“The Power of Leadership”

Gene Simmons, the “Deal Maker”…

Over the years I noticed many KISS magazines on newsstands, I’m not a lawyer, and yet questions would pop into my mind.  The band trademarked and owned our make-up and logo, no one else could put out so much as a T-Shirt without our permission and our profit participation.  Why, then, were publishers allowed to distribute their own KISS magazines without us being involved in any way and without a profit participation?  I was told that since we were public figures, any interference on our part would be tantamount to limiting the publisher’s rights to “freedom of the press.” I didn’t agree.

I pushed my case with our lawyers and was advised that, perhaps, I had a case.  Under the law, we had a right to “first merchandising” status.  Before anyone else could make a dime, we should be the ones to earn a living from our trademark.

That opened the door for me to pick up the phone and call one of the more active KISS magazine publishers.  They were understandably surprised to hear me on the other end.  I told them that while it was all very nice to see entire magazines devoted to KISS, it wasn’t OK that we were not consulted on the content and more importantly, the publishers were getting paid and we were not.  I said that the reason I was calling, instead of lawyers, was simply as a pragmatic way of letting the publishers do what they wanted to do and also to satisfy certain considerations we had.  I was calling as a “deal maker,” not a “deal breaker.”  In fact, I continued, if they gave us a healthy slice of the profits, their magazines would be “official” and “authorized” as licensed merchandise and I would keep the lawyers away.

As far as I know, this has never happened before in the magazine world, but the publisher agreed.  As a result, the publisher and the band put out ten different KISS Specials.  All sold very well.  The publishers were happy.  And we got big, fat, checks we would not have otherwise gotten.  Additionally, the publisher gave us free advertising pages to advertise whatever KISS merchandise we were selling at the time.

“Pennies do not come from heaven.  They have to be earned right here on Earth.” – Margaret Thatcher

Have a great day!

Shawn

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman & CEO
Performance Institute (Human Capital Development)
Global CEO Academy (Management Training)
Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China
Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

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