| Firm Believer Similar, according to Ray, was the case of the Backstreet Boys, whose career has been in decline for a couple of years. Ray says Kwatinetz spent the tens of millions of dollars earned from the Backstreet Boys to buy other companies, then milked the group for cash to the detriment of their career. (Kwatinetz says the opposite is true, that he has taken financial hits to nurture his clients, such as persuading the Backstreet Boys to move their concerts from stadiums, which they could not fill, to smaller halls where they would make less profit but play to a packed house.) "Why were the Backstreet Boys in a Burger King commercial?" asks Ray. "You can't make a strong argument that it helped their career. It reinforced their younger audience, which they were trying to get away from. But there was a check there." Kwatinetz responds: "It's a complicated question. When you have big clients, eventually some are going to leave, that's the short answer. Two of the guys in the Backstreet Boys had problems with the company. Three wanted to stay, two didn't." The Firm kept one of the Boys, Nick Carter, as a client, who has a solo album due out in the fall. The group is now managed by Irving Azoff; Azoff declined to comment. |
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