Miles Copeland III
Chairman - The Copeland Group
Course Session: Artist Management and Promotions
When Miles Axe Copeland III was born on May 2, 1944, there was a very bright star that night though no one is certain which star it was. There were also V-1 and V-2 rockets dropping in the near vicinity, as it was the height of the World War II blitz of London. Miles father, Miles Axe Copeland, Jr., was stationed in England in the American army doing counter-intelligence for the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services) where he met and married Miles future mother, Lorraine Adie, who was in British Intelligence S.O.E (Special Operations Executive).
Miles passport shows his birth date as April 2 because father Miles made a mistake on the original application. Throughout life, Miles has had surprise birthday parties thrown on April 2 and people wish him happy birthday one month early. Rarely has anyone except close family wished him happy birthday on May 2. (The psychological damage done to him due to this fluke is unknown).
After the war, the family moved to Washington, D.C. where father Miles, with a small nucleus of intelligence officers were given the task of organizing a central intelligence gathering organization combining the best of the various forces intelligence corps including the O.S.S. This resulted in the foundation of the C.I.A. In 1948, he was sent to Damascus, Syria as the CIA operative with the title cultural attache. While in Damascus, he was directly involved in the overthrow of the Syrian government, the first overthrow of a foreign government by an U.S. government operative using covert means. While in Damascus, young Miles became fluent in Arabic, which has come in handy recently with his launch into World Music, particularly music emanating from the Middle East. Apparently loosing some of this aptitude over the years, Miles current Arabic fluency is convincing only to those who dont speak a word of Arabic. He is however quite proficient in French.
The family then alternated between Middle East posts and Washington D.C. In 1953, father Miles Jr. was loaned by the C.I.A. to Gamal Abdul Nasser (President of Egypt) to organize the Egyptian secret intelligence. He soon became Nassers closest western advisor. It was here that Lorraine Copeland took up archeology and Miles III took up an interest in collecting anything ancient, from mummy parts to coins. It was also here that young Miles became friends with Col. Hasan Tuhami, Nassers machine gun toting bodyguard who lived next door. In later years, this friendship became extremely useful as Mr. Tuhami became Vice Prime Minister of Egypt and came to the rescue of The Police whose equipment was stuck in Egypts customs jeopardizing a concert at the Cairo University that night. Father Miles exploits are recounted in three books: Game of Nations, The Real Spy World and his autobiography.
From 1957-68 the Copeland family was stationed in Beirut, Lebanon during the hey-day of that city. Miles attended high school at the American Community School where he was president of his senior class. During the summer breaks he taught judo, having previously earned a first-degree black belt. He was the first person ever to put on a judo exhibition for Lebanese television, his first television appearance. He was also presented with a license to teach Judo to the Lebanese Army. He accepts no responsibility for the ineffectiveness of that army in subsequent years.
From 1962-66 he attended Birmingham Southern College (receiving his B.A.) in Birmingham, Alabama, the birthplace of his father and home to various Copelands (cousins, grandmother, etc.) From 1966-69 he attended the American University of Beirut earning his M.A. in Economics. He promoted his first music concert at the University in 1968 the first psychedelic happening in Beirut.
Also in 1968, he formed his first business partnership, Middle East Security Consultants, with his close friend, Amer Ghaleb, son of Egypts Ambassador to Lebanon (known to run the largest spy network in Lebanon). Various incidents caused both the CIA local chief and Ambassador Ghaleb to put an end to this enterprise. Of particular embarrassment was Miles unfortunate habit of answering the phone, CIA, how can we help you?
He later joined the family who had subsequently set up base in England. Here Miles met British rock musicians and fell into the music business. His first group, which he helped form, was Wishbone Ash, which became a successful progressive rock band that eventually led Miles to sign Climax Blues Band, Renaissance, Al Stewart, Joan Armatrading, Curved Air and Caravan. Wishbones first LP went top 30 and they were voted Best New Band by the major U.K. music press. The bands third LP was unanimously voted Album of the Year in the U.K. Wishbone Ash, and later Miles other clients, made numerous tours of the U.S. making Miles an unrivaled expert in every aspect of touring bands in the U.S. market.
