Allen Klein: The manager who made the Stones rich and nearly broke the Beatles

By the time Allen Klein took over the Rolling Stones in 1965, he’d already made a name for himself as a pit-bull negotiator who actually read the fine print. The Stones were getting pennies from their early hits because their contract with Decca was a disaster. Klein renegotiated it, got them an advance of over a million dollars, and eventually set up their own label. He found hidden royalties, clawed back publishing rights, and generally scared the hell out of record executives. For the Stones, who were young, broke, and getting screwed, Klein was a savior.

When the Beatles hired Klein in 1969, the situation was reversed. They were already rich and their business affairs were messy but not desperate. Klein immediately alienated Paul McCartney (who wanted his soon-to-be father-in-law, Lee Eastman, instead), and his aggressive tactics created a permanent rift. He renegotiated their EMI contract to a higher royalty rate, sure, but he also tried to buy the Beatles’ publishing behind their backs and left their tax affairs in chaos. By the time the Beatles broke up in 1970, the Apple empire was bleeding cash and Klein was fighting lawsuits with all four of them.

The difference wasn’t so much Klein’s tactics—he was always a bulldog—but the timing and the band’s internal health. The Stones needed someone to break their shackles, and Klein did that. They parted ways in 1970 when Mick Jagger found a loophole in Klein’s own contract, but by then the band had secured their financial future. The Beatles, already fractured, hired a manager who amplified their worst dynamics instead of fixing them. Klein got the Stones their first real fortune; he got the Beatles their first real disaster.