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Veljko Despot (born 4 March 1948) is a Croatian music journalist and record business entrepreneur. He has been involved in all aspects of the music industry as manager-director, record label owner, reporter, chief editor, radio and TV program director. In 1998, Despot received recognition from the Croatian government as one of top private entrepreneurs in the country.
Since 1993, Despot has been a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences in the United States and since 2000 is also a member of the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. In 2013, he was awarded with the Porin Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding accomplishments in the recording industry in Croatia. It was presented to him on behalf of the Croatian Music Institute by Arsen Dedić.
In the late sixties, Despot's articles appeared in several Croatian publications, including Arena, Studio, and Vjesnik, interviewing artists such as Pink Floyd, The Hollies, Bee Gees, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Marc Bolan, and The Who. Despot attended recording sessions of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (London, 1967), Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed (London, 1969), Pink Floyd's Ummagumma (London, 1969) and Arsen Dedić's Homo volans (Zagreb, 1973).
In 1967, Despot was part of the very first record producer agreement in Yugoslav recording industry history, producing an extended play release for the rock group Kameleoni. In 1968, he produced their soundtrack for the film "Sončni krik" ("Sunny Cry") by director Boštjan Hladnik. Despot founded the Jugoslavenski Beatles Fan Club/The Yugoslav Beatles Fan Club in Zagreb in 1968, a branch of The Official Beatles Fan Club which covered most East European countries.
He was also co-founder and on the board of editors of the Zagreb "Pop Express" (1969–1970), one of the first music newspapers in Yugoslavia. Since 1971, he has also contributed to New Musical Express.
From 1968, Despot continued to contribute as a freelance music journalist on radio stations, and from 1972 on the Radio Television (Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija or Jugoslovenska radio-televizija, JRT), on Croatian Radio Television and subnational radio and TV centers based in Belgrade, Ljubljana and Sarajevo. Throughout the seventies, eighties and nineties Despot had numerous music reports on television, interviews, portraits and special programs, all concerning international popular music. In the mid-seventies he brought the first music videos on Yugoslav television, and in the eighties he introduced Yugoslavia's first music advertising on national TV.
Despot edited record albums as well, editing Bijelo dugme in 1975 for "Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu" and in 1976 for "Eto! Baš hoću". Both albums were recorded in Air Studios, London and produced by Neil Harrison.
Despot helped bring to Yugoslavia many important artists, like Deep Purple in 1975, The Rolling Stones (1976), Paul McCartney & Wings (1976), Queen (1979), Elton John (1984), Dire Straits (1985), Laurie Anderson (1990), Eros Ramazzotti (1990, 1994), Pet Shop Boys (1991), David Bowie (1990, 1996, 1997) and many more. For many of these artists it was their first visit in East Europe.
In 1999, Despot created Simbol Music, a consulting company that assists music artists and labels.
In 2001, Despot contracted with the Neweurope Corporation (NEC) in Florida, a private corporation with a "Click-Media-Mortar" business model centered around the New Europe theme. NEC targets over 28 million first- and second-generation Europeans living in the United States and millions of American fans of European music, screening European recording artists' songs and videos, as well as European TV programs, for marketing in the United States. Despot is now a corporate partner as the Director of Neweurope Media & Entertainment Center (NEMEC).
In 2008, when The National Academy was celebrating its 51st anniversary, Despot was honored as "the heart and soul of our organization... in appreciation and recognition of 15 years of membership in the Academy and supporting its education, advocacy and human services initiatives".
Despot is married and has three children.
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