During this first period of Miles career he formed his first record label, BTM Records, became partners in a UK concert booking agency which first employed brother Ian fresh back from Vietnam, and started a music industry magazine, College Event, keeping his name out of it via a front man editor so he could write glowing articles about all his artists. Coincidentally, the magazine revolutionized concert booking in the UK simply by publishing regular lists of touring artists, their average fees, who their booking agent was and the phone numbers. This eliminated a whole layer of middlemen who up to that time bought and sold artists from agent to agent, promoter to promoter because they knew who was who and how to get hold of them.
Also in this period Miles befriended a brash, eager young New York lawyer unhappy in a sleepy law firm. Seeing in him a possible exit scenario he talked Miles into setting up a New York office with him in one room and Miles in another. That lawyer was the now-legendary Allen Grubman and the office the beginning of what is now the worlds most powerful music business law firm.
In 1975 Miles embarked on a major moving festival tour throughout Europe much like todays Lollapalooza called Startrucking 75 which featured most of his acts, plus Tina Turner, Lou Reed and John McLaughlins Mahavishnu Orchestra. The first of its kind, Startrucking was, in concept, a success, but it was a financial quagmire that forced Miles to dissolve his management company and start again. The final straw occurred on the last several shows when Lou Reed failed to show up as he had locked himself in a bathroom in New Zealand and there was no indication of when he would come out. This comeuppance proved to be an invaluable lesson in life. Namely, what goes up, can also come down, and when down, one really finds out whom ones friends are. One consequence was Miles was now stuck in England and had to give up his office in New York. He also gave up the magazine, record company and the booking agency partnership.
Miles way back up coincided with the punk explosion in the United Kingdom where he found an affinity because the punk rockers didnt care that Miles no longer had any money. They just wanted someone to pay attention to them, and Miles did.
During this anarchic period, 1977-79, Miles acted in various roles as agent, manager, producer and record company (founding Illegal Records, Deptford Fun City Records and Step Forward in 1977) for almost every act in the punk/new wave scene: The Sex Pistols (as agent for the first and only European tour), The Clash (for about three weeks), Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, Cherry Vanilla, Generation X (with Billy Idol), Blondie (being the first to bring the group to the U.K.), Television, John Cale, Lou Reed, Patti Smith and many more. The depth of his relationships in the punk scene made him the obvious choice to executive produce the first movie dedicated to the scene, Michael Whites Urgh! A Music War, which still airs occasionally on TV around the world. His office also became the headquarters for the Rolling Stone magazine of the punk movement, Sniffing Glue, the most famous and influential fanzine of the day. With Miles help the fanzine grew from selling a few hundred copies to a 20,000 circulation accomplished largely by hard work, word of mouth and a unique product.
He was manager for Squeeze and for his brother Stewarts new band, The Police. Miles recorded John Cale, Wayne County and the Electric Chairs, Chelsea, The Cortinas, Sham 69, The Cramps, The Fall, Alternative TV and both The Polices and Squeezes first singles. In 1978, he recorded The Polices first album and, after hearing Roxanne, decided that the group would require the distribution of a major company. By making A and M Records an offer they couldnt refuse The Police were signed to that company.
Miles then independently financed the groups first U.S. tour which sent word of mouth wheels in motion and which subsequently saw the group become the hottest band in the world. Their success and the novel methods used to break them enabled Miles to talk Jerry Moss (head of A and M) into distributing a U.S. version of his U.K. labels with A and M in the United States, and I.R.S. Records was born. In the next few years the company had hits with The Buzzcocks, The Beat, The Cramps, Wall of Voodoo, Timbuk 3, R.E.M. and a 1 album with the all-girl group The Go-Gos. This album ended up as the 1 seller in the U.S. for the entire year. This formula established the label as one of the most innovative in the business, and, at the same time, The Police rose to greater and greater heights, giving Miles and I.R.S. an immense profile. On July 2, 1982 Miles was the front page of the UK Marketing Week magazine with the headline The Empire Built on Rock. Looking back on the I.R.S. legacy it becomes apparent that not only was the label influential in marketing music, but it ended up populating the business with a surprisingly large number of top executives who got their start there and who credit Miles with launching their careers.
Another major success Miles had was with The Bangles whom he managed from their early beginnings until several months before the groups dissolution. In 1986, the all-girl group had the number one worldwide hit of the year Walk Like An Egyptian. Though Miles had always seen this song as a smash it was not considered a single either by the groups U.S. nor UK record companies. Miles couldnt talk the U.S. company into releasing it but did manage to cajole the UK company into releasing it as the fourth single. It took off immediately as a virtual phenomenon.
