Miles Copeland III

“The job is to get noticed,” Miles Copeland once said of launching artists. So managing The Police — a band that featured his brother Stewart on drums and was booked by a third brother, Ian — meant starting the Illegal label to release the group’s first single. Recording the band’s debut album on the cheap, Copeland enticed A&M Records to take a shot by declining an advance. Then, capitalizing on the 1977 debut of the no-frills transatlantic discount carrier Laker Airways, he sent the trio and one roadie to tour the United States by van. Six years later, The Police headlined Shea Stadium. Building on his start-small strategy and leveraging his relationship with A&M for funding and distribution, Copeland started I.R.S. Records, which in turn launched The Go-Go’s and R.E.M. and other acts.