Income split, royalties, etc.

General Pearl Jam discussion.
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bodysnatcher
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by bodysnatcher »

McParadigm wrote:
Strat wrote:Kind of surprised by that list. I had always thought VS and TEn outsold most of Nirvana albums.

Michael Jackson really is the king.
US sales usually account for 33-45% of an album's total. For PJ's early records, it's closer to 60-70%. After Vitalogy, their popularity drop in the US put it closer to 50% (Yield sold 1.4 million in the US in its first year, and 3 million world wide). So they do top Nirvana in the US.

Also, all Nirvana records saw massive sales jumps after Kurt died. In Utero had sold less than 4 world wide at the time of his death. Now it's over 10 million.
Wow interesting, I assumed PJ was bigger in Europe than the US
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bodysnatcher
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by bodysnatcher »

I bet if you break those sales down to US regions, you can follow their touring schedule pretty closely
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by LoathedVermin72 »

I like how they censored the word "sex"
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by bodysnatcher »

DUDE. NSFW spoiler tag, please.
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by jamfan14 »

I'll chime in. I took an Entertainment Law class in law school. We had a few guest speakers, but the one who was most illuminating was Bobby Borg - drummer for Warrant. At the time (and maybe still now?) he taught a class at UCLA and had written a book about this exact issue.

From what I recall (it was was over 10 years ago so my memory may not be accurate), he estimated that the talent made roughly $1 per album sold. He mentioned how when he started looking at his contract, he realized that he had not been paid for particular fees/entitlements he was owed. He called the music company (I forget which?) and basically said, Hi I'm Bobby Borg from Warrant. I believe you owe me $XXX based on my contract language that says I'm entitled to ____. They called him back later and said, yes that is correct, we'll send a check out immediately. And this was YEARS after they were no longer an active band, producing albums or touring.

He also shared another music companies are shady anecdote, apparently for years there is language written into contracts regarding breakage. Records back in the day when they were shipped to music/record stores would break. So contract language was such that a certain percentage was taken off the top because they assumed some records would break during shipment (makes sense I guess, vinyl can be fragile). But with the advent of tapes, and later Compact Discs, this language remained. While I'm sure some would break in shipment, I'm guessing the number of ones that broke was significantly less than a record, but still, this favorable contract language for the music company remained.

I'm curious if the breakage fee still remains with digital music so prevalent now a days.
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by stip »

How did dangerous sell more than bad?
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dimejinky99
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by dimejinky99 »

stip wrote:How did dangerous sell more than bad?

It's kind of a better record.
Calibrate your enthusiasm
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tragabigzanda
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by tragabigzanda »

pearl jam sucks now
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Fri January 02, 2026 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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LoathedVermin72
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by LoathedVermin72 »

I have a feeling "Black or White" was a bigger hit than anything on Bad.
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by tragabigzanda »

pearl jam sucks now
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Fri January 02, 2026 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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McParadigm
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by McParadigm »

tragabigzanda wrote:I'd rank Remember the Time as one of the very best pop songs ever.
Even if no one asked you to?
(patriotic choking noises)
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by tragabigzanda »

pearl jam sucks now
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Fri January 02, 2026 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by evenslow »

Not to turn this into a Michael Jackson thread (but to turn this into a Michael Jackson thread), officially:

Fucking Great Songs on Bad:
The Way You Make Me Feel
Man in the Mirror
Another Part of Me
Smooth Criminal

Fucking Great Songs on Dangerous:
In the Closet
Remember the Time
Black or White
Dangerous

Both have dated production on nice songs, but I guess I'll give the crown to the best of Bad. Also, "The Way You Make Me Feel" beats them all.

This has been a breakdown of Michael Jackson's Bad and Dangerous in a thread about "Income split, royalties, etc." in a Pearl Jam chat thread.

This would fall under the "etc." category.
Strat wrote:Alas, we are RM
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by E.H. Ruddock »

evenslow wrote:Not to turn this into a Michael Jackson thread (but to turn this into a Michael Jackson thread), officially:

Fucking Great Songs on Bad:
The Way You Make Me Feel
Man in the Mirror
Another Part of Me
Smooth Criminal

Fucking Great Songs on Dangerous:
In the Closet
Remember the Time
Black or White
Dangerous

Both have dated production on nice songs, but I guess I'll give the crown to the best of Bad. Also, "The Way You Make Me Feel" beats them all.

This has been a breakdown of Michael Jackson's Bad and Dangerous in a thread about "Income split, royalties, etc." in a Pearl Jam chat thread.

This would fall under the "etc." category.
Those are some great songs. I need to add them to my playlist
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stip
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by stip »

I saw Captain Eo last Saturday, team
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by tragabigzanda »

pearl jam sucks now
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Fri January 02, 2026 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by E.H. Ruddock »

stip wrote:I saw Captain Eo last Saturday, team
Holy crap. I saw that in 7th grade at Epcot Center the year it debuted. :oops:
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McParadigm
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by McParadigm »

How does it compare to watching Joe Pesci energy-blast a Michael Jackson transformer? Because that was really something.
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bodysnatcher
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by bodysnatcher »

tragabigzanda wrote:
stip wrote:I saw Captain Eo last Saturday, team
I had never heard of this until now.
Wikipedia --> Mind blown.
i saw this at Epcot Center back in the 80s. it was so fucking great.
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Re: Income split, royalties, etc.

Post by E.H. Ruddock »

bodysnatcher wrote:
tragabigzanda wrote:
stip wrote:I saw Captain Eo last Saturday, team
I had never heard of this until now.
Wikipedia --> Mind blown.
i saw this at Epcot Center back in the 80s. it was so fucking great.
Maybe we were at the same show!

I was the kid with the annoying little brother, remember?
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