Blender names biggest record company screw-ups

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The music mag lists the worst business decisions made by record companies.

No. 1: The Recording Industry Association of America sues Napster, the free-music file-sharing service, into oblivion. But online piracy still thrives, though Napster exists today as a pay service.

No. 2: Decca Records turns down the chance to sign the Beatles, believing that groups with guitars were losing popularity.

No. 3: Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. sells his label to MCA Records in 1988 for $60 million -- mere pennies compared to other record-company sales around that time.

No. 10: Columbia Records tries to model singer Alicia Keys after Whitney Houston, and she departs in frustration. She signs with J Records and sells 20 million records to date.

No. 12: In 1998, Geffen Records fronts Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses $1 million to finish GNR's fifth album, already four years in the making. He never finished it, having driven off original band members and several producers in the process.

No. 14: Soul powerhouse Stax Records of Memphis unintentionally signs away its catalog to Atlantic.

No. 15: MCA spends $2.2 million on the 2001 debut album of Carly Smithson, nee Hennessy. The album sells fewer than 400 copies, and today Smithson is a contestant on "American Idol."

No. 17: Phonograph inventor Thomas Edison designs records to work only on his players, not to the burgeoning industry's standards. And he ignores popular jazz music in favor of waltzes and foxtrots.

No. 19: Hoping music fans will commit to buying an entire album rather than just a single, the industry kills the 45 and begins its own demise.

No. 20: MCA bets a hefty $1 million on fledgling hair-metal band Pretty Boy Floyd. The band blows the money and their debut album tanks.

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No. 1: The Recording Industry Association of America sues Napster, the free-music file-sharing service, into oblivion. But online piracy still thrives, though Napster exists today as a pay service.

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