Robin Millar has made a career from records; now he wants them to be eradicated. The newly knighted music producer and co-founder of artist management company Blue Raincoat Music believes the resurgence of vinyl is exposing hypocrisy among labels and artists.
“I am baffled that no large record company has had the backing of a big-selling artist to stop making physical records,” he says, angrily explaining how CDs and vinyl are manufactured around the world, packaged with “chopped-down trees and plastic” and shipped to customers. “How can anybody stand up and say ‘save the planet’? Artists are awful for hypocritical bandwagonery.”
Millar says he is no “militant climate warrior”, but argues the quality of digital songs now matches vinyl, while artists’ global tours also contribute to harming the planet and could be screened online.
His green stance has caused tensions with shareholders in his various ventures, which still make healthy money from physical music sales, but it is among the causes he is championing to enact change in his industry and beyond. First among them is persuading companies to employ and promote more disabled people: Millar, who has been blind since 1985, is chair of Scope, the disability equality charity.
He is best known for producing big hits in the 1980s, including albums by Spandau Ballet and Everything But the Girl. He has run studios in London, and produced stars on both sides of the Atlantic. His career has brought 44 No 1 hits and 55m sales, and he eschews the usual friction between creativity and business. “I measure my success in record sales,” he says.
His biggest triumph came with Diamond Life by Sade, which included the hit Smooth Operator, the handwritten lyrics for which are framed on the wall of his south London home. His studio is crammed with instruments, and a large white parasol sits on his desk to protect him from the sun. He settles on the sofa beneath a hanging silver banjo and a vintage Höfner guitar.
Millar, 71, lives in Marrakech for a quarter of the year, and spends much of his time mastering records and holding meetings related to his music industry interests. He says he is in “rude remission” after a cancer diagnosis in 2021. He remains active despite a well-lived life filled with actors, wealth, fame, glamorous relationships and rock’n’roll antics (his sister married former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, and he toured with the band).
Over the past decade, his main interest has been Blue Raincoat, the music publishing and artist management company he set up with industry veteran Jeremy Lascelles (who, as a great-grandson of George V, is technically in line to the British throne). Millar readily admits they made missteps, struggling on a tight budget and with a disparate collection of artists. But they soon signed transformative deals – first buying Chrysalis Records in 2016, then partnering with American licensing firm Reservoir in 2019.
Initially, Blue Raincoat’s aim was simply to reinvigorate Chrysalis’s back catalogue, which includes works by Sinéad O’Connor and Fun Lovin’ Criminals, in order to maximise royalties in the streaming boom. The label was then relaunched in 2020 to put out new releases, including albums by Laura Marling and Emeli Sandé as well as a recent collection of reimagined Nick Drake songs, after acquiring the rights to the late folk musician’s catalogue. Millar says he knew the physical version of the latter would be loss-making, but that the royalties from licensing the tracks could prove lucrative.
The cash crunch at listed royalties investment fund Hipgnosis has drawn new focus on the dash to acquire song rights in recent years. Millar says Hipgnosis’s travails are a symptom of rising interest rates, and condemns public investors’ short-termism. “The shareholders go: ‘This is terrible. We have to get out now, now, now’,” he says animatedly, lifting his dark glasses on to the top of his head. He reveals that Hipgnosis’s founder, Merck Mercuriadis, was interested in buying Blue Raincoat in 2019. He found him “unbelievably knowledgable” about music, but says his “boastful” manner has created enemies in the music industry.
Born in the early 1950s, Millar was at one stage told he would become completely blind by the age of 16, due to retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition. The Londoner made efforts to hide his deteriorating eyesight, “ashamed” of his condition, and failed to find a job in UK recording studios. After studying music arranging in Paris, he caught a break working in a studio in France, where he would later dogsbody for Elton John and David Bowie. He told its owner, Pierre, that he was worried about kicking over microphone stands or being unable to read music in the dim studio light. Pierre’s response – “Don’t worry. We can work around it” – shaped his lifelong outlook. Millar pushes this idea now, urging bosses to make small accommodations for disability to improve companies’ performance.
He cites research by consultancy Accenture which found that companies that lead in disability inclusion generate more revenue and profit. “I can’t think of a single disability which is so severe that somebody can’t make a positive contribution,” he says. “Wake up – make companies, organisations, governments stop talking about inclusion as though it’s a series of workshops.” He recalls the “kneejerk, awkward” cascade of workshops carried out by corporates in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
The cause will shape his second term at Scope; his first was spent navigating the pandemic, which shut the charity’s nationwide network of shops.
At the moment, he says, the imperative is on those in minority groups to shape their own destiny. “Like most disabled, black, single-parent people you meet who have got anywhere – we’ve all got the word ‘founder’ at the bottom of our email, because no one else gave us a chance. We’ve had to start it ourselves,” he says.
Millar says there are few FTSE executives with disabilities, and claims many will be hiding them. “Let’s fill senior positions with people that we know have disabilities, whether they admit it or not.”
CV
Age 71
Family Married with four children.
Education Enfield grammar school; law at Queens’ College, Cambridge.
Pay “I’m not paid by Scope. I am entitled to a pro rata share of dividends from Blue Raincoat and Reservoir when directors vote for them. I also charge for my music production and mastering work.”
Last holiday “I don’t take holidays, but I have a home in Morocco where we spend quite a bit of time. It’s got a recording studio there, so I’m always working in some way.”
Best advice he’s been given “Get over it and move on.”
Biggest career mistake “Thinking I could do it on my own.”
Word he overuses “‘Darling’ this and ‘darling’ that, having spent all my life in the music industry.”
How he relaxes “Meditation. I’m a child of the 60s so have been practising it since I was 16.”
