Garth Brooks Holds the Dice

In his new book “Rough Mix,” Jimmy Bowen, the former head of Capitol Records’ Nashville division, refers to Garth Brooks as an “800-pound gorilla.” And the country superstar recently lived up to the billing, throwing a monkey wrench into Capitol’s operation by putting a hold on plans to release a new album and single.

Brooks, who last year joined the Beatles as the only artists with more than 60 million albums sold in the U.S., pulled in the reins on his tentatively titled “Sevens” album--due in stores Aug. 7--after a massive shake-up in the EMI-Capitol North American corporate offices left two of his closest allies, chairman Charles Koppelman and executive vice president Terry Santisi, out of work.

“There’s been so much shuffling going on and people figuring out what their job responsibility is, Garth thought it was best to wait until everyone was settled in,” says Scott Stem, Brooks’ Nashville-based spokesman.

That means that at the very least, Capitol has already had to scrap a proposed $22-million marketing campaign that had been in development for more than a year involving a wide range of print, radio and TV advertising, promotional events and sponsorship tie-ins. The campaign was set to begin in conjunction with Brooks’ Aug. 7 concert in New York’s Central Park, which will air live on HBO. Brooks’ only new product around that time will be “In Another’s Eyes,” a duet with Trisha Yearwood that will be on her upcoming greatest-hits album--which is on MCA, not Capitol.

And it raises the possibility that Brooks might not like the way things ultimately shape up with the company and decide it’s time to move on. Brooks already once went head to head with Capitol officials, demanding a contract renegotiation in 1993 that gave him a 20-year deal that stands as one of the industry’s most favorable.

Stem says that leaving is not on Brooks’ mind, but Capitol executives have already taken several drastic steps to demonstrate their willingness to accommodate him now, such as moving the remaining company official with the strongest relationship with Brooks from his New York post of senior vice president of marketing for the EMI-Capitol Music Group to the job of executive vice president and general manager of Capitol Nashville.

“That shows how important Garth Brooks is to this company,” says the executive, Pat Quigley. “I’m hoping that he appreciates the commitment to him, and I’m hoping we can put together a new plan. But Garth wants to catch his breath with all the changes.”

The key point of concern for Brooks is reaching new fans. Capitol research showed that of the 9.2 million people who bought the 1994 anthology “The Hits,” 3.8 million had never bought a Brooks album before. The new buyers, though, did not shell out for Brooks’ next new album, 1995’s “Fresh Horses,” which has sold a total of 4 million.

“When Garth sells 3.8 million of ‘The Hits’ to new people and then didn’t sell one ‘Fresh Horses’ to those people, something was wrong,” says Quigley. “We didn’t have a strategy to go after those people. . . . Now we have a plan to reach them.”