In the age of severe and relentless corporatization, when giant conglomerates rule the music industry and artists and the integrity of their music have never been in more peril, the survival of a full service independent entertainment company like Invasion, which puts a premium on honesty, consistency, taste, hard work, dedication, artistic innovation, entrepreneurial vision and maximizing the artistic and commercial potential of its clients is more than just a miracle -- it's downright subversive. In fact, the very name of the company -- Invasion -- reeks of insurgency, infiltration and guerrilla tactics against a monolithic system and rightly so, considering its twenty year history of fiercely maintaining these values. Over the last decade, in virtually every segment of the music business, from record companies to publishing companies, concert promoters to radio stations, power has been concentrated into the hands of a very few. The effects of this trend have been profoundly negative: an entire generation of independent industry entrepreneurs has vanished; companies have laid off employees or closed; artist rosters have been slashed; and industry morale is at an all time low. Stalled out in their hugeness, overwhelmed by their infrastructures, and suffering from the constant pressure of having to produce immediate return on investments and concentrate on quick hits rather than building careers, the record companies have lost their ability to find, develop and nurture new artists and provide the fertile soil for the creative growth of already established artists. The result, as Invasion's Peter Casperson describes it, is an industry that is both commercially and creatively constipated. "The companies no longer initiate -- they can only respond," he says. "Artists are no longer flesh and blood people, just numbers." Yet for an independent entrepreneurial company like Invasion that has always marched to the beat of its own drum, it's also a time of unparalleled opportunity to explore the bold new frontiers of technological change and commercial innovation that presently characterize the chaotic and unpredictable environment of the music industry -- in effect, "to reinvent the wheel of how things are done", as Steven Saporta puts it.

Invasion was the brainchild of its two founders, Peter Casperson and Steven Saporta, both prodigies and free thinkers in their own right. Casperson has amassed a lifetime of extensive hands-on, top-to-bottom experience in virtually every aspect of the business -- managing artists, producing their records, publishing their songs, presenting their shows, distributing their albums and establishing their careers. Steven Saporta entered the music business from an entirely different direction -- as an actor in the avant-garde theater who became an independent manager and quickly found himself right at the cutting edge of the new form of expression called music video that would shortly revolutionize the whole industry. Each had unique talents that perfectly complemented the other, creating an uncannily successful symbiosis, as well as a commonly shared set of values. "We realized very early on that what mattered most to us was our passion for the artists and music we believed in," Saporta explains. "We talked about being true to that vision, because we knew it would be that which separated us from everybody else at the end of the day." The company moved in several directions at once. In addition to artist management, it opened publishing offices in Los Angeles, London and New York, and developed two separate independent labels, the progressive Invasion Records (which introduced the brilliant comedian-provocateur Bill Hicks and first brought techno music to the United States) and Great Northern Arts. The company also became the home of great musical innovators like Bill Laswell. Both Casperson and Saporta managed artists, directors, writers, record labels, and producers, but Invasion was anything but the typical management company. It fostered an atmosphere of creativity, becoming a salon of artists and a conduit for their ideas where they could find new avenues -- a place where the legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders could find a major label deal; where the great Parliament Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell could find his way into the Talking Heads; and where a songwriter like David Werner could write a song like "Cradle of Love" for Billy Idol, which would become his biggest-selling hit.

Casperson and Saporta eventually became full-service experts in all aspects of marketing, record production, and music publishing. As the industry became more and more corporate in both sensibility and practice, they steadfastly maintained a vision based on the belief that the future of the industry would depend on those responsible for developing talent, assuming responsibility for all the traditional functions that had either been neglected or abandoned by the major labels and publishing companies. "In a time of change and turmoil and redefinition, your ability to survive and make forward movement out of chaos and difficult circumstances is everything," Casperson states. "We never say it can't be done, and that's the most appealing aspect of what we offer." This can-do approach, vast industry experience and vision culminated most recently in the development and launch of United For Opportunity: a complete vertically integrated entertainment company incorporating all aspects of career development under the Invasion/UFO umbrella.

With aptitudes that can be applied to virtually anything bridging the worlds of art and commerce, Casperson and Saporta have amassed skills and talents that have long transcended the normal scope of managers. They've become valued consultants, communicators and problem solvers, in addition to brokering deals and putting together start up financing for new ventures, advising music executives as well as artists, all of which puts Invasion Group Ltd. in a unique place in the brave new world of the millennial music industry. "Now with the Internet and new technologies and delivery systems, it's the cycle of the entrepreneurs again," Saporta declares. "It's a great time for people experienced in many different alternative ways of how to make music go forward. The whole atmosphere taps right into what we do best!"

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