Edizioni Curci – 160 Years of Italian Music and Passion (anteprima)

EDIZIONI CURCI 160 YEARS OF ITALIAN MUSIC AND PASSION

© 2020 EDIZIONI CURCI S.r.l – MILANO

Edited by GUENDALINA GRAMITTO RICCI Texts by DAMIANO KAZUO AFRIFA Translation by CRISTINA POPPLE, CRISTINA PRADELLA, JED JENNINGS Art director: STEFANO ROSSETTI Graphics and layout: PAOLA CONVERTINO/PEPE NYMI Editorial coordinator: IRENE MILAZZO/PEPE NYMI

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT CONVENTIONS. NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED OR UTILIZED IN ANY FORM.

ISBN 978-88863953435 EC 30009

This is the story, certainly not the apology, of a family that has been serving the cause of music and musical culture in Italy for one hundred and sixty years. A simple story, rhythmed by deeds and works, where the protagonists fit into a whole fabric of bright intelligence while keeping their characters and their contributions of ingenuity and will alive and unmistakable. And now let deeds and works speak.

PROUDLY INDEPENDENT Preface by ALFREDO GRAMITTO RICCI 9—13

EDIZIONI CURCI, 160 YEARS OF ITALIAN MUSIC AND PASSION 15—231

1910—1860

Introduction

by ANGELO FOLETTO

A Lively Beginning

23

Protagonists FRANCESCO CURCI

34

PASQUALE CURCI

46

Winning bets

19—67

THE PIANOS

54

THE SALETTA BIANCA

58

1960 —1910

Publishing

The Publishing Breakthrough

THE COPIELLE

38

NEAPOLITAN SONG

66

Introduction

by LUCA CIAMMARUGHI

73

Protagonists ALBERTO CURCI

88

ALFREDO CURCI

106

Winning bets

69—129

O MIA BÈLA MADUNINA

100

FESTIVALS

124

NEL BLU DIPINTO DI BLU

128

Publishing CURCI COLLECTIONS

114

2020 —2010

2010—1960

Introduction

by GIANPIETRO QUIRICONI

A Lasting Success

135

Protagonists GIUSEPPE GRAMITTO RICCI

148

ALFREDO GRAMITTO RICCI

180

Winning bets

131—181

Curci Today

TOTO CUTUGNO

164

VASCO ROSSI

176

Publishing THE RECORD INDUSTRY IN MILAN

156

Introduction

by ANDREA LAFFRANCHI

187

Protagonists GUENDALINA GRAMITTO RICCI

226

Winning bets

183—227

DIODATO

198

THE STUDIO

204

Publishing CURCI YOUNG

AN ITALIAN STORY, 160 YEARS LONG 229

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 235

BIBLIOGRAPHY 237

PHOTO CREDITS 239

216

Alfredo Gramitto Ricci

PROUDLY INDEPENDENT

PREFACE

In our company, family traditions have been handed down from father to son with great care and passion.

This modus operandi is written in our genes.

Our catching enthusiasm has been, from the very beginning, the distinguishing feature of our activity.

Alfredo Gramitto Ricci

10—11

Over the past hundred years, the role of publishers hasn’t changed substantially. Their purpose is still to protect, promote, and publish the works produced by the ingenuity of artists. Of course, over the past century the means by which we enjoy musical products have changed. At first, since the beginning of the twentieth century, musical works were mainly divulged through music scores, especially opera and operetta. In the early Fifties, phonographic records were introduced, followed by audiocassettes and, later, CDs. Today there are platforms that allow us to download music or stream it online. However, the rules and laws inherent to editorial activities have not changed since Casa Curci was founded in 1860: the popularization, the promotion, and the financial exploitation of musical works are still today the core business.

Thus, over the years the role of the publisher has inevitably become intertwined with that of the record producer, i.e. the person who has always profited more immediately both from the physical sales of the records and from the recordings' exploitation.

This is why in 1959 my father, Giuseppe Gramitto Ricci, founded the record company Carosello, so the profits garnered by music as a whole would remain within a single company, summing the income of the publishing house with the income acquired from the recorded works.

My father came from a completely different background: he had a Law degree and was a sales director at NestlĂŠ. In 1950 he married Clotilde Curci, and when my grandfather Alfredo Curci died prematurely in 1952, he took the reins of the company, immediately proving to be both intuitive and very capable.

I was born in 1959, the same year in which Carosello was founded, and as a consequence I have breathed the air of this world since I was a child. When I was eighteen, I began to work in the offices of the record label, assisting the artists we promoted and taking care of the most ordinary tasks for a couple of years.

