Table of Contents

List of figures xi

About the author xii

Preface xiii

1 The black swan of popular music? 1

Were the Beatles a black swan? 2

The Beatles and World War II 3

Is macroeconomics enough? 6

2 Liverpool start-up 8

Skiffle start-up 9

Human capital and the firing of Pete Best 13

Hamburg and the forging of a brand 15

Brian Epstein as venture, capitalist 18

Managing the human capital 19

Economic implications 20

3 Innovation, entrepreneurship, and the growth mindset 22

Liverpudlian foundation stones for innovation 24

Inside the black box of the Beatles 25

Transaction costs and the innovation process 31

A new vision for entrepreneurship 33

Sustained innovation 37

4 How private markets enabled Sgt. Pepper's band to play 40

Art and economic value 41

Economic and soda] context 44

Creative context 46

A Sgt. Pepper deeper dive 50

Implications for popular culture 52

5 Breaking up is hard to do … or is it? 54

When coming together can't get you back 55

Dissolution economics 57

The transaction costs of breaking up 59

The art marches on 62

6 A second coming?: Lessons from the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys 65

The Rolling Stones 66

Entrepreneurial judgement in the Rolling Stones 69

The Beach Boys 72

Lessons learned 74

7 Economic reflections from the afterlife 76

Subject index 80

Song and album index 83