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“I remember taking a red-eye to New York and going to MTV [with] a rough cut of ‘Billie Jean’ and MTV declining the video,” Weisner recalls. He walked from there to Epic headquarters. “I sat down with [CBS Records head] Walter Yetnikoff,” he says. “We then went to [CBS head] Bill Paley, and he and Walter [told MTV], ‘This video is on by the end of the day or [CBS Records] isn’t doing business with MTV anymore.’ The record company played hardball and that was the day that changed history. That was the video that broke the color barrier.”
via Exclusive: How Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ Changed The Music Business | Billboard.com.
