IRS Records—Oh Yeah, the FBI and CIA are Involved

What?

This story has nothing whatsoever to do with the Internal Revenue Service...but it does revolve around The Police, the F.B.I., and even the C.I.A.

What?

We are talking about the infamous hit-making (music, not murder!) Copeland Brothers. Miles (C), Ian (L) and Stewart (R).

Stewart is the most celebrated of course, having risen to fame as Sting's sidekick drummer/percussionist (along with Andy Summers on guitars) of mega-platinum selling progressive rock band The Police.

But likely The Police never would have happened without the C.I.A., the F.B.I and the I.R.S.

WHAT?

You see the Copeland brothers were born to Miles Copeland Jr., an American Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) operative from Birmingham, Alabama, living and working predominately in Europe and the Middle East.

SIDEBAR: "The Central Intelligence Agency was created with the National Security Act of 1947 signed by President Harry S. Truman, and is the descendant of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) of World War II, which was dissolved in October 1945. In 1944, William J. Donovan (a.k.a. Wild Bill Donovan), the OSS's creator, proposed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt creating a new espionage organization directly supervised by the President..." —Wikipedia

Of the three music impresario sons, Miles III is the oldest followed by Ian and then Stewart.

"It was while their father was assigned as bureau chief to the CIA's middle-east office in Lebanon that the Copeland children began to take an interest in music. While they all pursued music proper, only Stewart stuck with it, finding himself mesmerized by percussion in particular and world music in general. Miles III and Ian became more interested in the production, marketing, and performance end of the musical spectrum. Their individual careers would pursue these different paths, but they were paths that would continue to cross for decades...

"In the 1970s the Copeland boys' musical interests took them to Europe where they became involved with a number of different bands. Miles' skills as a producer developed and he produced albums by Wishbone Ash and Renaissance. Ian went to work for a few management firms and then headed even further west to New York to refine his skills and launch his own booking firm...Stewart joined a band called Curved Air...

"...by 1976, Curved Air was but a memory and Stewart began forming a new band, taking advantage of both the new [punk rock] music fad and his musicianship. That band became better known as The Police. And big brother Miles stepped in to manage the fledgling act (which was also briefly known as Strontium 90 as it flip-flopped from trio to a quartet and back two more times)...

"Unable to get his brother's band signed to a UK label, Miles decided he had enough experience 'behind the scenes' to launch his own label, Illegal Records. The Police debut single, 'Fall Out'/'Nothing Achieving,' sold out its initial pressing and went on to sell about 70,000 copies -- an unprecedented feat for both an independent label and an 'unknown' act. This only helped the punk music phenomenon to grow in the UK. The popularity of the new music and the demand for new product led Miles to launch several more labels...

"Meanwhile, brother Ian had set up a successful booking firm in New York, called 'Frontier Booking International,' or 'FBI' which, besides a few mainstream acts, started signing punk and new wave bands and booking them into US venues, such as CBGBs among others. This tendency to name business units after various governmental bodies would grow to ridiculously amusing extremes over the history the 'Copeland Empire' (Of course, use of "CIA" would remain exclusively with their father, for obvious reasons!)..." —IRSCorner.com

Paying tongue-in-cheek homage once again to his father's legacy, Miles III named one of his record-label ventures (and the most successful), "I.R.S."

It remains unclear exactly what Copeland's intentions were for the acronym as early I.R.S. record releases alternately define the monogram as "International Record Syndicate" and "Independent Record Syndicate." Either way, the definitive black-and-white "government man" logo eventually stuck and Miles and the I.R.S. were snickering all the way to the bank.

"In 1978, [Miles] recorded The Police's first album and, after hearing 'Roxanne,' decided that the group would require the distribution of a major company. By making A&M Records an offer they couldn't refuse, The Police were signed to that company. Miles then independently financed the group’s first U.S. tour, which sent word of mouth wheels in motion and which subsequently saw the group become the hottest band in the world. In The Police, Miles found three individuals with the same positive energy and lack of commitment to old ways of doing things that he had. No idea was too crazy to at least consider. All four of them -- Sting, Andy, Stewart, and Miles -- recognized early on it was their combination of contrasts -- merger of things that 'shouldn't' belong together from the music mixture of punk, pop, jazz, and reggae to their unique stripped down touring style -- that made them different. When Miles dreamed up the title of the first album to encapsulate the essence of what was going on, 'Outlandos d'amour' (combining outlaw-commandos of love), it was immediately adopted. Miles went on to title the next two albums, 'Regatta de Blanc' and 'Zenyatta Mondatta.' Miles’ original title for the third LP was 'Trimondo Blondomina' (three blondes conquering three worlds), but it was a bit too much for Sting. But in truth, the group had, in fact, conquered all three worlds. They were the first Western group to play in India and one of the very few to do Egypt. They re-opened Greece to Rock & Roll after years of military dictatorship. The Police performed to huge, ecstatic crowds in Argentina and Chile. Much of this was captured in 'Police in the East' and 'Police Around the World' videos. Meanwhile, a monthly magazine was launched in the UK titled, The Police, which reached a circulation of over 100,000, and featured photos of The Police in these various exotic and picturesque locales. Photo credits were more often than not: Miles Copeland III...

"The success of The Police and the novel methods used to break them enabled Miles to talk Jerry Moss (head of A&M Records) into distributing a U.S. version of his U.K. labels with A&M in the United States, and I.R.S. Records was born. In the next few years, the company had hits with The Buzzcocks, The Beat, The Cramps, Wall of Voodoo, Timbuk 3, R.E.M. and a number one album with the all-girl group, The Go-Gos. This album ended up as the number one seller in the U.S. for the entire year. This formula established the label as one of the most innovative in the business, and, at the same time, The Police rose to greater and greater heights, giving Miles and I.R.S. an immense profile." —MilesCopeland.net

While Stewart and Miles Copeland remain entrenched and vital in the record industry well into the new millenium, sadly their brother Ian lost his battle with cancer and passed away in 2006 at age 57. Ian chronicled the exploits of the Copeland clan in his autobiography, Wild Thing.