which is not easy. Diener explained how in the “old days,” eight out of 10 artists on a label would fail, but the revenue pouring in from the two artists who succeeded would more than cover the losses for those who failed. However, the main issue nowadays is that the risk/reward ratio for artist development is no longer in balance. This is largely due to the fact that file sharing has killed music industry revenue.

Diener also pointed out that all of the new technology today is doing a great deal to help artists as well. For instance, there is now a greater connection between artists and fans than there ever was in the past because of social media. In addition, there’s a much lower barrier of entry for musicians in the marketplace now. Artists can essentially record an album in their bedrooms if they have a laptop and a mic, and they can digitally distribute it worldwide through services such as TuneCore and CD Baby. This has really leveled out the playing field, but Diener believes that a major label is still necessary in order to launch an artist into superstardom. (Historically, there hasn’t been a case yet where an artist has been able to reach such a massive level of fame without the marketing and monetary support of a label behind them.)

Diener predicts that music will soon be released for the purpose of promoting other sources of revenue. He also advises us to be a jack of all trades and a master of two or three in order to succeed in the music industry today.

What do you think of Diener’s opinion of the future of the music industry? Will it be able to stand on its own, or will it need to rely on some sort of combination with other revenue streams in order to survive? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.