By coincidence this period also witnessed the beginning of MTV and Miles was one of the first to recognize the fledgling networks potential. The Police became the first artist to be sponsored by MTV and Miles became the first (and until now only) to have his record company have its own show on MTV, the IRS Cutting Edge. This novel show ran for five years and was the first to expose on television many of the decades-later stars.
Also in the world of television Miles developed Jools Holland, the young keyboard player from Squeeze, into a major TV host / personality. Believing Jools had that special something he talked the Police into using him as the host on their upcoming TV special. It worked for the Police AND for Jools, landing him in a five-year contract as host on Channel 4s music show, The Tube. After The Tube had run its course, Jools continued to be very much in demand. At one point Miles had the poor bastard commuting back and forth across the Atlantic (on the Concorde of course) hosting a Sunday TV show for Lorne Michaels in New York and a BBC show in London on Wednesdays.
Meanwhile, on a parallel and symbiotic path the third Copeland brother Ian was going from strength to strength as the premiere booking agent of the new wave, booking all of Miles bands plus a host of others. His exploits are recounted in his notorious autobiography published by Simon and Schuster, Wild Thing.
Miles has been a keynote speaker at the New Music Seminar and the Juno Awards and has been featured speaker at South by Southwest. In England he was given a one-hour program for Channel 4 Television titled Miles Copelands England aired nationally in prime time where Miles spoke about the good and bad sides of the United Kingdom, a fairly notorious program in that country, and apparently a favorite of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The program was picked up by Danish television and more recently, by Norwegian television who liked its capitalist sentiments. Interestingly, the show was scheduled for another airing on Channel 4 but was pulled after intense lobbying by several left-wing members of the programming board fearing it would have undue influence on the upcoming national elections. It is rumored that Miles was somewhat disappointed at this turn of events as the Conservative Party could now claim victory without Miles help. He also made numerous other television appearances in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Recently, he has been featured in four of VH-1 Behind The Music programs on The Police, Sting, The Go-Gos and The Bangles.
In 1984, The Police went into permanent hibernation and Miles carried on managing Sting through seven solo albums, and continues to work with brother Stewart who is one of the major soundtrack composers in the movies today. He watches over Stewarts interests in various bands, Animal Logic (with Stanley Clarke), Oysterhead (with Trey Anastasio and Les Claypool) and a new project with Andy Summers, the third member of the Police. He launched Stewarts major current business, film soundtracks by securing the score for him on Frances Ford Coppolas Rumblefish. Stewart has gone from strength to strength with countless soundtracks under his belt.
I.R.S. Records moved to MCA with hits that included Belinda Carlisle, the 1989 1 hit album from The Fine Young Cannibals and highly successful albums from R.E.M. (1982 through 1988). In the 1990, I.R.S. joined the EMI family and had hits with Concrete Blonde, Stan Ridgway, dada, and 1 hits in the U.K. with Pato Banton and Doctor and the Medics. Another signing was Torch Song containing William Orbit. Quickly realizing that William was the magic of the group and a production genius, Miles encouraged him to produce other IRS artists thereby launching Williams producing career. (Recently William produced Madonna.)
Miles broadened the base of the company in 1987 to take in films with I.R.S. Media, Inc. and has acted as Executive Producer for over twenty-five films to date beginning with the companys first film, The Decline of the Western Civilization Part II, The Metal Years, One False Move (directed by Carl Franklin, written by Billy Bob Thornton and chosen as the Best Movie of 1992) and Tom and Viv which was nominated for two Academy Awards (1995). Miles himself appears in one of the films, Bank Robber with Patrick Dempsey as a TV evangelist, a role he found particularly suited to. The film division was closed in 1996 to re-focus the company back to its core business of music. As a footnote, Miles also appeared in two memorable scenes in Stings film Bring on the Night.
Music publishing has always been a core business for Miles. IRS Music, Illegal Songs and Bugle Songs operate in London and Los Angeles. Miles hosts an annual songwriters retreat where he brings together writers and artists from all over the world to his 14th century castle in the Dordogne region of France. This has led to hits for platinum selling artists such as Celine Dion, Aerosmith, Jars of Clay, Toby Keith, Aaron Tippin and Jon Bon Jovi. Attendees have included Cher (who claims the retreat was one of the greatest experiences of her life), Carole King, Ted Nugent, Jeff Beck, Jon Bon Jovi, Hanson, Keith Urban and many more. The castle retreat is now held twice annually, in May and September and is in its tenth year.
