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Apperently their record company paid them 1% about half other bands received however all production costs had to come out of that 1% before they received a penny. They were so skint that on their second showing on Top of the pops they had to borrow the money to get there.
Second Tale:
70's group Sparks drummer hung himself this week he was living in low cost public housing.
How common is this kind of thing?
That is the standard deal. Not the 1%, but the fact the band is billed for studio costs, the videos and all that related expense. The record companies past most of the risk of signing a new band onto the band themselves. The record companies will put up all the cash, and they keep a running tab for the band. Who are usually young guys who have never had a pocket full of money before.
Courtney Love wrote a great editorial a couple years back detailing all the financial side of the business. I am sure it is easy to google for it. But it showed in great detail how the bands great screwed over by the company.
Consider Nina Simone; the Small Faces; Aaron Neville & every act in the 40's 50's & 60's that only got paid for actually recording their tracks - rather than being offered a percentage of any future income.
One of the major ways this whole scenario changed was actually through George Lucas & Star Wars. Take a salary now - or a slice of future earnings. The rest of course, is history...
Syzygy
Makes you wonder when you read...
No need to wonder - those stories are not true.
Suspect he isnt as all features on him state billionaire P Diddy, kinda like they have to mention as part of teh interveiw agreement.
there's no way he is a billionaire. Maybe he grosses a bliion a year with clothes and music sales. If a CD sells for $13, he is lucky to get $1. The real label has to get paid, the store gets about half, artist, expenses etc.
He owns his own label, that is how the established artists are getting more from the record companies. They start a label and get the companies to bid. So they end up with a profitable deal and they own the rights to the songs.
As far as Axl Rose and those who have made a fortune in music. When you reach a certain threshold, their take from the recordings increases. But the real cash for these guys/girls is the concert tours. G n R did a few years of stadium and arena tours, that is where his wealth was created, then a big chunk of it went up his nose. But, that is another story.
They're branches of the major labels. Example:
Eminem own Record Label > AfterMath > Interscope > Geffen > Universal Music. They all get a piece of the $14.
I could be wrong, but Universal in this case would own Eminem's masters, unless he used his negotiating power and had a different contract. Tours is where they make the money.
Dave Davis, of the Kinks.
I didn't hear that. I loved Sparks.
I think sometimes the music business correlates to the internet business. When you have high rankings, you start to believe that you always will, but search engines are often fickle, just like the public.
Then I am missing out on my groupies... which one of you has MY groupies?
Plus, I do not want to see anymore brown M & M's!
[edited by: Rugles at 10:11 pm (utc) on Feb. 8, 2005]
[dir.salon.com...]
Quote "I want to start with a story about rock bands and record companies, and do some recording-contract math: "
Music stars get $50m in royalties [news.bbc.co.uk]
and
Stars share royalties victory [news.bbc.co.uk]
It shows that at least some reparation has been made in recent years; but only some...
Syzygy
The only way to make "real money" in music is to kick some serious ass on tour (which is where a large amount of merch sales come from too), and do it for a long amount of time. Search up some stats on the Top Touring Acts of (insert year here), and then you'll see the bands that make the $$.
