GDN Exclusive: How the Columbia Record Group cornered “Soul Music” Part of an ongoing series

Gerry McCants

The Harvard Report for the Columbia Record Group is not only instructive but also serves as a stark example of how Black individuals have been systematically targeted for economic exploitation over centuries.

Gerry McCants, a distinguished entrepreneur from Greensboro, NC, recently shared his valuable insights on the topic in an interview with Greater Diversity News (GDN). He has graciously agreed to become a regular guest on our GDN podcasts. The primary focus of our conversation was Black economics: our current economic status, the journey that led us here, and our prospects. A key point of our discussion was the Economic Liberation of Africa and the Diaspora. (You can find the full interview on YouTube under the title of this article)

He responded to my question, “Why are Africans, who live on the richest continent in the world, the poorest people in the world?” Arikana Chihombori-Quao MD, former African Union Ambassador to the United States, and the most consequential Black leader since Dr. Martin Luther King and Kwame Nkrumah, is spearheading a global effort pursuing the economic liberation of Africa and the Diaspora. GDN supports her efforts. Gerry’s first suggestion was that we look at the historical isolation and exploitation of Black people during slavery, colonization, and beyond.

Gerry references the prior exclusion of all African countries from the G-20, a coalition of leading economies that meets to discuss and implement worldwide economic policies. He spoke to the need for Black people to understand the role of economics in our everyday lives and the need for a narrative that conveys its importance. “We need to move and take action in creating some system and structure that works and will give us an economic platform to operate from.”

Our conversation then shifted to The Harvard Report for the Columbia Record Group. This Report is not only instructive but also serves as a stark example of how Black individuals have been systematically targeted for economic exploitation over centuries. Black music and artists were in high demand during the late sixties, making the “Soul Music” industry extremely profitable. The Columbia Record Group, a white-owned enterprise, recognized this lucrative opportunity and sought to capitalize on it. They commissioned a team at the Harvard Business School to scrutinize the soul music industry and propose strategies to monopolize it, provided the findings were promising. Indeed, the findings were favorable, and Columbia Records, now known as Sony Music, invested millions of dollars and utilized the Report as a strategic blueprint to seize control of the soul music industry.

Columbia Records completed the takeover in three to five years. Today, the industry is a multi-billion dollar success. Debates about the ethics of what was done continue but not about its success. Gerry uses this as an example of the current and historical exploitation of Black people, known to be reliable consumers but not business people. Further, the Report shows the importance of the Education arena in providing strategic guidance to the business world.

Can Black students replicate the Harvard Report activities for Black businesses? Will they be called upon to do so?

Gerry stresses that the economic liberation of Africa and the Diaspora requires new ideas and bold leadership.

As someone who played a small yet significant role in the Civil Rights Movement during my college years, a movement largely driven by Black college students, I firmly believe that we, both in the US and the Motherland, need a new Black student movement. This new wave of activism is essential to accomplish what remains unfinished from the ‘60s- achieving economic liberation.

To follow GDN’s ongoing coverage of the ELA, and the African students movement please sign up for its free three times weekly eNews publication @ www.greaterdiversity.com, and subscribe to our YouTube podcasts @greaterdiversitynews9210

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