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Family Productions

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American record label, founded in 1970 by [a=Artie Ripp]. In 1971, Family Productions signed 22-year-old [a=Billy Joel] to a long-term recording-and-publishing contract as a solo artist. Ripp produced Joel's first solo album [r=1580441]. However, the recordings were mastered at the wrong speed, causing the pitch of the entire album to be a semi-tone too high. On top of that, it was a commercial failure; distribution was poor, and promotion was insufficient. The relationship between Joel and Ripp deteriorated and in 1972, Joel jumped ship to [l=Columbia Records]. In exchange for releasing Joel from his contract with Family, Ripp agreed to receive about four percent (originally, about twenty-eight cents) of the retail price of each sale of Joel's first ten albums released with Columbia. Ripp retained publishing rights until [a=Walter Yetnikoff], head of Columbia in the 1970s and 1980s, bought them and gave them to Joel as a birthday gift in 1978.