Business: Cockney Savvy

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Since Led Zeppelin went aloft in 1968, the British rock has sold more albums than the Rolling Stones, played to bigger audiences than the Beatles in their heyday, and brought Atlantic Records $50 million in business. Much of that success is due to Zeppelin Manager Peter Grant, 39, a burly cockney blend of street smartness and business savvy.

A onetime sheet-metal worker, Grant scurried into British show business as a bit-actor, professional wrestler (under the name Prince Massimo) and rock-group errand boy before becoming manager of the Yardbirds in 1967. When the Yardbirds disbanded a year later and Lead Guitarist Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin, Grant signed on as pilot.

Grant's business tactics are plain and profitable. Wise to the dangers of overexposure, he for bids the group to make television appearances and insists on a year's delay between albums. Because Grant himself acts as booking agent and guarantees to split any losses with concert promoters, Led Zeppelin keeps for itself a whopping 90% of gross profits, compared with 50% other groups. Last year's 34-city Zeppelin tour of the U.S., arranged by Grant, earned an estimated $4 million for the group. To sweeten those figures—and his own income, estimated at $500,000 a year or more—the mammoth manager last week announced the birth of Swan Song, Led Zeppelin's own record company. With Grant as president, Swan Song may prove to be only a prelude.