In 1988, in the U.K., he joined with booking agent veteran Phil Banfield, purchased several other agencies, and created what has now become the third largest booking agency in Europe, CODA, representing a wide array of artists from dance to pop to rock and whose roster includes Zucchero, Jeff Beck, Supertramp and Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance to name a few of the over one hundred artists represented. The company is particularly strong in the DJ and dance market fluctuating between 1 and 2 in that market.
Along with his brothers, Stewart and Ian, Miles was honoree and recipient of the Humanitarian Award from the AMC Cancer Research Center in 1985. Billboard has also acknowledged him with an award for his contributions to the music world. In the U.K., during The Police years, he organized and ran, together with British M.P. (Member of Parliament) Anthony Steen, The Outlandos Trust, which donated a portion of Polices earnings to many youth music projects throughout Britain. He has also supported Sting and Trudie Stylers Rainforest Foundation.
In 1991 he formed Vending Intelligence to flush out some of his ideas of how to sell CDs to the lapsed buyers. The result was the first fully automated vending machine for CDs. The machine itself has been extremely successful but its launch coincided with several major chains selling CDs at or below cost making profits hard to come by as a pure CD retailer. In 2002 the machine has gained new life due to the dire straits of record retail and even more because of the rise of the DVD. The jury is still out on this venture.
In 1997, when EMI closed a number of labels in a major consolidation effort, Miles established the independent label ARK21 distributed by EMI worldwide. The roster included Waylon Jennings, Leon Russell, Liquid Soul, Beautiful South, Human League, Belinda Carlisle, Paul Carrack, Howard Jones, Alannah Myles, Tony Williams and Paul Thorn. Subsidiaries of the label include Mondo Melodia (world music), Pagan Records (techno/dance) and Pangaea Records (co-owned by Sting and devoted to soundtracks including Leaving Las Vegas, The Object of My Affection, The Mighty, The Thomas Crown Affair and Red Planet). In 2001 Pangaea became a wholly owned subsidiary of ARK21.
ARK21 moved distribution to Universal in 1999, now the worlds 1 record distributor. Initial success was achieved in Europe with Presence on the Pagan label and The Thomas Crown Affair soundtrack on the Pangaea label. More recently, the company released the Moody Blues Live on the ARK21 label, which was also a PBS special. Other unique and critically acclaimed albums were the soundtracks to the Imax films Everest, featuring the music of George Harrison, Dolphins, featuring the music of Sting and Journey Into Amazing Caves, featuring the music of The Moody Blues.
Married in 1989 to Argentinean model and sculptress Adriana Corajoria, the Copelands have three children, Miles Axe IV, Aeson Armstrong and Axton Emerson who reside in Los Angeles, London and Chateau Marouatte in France.
This marriage and the prevalence of the Spanish language in the Copeland household fostered an interest in the Latin Music market, particularly Rock en Espanol. Consequently, Miles found himself one of the few Anglos paying attention to this exciting new musical hybrid. He released Manu Chaos first solo album, Heros Del Silencio, Mano Negra and El Gran Silencio plus a compilation of the top Rock en Espanol stars from throughout Latin America performing Spanish language versions of Police songs on Outlandos D Americas. The most recent signing in this market is Tomas Rodriguez from Puerto Rico.
More recently Miles has become influenced by the Rai music movement in Algeria and France, which led him to encourage the collaboration of Rai Superstar Cheb Mami with Sting on Desert Rose from Stings Brand New Day album. This became a worldwide super hit and was performed at the Superbowl and Grammys (which was the first time Arabic was heard at both these events). Ark 21 released Cheb Mamis Meli Meli album in the U.S. in October 1999. This was followed by Khaled, Rachid Taha, Faudel and a number of other superstar Arab artists, including Kazem Al Saher, Ragheb Alame and Hakim.
September 1999 saw the reentry into the market of Sting with his new album Brand New Day. This album and the world tour (October 1999 thru April 2001) had Miles and the company heavily involved in all aspects of Sting. The album sold 8 million copies worldwide. The tour grossed 70 million. Unwittingly Miles virtually revolutionized the use of corporate advertising by a unique deal with Jaguar to promote the Desert Rose single. Upon first viewing the video for Desert Rose, Miles noticed that the Jaguar car inadvertently used came off as good as the song did. He immediately tracked down the advertising account executive for Jaguar and offered the video in return for a major TV campaign that advertised Stings song and album. The result was a fourfold sales jump for Sting AND Jaguar. This synergistic marriage of art and commerce has become the ultimate model that everyone has been trying to emulate ever since.