At 25 years old I finished Law School and, after another period of internship, I managed Carosello for eleven years. In June 1998 my father decided to leave the helm of the publishing house because of some health issues. On July 1 of the same year I became executive director of Edizioni Curci.

CURCI 160

Proudly independent

— Edizioni Curci management in 2020.

From left to right: Claudia Mescoli, Cristina and Alfredo Gramitto Ricci, Laura Moro and Guendalina Gramitto Ricci

The dynamics, the virtues, and the critical aspects of the group were clear to me, as I could draw on my experience at Carosello. Instantly, I realized that with the advent of Internet we had been left behind. Our main error had been not understanding that we had to use this tool to our advantage rather than fighting it. The key component in this evaluation was comprehending that our content would become diluted in this process and thus be within everyone’s reach. My father was very old and the company began to creak. We can undoubtedly say that the Nineties were the worst years for our company. The situation didn’t catch me unprepared though. Since I had always lived in the publishing world, I was quite familiar with the techniques used by multinational record and publishing companies to access our market. At the time, we seriously risked closing or radically downsizing the company, or worse, we could have been absorbed by one of these corporations.

In fact, during those years we received two or three very good offers from American companies that my father luckily refused, though on occasion he was very tempted to enter into a negotiation. The awareness of the tragedy of losing a historic company that had contributed so much to Italian culture always prevented us from taking this step.

The moment to make a decision and attempt a strategic manoeuvre that would allow us to quickly reenter the market where we had sadly come to occupy the sidelines had come. I knew majors were experiencing the same difficulties caused by the advent of Internet, and possibly they were suffering even more acutely. I was sure these companies were too large for this period of transition, there was an excess of employees in all positions, from CEO to office boy. By observing and studying their moves for months, I noticed that the difficulties these companies encountered were not given only by overstaffing, but also by a reduction in their business volume. As a consequence, they were forced to make significant personnel cuts. I realized that this was the right time to make a significant economic effort: it is in times of crisis that one should, if possible, make great investments.

I told myself: I will imitate the rich Barcelona soccer team! I went to the most important authors who had contracts with majors and made some very enticing financial offers. One of them was enough to put the mechanism back in motion.

Saverio Grandi, at the time a majors' author, was the first. I spoke to him, offering him a meaningful contract and promised we would do a great job for him. In this fashion, I was able to tempt him away from the competition and bring him into the Curci family. A second, a third, and a fourth author followed.

We gradually realized that with a sizeable financial expenditure, a huge creative effort, and plenty of work we would be able to be competitive again soon.

12—13

— Guendalina and Alfredo Gramitto Ricci, Curci headquarters, Milan 2010

CURCI 160

The solid foundations left by my father have granted Edizioni Curci a strong appeal for new potential authors.

So I began to build up a roster of very prestigious authors. I strengthened the creative department by acquiring several managers that came from the majors, and who would have never imagined they would someday work for us. However, they understood that things were changing and could be different in a private company like ours.

Then came the turn of Carosello and of the Classical department.

This was the process that made it possible for the company to stay afloat and gradually gather its strength, building greater solidity compared to just a few years before. In the meantime, the majors kept becoming less relevant, both from a creative and a financial point of view. I had also noticed the difficulties they were dealing with, constantly forced to seek the authorization of their British or American headquarters, which made every operation much slower.

I saw that when about to make a foreign investment, management and investors expected to see financial returns over three or five years at most, something which didn’t interest me in the least. In fact, my company could afford much longer recovery periods. First of all because it is family-owned, and secondly, there were heirs who would be able to benefit from earlier investments.

By carrying out this acquisition strategy, our catalog gradually increased in value, conferring musical solidity and financial power to the company. This is one of Casa Curci’s reasons for success. From Francesco Curci onwards, we have always firmly believed in the strength of family management. I will not be the only one to benefit from my investments: the entire company will profit from them for years to come.

We have had a great number of important authors and composers, such as Giovanni D’Anzi, Domenico Modugno, Toto Cutugno, Alberto Testa, Vito Pallavicini, Bruno Canfora, or Tony De Vita. Or others such as Saverio Grandi, Vasco Rossi, Tiziano Ferro, and even Pacifico, Bungaro, Chiodo, Niccolò Agliardi, Diodato, Maurizio Fabrizio, Roberto Casini, Luca Chiaravalli, and many more. Over the years I have been able to acquire important catalogs, among which stand out those of Antonello Venditti, Claudio Baglioni, and Francesco Renga.

Today Edizioni Curci is a synonym of great prestige, because our family tradition has been handed down with passion and care from father to son. This modus operandi is written into the company’s genes, a catching enthusiasm that has been the business’s main feature from the very beginning.

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