Income split, royalties, etc.

[Biff Pocoroba]

Didn't Mother Love Bone sign a major deal before Wood died? No doubt Stone learned some lesssons from that negotiation. Not that anyone knew Pearl Jam would blow up like they did.
And no doubt that touring & merch is where the $ is at for bands these days, with digital music being what it is. I'm that is why we see so many products with the Pearl Jam name on their site & probably why we've seen more attention paid to stage presentation (lighting, props) the past few tours.

[McParadigm]

I'd be astonished if any of their bootlegs sell a tenth of that much, I'd expect a few hundred sales for shows of particular interest but barely any for random mid-tour shows. I think it's more of a vanity/goodwill project, I presume the digital/burn-to-order distribution method helps keep costs down enough to keep it going (though I may be wildly incorrect, of course).

Official Bootleg Series 2000-2001 (72 albums)..........1,600,000

Official Bootleg Series 2003 (73 albums)..................1,100,000

Official Bootleg Series 2005-2006 (100 albums)........800,000

Official Bootleg Series 2008-2012 (101 albums)........500,000

[McParadigm]

And no doubt that touring & merch is where the $ is at for bands these days, with digital music being what it is. I'm that is why we see so many products with the Pearl Jam name on their site & probably why we've seen more attention paid to stage presentation (lighting, props) the past few tours.

Never underestimate publishing for artists who have big, remembered hits. Sting once admitted that he could live better than most middle class families off of the royalties for Every Breath alone, and Don McLean was direct enough to admit that he still earned hundreds of thousands of dollars a year off of American Pie as of early this century.

I remember an article about the mess that rich people wills can become noting that George Harrison's estate regularly claimed six million dollars a year in songwriting royalty income.

[Mine]

Don't have to be huge hits either. I remember Grace Slick saying in an interview White Rabit was paying her bills and that was less than 10 years ago. Not bad for something from 1967.

[Biff Pocoroba]

In a similiar line of thinking what about covers performed on Pearl Jam bootlegs? Does Neil Young get something for every Rockin' in the Free World and Victoria Williams something for every Crazy Mary? Don't they have to pay something to get to perform them anyway?
No doubt there's well established legacy musicians living well off past success. I thinking more of newer acts from the past few years or bands just getting established as viable.

[Mine]

As far as i know you don't need any formal permission to cover a song but songwriters get royalties regardless of who is performing their songs.

[Farmer John]

And no doubt that touring & merch is where the $ is at for bands these days, with digital music being what it is. I'm that is why we see so many products with the Pearl Jam name on their site & probably why we've seen more attention paid to stage presentation (lighting, props) the past few tours.

Never underestimate publishing for artists who have big, remembered hits. Sting once admitted that he could live better than most middle class families off of the royalties for Every Breath alone, and Don McLean was direct enough to admit that he still earned hundreds of thousands of dollars a year off of American Pie as of early this century.

I remember an article about the mess that rich people wills can become noting that George Harrison's estate regularly claimed six million dollars a year in songwriting royalty income.

Does Don McLean get paid everytime American Pie gets played on the radio? Or is most of that money coming from iTunes sales and what not?

[McParadigm]

No doubt there's well established legacy musicians living well off past success. I thinking more of newer acts from the past few years or bands just getting established as viable.

I don't know what the future looks like for post-2000 acts that achieve popularity, simply because exposure and success are so much more compartmentalized now.

Does Don McLean get paid everytime American Pie gets played on the radio? Or is most of that money coming from iTunes sales and what not?

Hundreds of thousands of dollars? I'm sure he meant from both avenues combined.

[Farmer John]

No doubt there's well established legacy musicians living well off past success. I thinking more of newer acts from the past few years or bands just getting established as viable.

I don't know what the future looks like for post-2000 acts that achieve popularity, simply because exposure and success are so much more compartmentalized now.

Does Don McLean get paid everytime American Pie gets played on the radio? Or is most of that money coming from iTunes sales and what not?

Hundreds of thousands of dollars? I'm sure he meant from both avenues combined.

But an artist does get paid every single time their song gets played on the radio?

[Mine]

As far as i know the writer does, the performer depends. Meaning it didn't hurt McLean's bank account that Madonna chose to cover that particular song.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[bodysnatcher]

As far as i know you don't need any formal permission to cover a song but songwriters get royalties regardless of who is performing their songs.

This is true -- any venue that PJ plays is already paying to the performing rights organizations so that performers can cover a song at will (this is called a compulsory license). However, the band does need to get permission to sell the performance on the bootleg releases, which is why some covers have been left off occasionally.

"I Won't Back Down (from my final offer)"

[Biff Pocoroba]

I remember an article about the mess that rich people wills can become noting that George Harrison's estate regularly claimed six million dollars a year in songwriting royalty income.

I remember seeing the $6 million a year royalties figure each on the Beatles too around the time the Anthology set was released.

[McParadigm]

I remember an article about the mess that rich people wills can become noting that George Harrison's estate regularly claimed six million dollars a year in songwriting royalty income.

I remember seeing the $6 million a year royalties figure each on the Beatles too around the time the Anthology set was released.

[bodysnatcher]

I wonder what Boom gets paid?

Probably just free room+board and food, as long as he supplies the weed

[CopperTom]

The general consensus of what I've heard and read, is that for most musicians on a record contract there's fuck all money for the artist in record sales. The big money comes from touring.

And merch. The official bootlegs are a fantastic revenue idea. Play a show and get paid $1mil (minimum), get 5,000 fools to buy it for a tenner or more and bingo.

I'd be astonished if any of their bootlegs sell a tenth of that much, I'd expect a few hundred sales for shows of particular interest but barely any for random mid-tour shows. I think it's more of a vanity/goodwill project, I presume the digital/burn-to-order distribution method helps keep costs down enough to keep it going (though I may be wildly incorrect, of course).

Brent Eliason and Brady Lahr both mentioned that is is more profitable than you think and is no where near "break-even." I think 5k across all formats is probably a fair estimate.

[CopperTom]

I remember an article about the mess that rich people wills can become noting that George Harrison's estate regularly claimed six million dollars a year in songwriting royalty income.

I remember seeing the $6 million a year royalties figure each on the Beatles too around the time the Anthology set was released.

I thought Michael Jackson owned the catalog?

[McParadigm]

Brent Eliason and Brady Lahr both mentioned that is is more profitable than you think and is no where near "break-even." I think 5k across all formats is probably a fair estimate.

Addressed above. Total boot sales are over four million.

I thought Michael Jackson owned the catalog

1. Not the entire catalog
2. At least some of John's ownership would have automatically returned to his estate in England at some point in the 80's or 90's, thanks to some unusual intellectual property rights rules involving the deceased.
3. All four Beatles have solo careers
4. Paul and Ringo both toured during the year in question

[Birds in Hell]

Brent Eliason and Brady Lahr both mentioned that is is more profitable than you think and is no where near "break-even." I think 5k across all formats is probably a fair estimate.

Addressed above. Total boot sales are over four million.

Yes, indeed, it certainly appears I was drastically underestimating how many people buy the shows.

[McParadigm]

Considering the kind of merch insanity and live show comparisons that go on here, it makes sense.