Many corporations had bad experiences working with music personalities and their entourages. Musicians by nature are suspicious and anti-establishment. Most would not believe there was actually promotion image enhancing-potential to be had only money. The Sting Jaguar commercial changed this forever. Miles nack of marrying art and commerce to mutual advantage led to a number of lucrative speaking engagements, something Miles likes to do and seems to be good at. As a manager, publisher, record exec and agent for other acts, he found it a refreshing challenge to be an act himself.
Late 2001 saw the launch of an offshoot of the Mondo Melodia label, Mondo Rhythmica, to release the exciting new hybrid World Music sounds with modern rhythms coming out of the U.S.A., U.K. and France. Releases include Trans Global Underground, Shabaz, Oojami, Shani, Zohar and the legendary Rachid Taha. Mondo Melodia itself has become the most important source of world music in the USA, featuring artists from all over the Middle East, Persia, Greece, Italy, France, India, Africa, Spain, Turkey, North America and Latin America.
Firstars Management has also carefully expanded by signing pop opera superstar Emma Shapplin, the Moody Blues and the Anglo-Latin rap artists Delinquent Habits. In the world of pop, Firstars signed 18-year-old Irish belle Carly Hennessy who recorded one album for MCA before MCA merged into Interscope. In February 2003 Carly won best new Irish singer in Irelands equivalent of the Grammys.
Along with partner Kostas Kantzoglou, Miles took on the challenge of opera star Mario Frangoulis, an amazing and charismatic Greek tenor who combines operatic ability with pop sensibility. Marios much-heralded album was released September 2002 on Sony Classics with a PBS special, which aired in late November. Miles is particularly proud of the pairing of Mario with the Moody Blues Justin Hayward on Nights in White Satin, which is sung in Italian and English. Miles also acts as executive manager for several international artists and managers helping them in the Anglo market. This includes Persian superstar Andy and Egyptian superstar Hakim.
Meanwhile, Emma Shapplins album was released by ARK21 in May 2002 with several territories releasing in September and in the United States set for November 2003. Emma has already reached 1 in Israel, Greece, Turkey and Canada with Top Tens in Holland, Argentina and a host of other countries.
September 11 was a dramatic shock to Miles beyond the sorrow of those tragic events. The next day he had two Arab stars with an entourage of Arab musicians (28 in all) booked to fly to the U.S. for an eagerly anticipated tour. Needless to say, neither Hakim from Egypt, nor Khaled from Algeria felt it appropriate to tour the U.S.A., aside from the fact there were now no flights. The tour, which had virtually already sold out, was moved to March 2002 and proceeded without a hitch. The start date coincided with the World Economic Forum being held in New York City, hosted by Mayor Guiliani and then-Vivendi head Jean-Marie Messier. Miles, who seems to have become known as Mr. World Music and Mr. Cultural Diversity, was asked to organize duets for the concert being held for the event. The brief: cultural diversity and different cultures working together. Miles called Israeli superstar Noa to join Khaled in singing John Lennons Imagine in Hebrew, Arabic and English. This Arab-Israeli, Jewish-Muslim collaboration brought the house down and remains one of the most powerful music moments in Miles colorful career. Also on the bill Miles paired Hakim with Puerto Rican superstar Olga Tanon singing an Arabic-Spanish duet written at the previous years songwriting event in France. So powerful was this song that the pair were invited to perform at Radio City Music Hall in New York for the One World Jam (for cultural diversity) that resulted in the second major Arab star singing on mainstream U.S. television. Following in this tradition, Miles with the help of famous producer Narda Michael Walden, created a new duet for Hakim for his upcoming (January 2004) CD release with soul icon James Brown.
2001 and 2002 saw great changes in the music business with a great deal of debate surrounding digital rights, Napster, artist relations with labels, piracy, CD burners, etc. Many articles appeared expounding all sorts of notions usually to the detriment of the record companies. Though Miles has had strong and vocal opinions about many aspects of the record business he saw no value in killing the Golden Goose with unfair and misrepresented attacks. Accordingly he wrote several articles for various magazines that were picked up on various websites including the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). In trying to bring common sense into the argument as well as the real facts, Miles found himself one of the few willing to be outspoken in defense of the industry. This caught the attention of the RIAA who asked him to join them in Sacramento for a California Senate hearing on artist rights. Miles was asked to be the industry spokesman at the press conference Don Henley represented the other side. Miles admits to a certain amount of awkwardness at being lumped in as an industry man as most of his life has involved in pushing artists interests. His basic view is that if the industry is to be attacked it should be based on facts, not wild misinformation and supposition and it should DEFINITELY not be done in a way to weaken the industrys ability to protect BOTH artists and company rights and assets being besieged by the publics new demand and ability to get music for FREE. The debate goes on.
