Count Basie, Aretha Franklin, Elvis, Bob Dylan – all the greats ultimately owe their fame to the faceless ‘record men’

The crucial thing to remember about the music business is that it’s a business. If you happen to be creating great art as well, that’s a bonus, but it has never been compulsory. Only in the music business could someone who hates music as much as Simon Cowell clearly does become so rich and powerful. And for a group like Westlife to have enjoyed a 15-year career of uninterrupted chart success without recording a single song anyone can remember, or even name, is something we have to admire. It was only ever about the money. To be fair to them, they have never pretended otherwise.

At the same time, though, where would we be without the ‘record men’, the entrepreneurs and executives who live and breathe music, eat and drink it? Such men —and they are almost always men — look for the next big thing not just to make money out of it, but for the sheer joy of finding and developing it.