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# The Culture Of The “Old-School” Record Industry
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/the-culture-of-the-oldschool-record-industry/
- Published: 2010-07-19T08:25:00.000Z
- Updated: 2010-07-19T08:25:00.000Z
- Description: Why do fans download music? Well, the story goes that file-sharers believe record industry executives—i.e. “The Man”—are just a bunch of coke snorting, extremely rich, shady people, who wear Armani. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/07/the-culture-of-the-oldschool-record-indus
- Author: admin
- Tags: Major Labels, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:59

Why do fans download music? Well, the story goes that file-sharers *believe* record industry executives—i.e. “**The Man**”—are just a bunch of coke snorting, extremely rich, shady people, who wear Armani suits and pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to get **Christina Aguilera's** newest single on the radio. Fans downloading music off the web; it is simply their teenage way of rebelling against the corporate system and sticking to these bigwigs. Now, where in the world would a sixteen-year-old gain such a *negative* perception of the industry? Maybe, because **a good portion** **of the stories** used to be not far from thetruth:

> [![image from 4.bp.blogspot.com](https://a1.typepad.com/6a0111683c7a25970c0134858ab139970c-150wi "image from 4.bp.blogspot.com")](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/%5FqGSiMLu6NXM/SzXK2O8IyXI/AAAAAAAAB6U/5OU--Eq6av4/s400/Larry+Harris.jpg?ref=hypebot.com) "We all did **coke**. We all smoked **grass**. We all did **Quaaludes**, to be honest, and I know about the company’s reputation. We didn’t do any **more than any other company did**. We didn’t hide it. For some reason, we weren’t really afraid of getting arrested. **Lawyers and** **bankers for huge banks were doing them** — really strait-laced looking bankers from huge banks were doing them with us… **It was part of the culture at the time** especially in the music business. As for shady deals, there was payola going on all that stuff and again **we weren’t the only ones doing it**. Everyone in the business was doing it." – **Larry Harris**, author of *And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records*. **[Read more](http://blogcritics.org/music/article/interview-larry-harris-author-of-and/page-3/?ref=hypebot.com#ixzz0u9TsnRAU)**.