2002 saw ARK21 and Mondo Melodia enter into several recording ventures, which heralded exciting opportunities for the company. One was with DJ Quiks label Bungalo Records with Quiks first release launched in June. The second is a joint venture with Egypts premier record company, Alam el phan which brings the company a host of Arabian superstars Amr Diab, Nawal Zoughbi, Moustafa Amar, Samira Said, Mohamed Mounir, Ragheb Alame, etc.
Events in the Middle East saw Miles in demand as a spokesman with views on the Arab perspective. He appeared twice on Bill Mahers Politically Incorrect as well as a number of radio shows. In fact Miles started his own two-hour talk show once a week on KRLA 12pm to 2am every Monday for three months. As one would expect the Palestine / Israeli conflict was a prominent theme with Miles attempting a dialog between both sides. One show featured calls from Israelis in Tel Aviv describing their situation others featured Palestinians. Unfortunately Miles did not achieve a peace initiative but still believes one is possible some day.
In his continuing support for charitable causes particularly ones focusing on the plight of the peoples in the third world, ARK21 released in the U.S. a unique compilation album for the Sabera Foundation, a charity in Calcutta, India dedicated to orphaned girls. Miles could hardly say no to an impassioned plea from Melanie Griffith who, along with her husband Antonio Banderas is a major supporter of this unique charity. The album features unique tracks from Sting, Ricky Martin, Alanis Morrisette, Elton John, Cher, Luciano Pavarotti, Alejandro Sanz, Bob Dylan, Antonio himself, and more. The album was released in the U.S. in November 2002.
In December, Miles was in Moscow with Emma Shappin for the first ever Christmas concert extravaganza in Russia. Emma performed with Placido Domingo, Jose Carraras, Sissel and a 380-member orchestra and choir.
Always willing to share his view, experiences and advice in January 10, 2003 Miles was the keynote speaker at the Dutch music conference Eurosonic Noorderslag Seminar.
In March Miles was asked to the Board of the World Peace Music Awards, a new organization aimed at honoring musicians for their good works. The first of these annual events was held in June in the beautiful island of Bali. The three-hour show was broadcast throughout the Pacific Rim to a huge audience. Miles was instrumental in booking many of the star acts. In 2004 the event will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam on June 19th.
With his interest in Middle Eastern music and the obvious challenge of coming up with a way to break into the US market, Miles was on the lookout for a vehicle ever since the success of Stings Desert Rose. That song gave clear indication of the potential for an American audience to accept this sort of music on a massive scale. By chance, much as the use of the Jaguar car in the Sting video was by chance, Miles organized a promotion for Mondo Rhythmica album release of Oojami, Bellydance Breakbeats, which featured a bellydance competition. The show was such fun and it pointed to the fact mainstream Anglo audiences would show up to see a dance show as much if not MORE so than a music show. By putting the two together, perhaps this was the vehicle Miles was looking for.
Consequently, the first half of 2003 saw the Firstars Management team create an entertainment show featuring Middle Eastern dance and music. Titled The Bellydance Superstars and Desert Roses the show attracted the attention of the William Morris Agency and Perry Farrell who was organizing Lollapalooza 2003. Needing something different, with female energy and sex appeal the show was booked for the entire tour performing one show in the afternoon on the second stage and an evening spot on the main stage. This took the art of bellydance to 30 cities performing in front of over 400,000 people the biggest exposure ever for the bellydance art form. So successful was the show, Miles and his Firstars team were energized to take full advantage of what they now know is a rapidly growing interest in the art of bellydance as well as Arab music.
The company has embarked on a comprehensive program to create high quality products unlike anything on the market. Instructional DVDs featuring Americas top teachers, performance DVDs featuring American top dancers, Bellydance CDs and a full length feature film American Bellydancer directed by Jon Brandeis was released in 2004. The company has also created a quality line of bellydance apparel under the Bellystar label.
EXTERNAL LINK: http://www.milescopeland.com/