MUSIC BUSINESS CASE
Paul and Mick are in the music business; they are friends, but they work for competing businesses. Paul’s
business partners are George, John and Ringo; their business is very successful and has been extremely
lucrative. Mick’s business partners are Keith and Charlie; their business has also been very successful and has
also been exceedingly profitable. John is married to Yoko. Yoko is prone to being emotional (some say
irrational) and she leads (some say pushes) John around a lot.
Paul approaches Mick and suggests that they work together on an independent project, one that will not involve
their other business partners. If they are successful, they will make a lot of money. They both intend this new
project to be separate from their other businesses, and so they will not share with their other respective business
partners. This decision makes Yoko very mad, because she believes that Paul is not being loyal to John and the
other business partners. (Actually, Yoko does not care about the others, only John.) George is also a little bit
miffed that Paul is doing a project with Mick.
Paul’s business contract with his other partners is not exclusive; that is, he is free to take on independent
projects so long as they do not interfere with his business with George, John and Ringo. Paul assures George,
John and Ringo that this new venture with Mick will not interfere with their business, but the others are not sure
that they believe him.
Mick has an exclusive arrangement with Keith and Charlie: his contract with them does not allow him to take on
independent projects that do not involve them. The independent project will take time away from Mick’s business with
Keith and Charlie, and could cost them a lot of money in lost opportunities. Keith and Charlie also believe that by
working with Paul, Mick will cause the public to think that the business they have with Mick is failing and that will in turn
lose a lot of business for them.
Yoko convinces John that he should be upset. John gets madder and madder, primarily because Yoko keeps prodding
him to get madder and madder. John decides that he is going to take action. He writes a press release in which he
announces that Paul now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and cancer of the larynx (and perhaps other loathsome
diseases), and that he has therefore completely lost all of his ability to operate effectively in the music business. John
knows that none of this true, but Yoko has told him that he must “get even” with Paul for Paul’s disloyalty, and so he
sends the press release to lots of newspapers. The newspapers all report John’s announcement. George, who is not
quite so mad, sends a Letter to the Editor of Rolling Stone Magazine; the letter expresses George’s opinion that Paul has
gone “daft” and that Paul is a “weasel.” The letter is published.
Yoko is still very angry. She is as mad at Mick as she is at Paul; she vows to George and Ringo that she will get even with
Mick. She finds out that Mick and his business partners often ride around town in a white stretch limousine. One day
she follows the white limousine and decides to ram it with her large black Mercedes Benz in an attempt to hurt Mick.
She buckles her seat belt, accelerates to sixty miles per hour, and crashes into the side of the limousine. Unfortunately
for Yoko’s plan of retribution, Mick is not in the limousine as she had thought. Charlie and Keith are the only occupants;
they are quite seriously hurt. The pain is severe and they incur significant medical bills. They are forced to cancel
several engagements that would have enabled them to make a lot of money. This also has the effect of leaving Mick
unable to participate in those engagements (because the engagements relate to the business partnership between Mick,
Keith and Charlie) and Mick therefore loses a lot of money also.
Keith and Charlie, who have absolutely no experience with mind­altering substances, are given very strong pain killing
drugs by their respective doctors. Keith does not realize that the painkillers may adversely affect his ability to operate a
motor vehicle: his doctor does warn him that the drugs may have such an effect, but because he is already taking the
drugs, he does not understand the doctor’s warning. One day shortly after the “ramming” incident, Keith decides to go
to the grocery store to buy tofu. The painkillers cause him to be drowsy and to have trouble concentrating. On the way
to the grocery, Keith fails to observe a Stop sign, and crashes into a 1965 Pontiac GTO that is on its way to the beach to
go on a surfing safari. The Pontiac is occupied by two brothers, Brian and Carl, and driven by their partner in a musical
business, Mike, who is on his cell phone checking the surf reports for nearby beaches.
Mike and Carl suffer serious physical injuries, but Brian is meditating when the accident happens and his yoga state
protects him from injury. Mike is hospitalized for several weeks and must endure numerous costly MRI procedures to
determine if anything is broken. Mike is claustrophobic and the MRI procedures are very disturbing to him, so as to
cause severe emotional distress. The GTO is a total loss.
Ringo doesn’t care about any of this. He knows that he is just lucky to be in the music business with Paul, George and
John.