A question of wealth.
 

Ok, all of this talk about ticket prices and so forth has me wondering about the wealth of the members and their pay structures. Does anyone know how wealthy any of the members are? And as far as payment for albums and tours, do they split it 25% each? Does Mick get more for being 'the boss'? I would imagine that Stevie and Lindsay are fairly well off since they get the royalties for writing their own songs. It seems that Stevie would be the most well off considering the success of her solo material, and I'm sure she received a windfall this past year or two with the Dixie Chicks version of Landslide being the most played country song of the year. Any thoughts?

No-one really knows for sure, although we do know they make A LOT of money....they don't make their money based on the ticket prices though. They are given a nightly guarantee from their promoter , ya know like THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL MAKE EVERY NIGHT, kind of thing, and in turn depending on how much they demand that indirectly drives up the ticket prices, as do a lot of other factors.

Also I may be wrong, but I don't think Mick IS in fact the "boss" anymore. I did read that he was taken from that position many years back. There's so many details that come into how much they make, songwriters get seperate songwriter royalties, etc etc...it's a lot....but I would say, Stevie is the wealthiest as well....although it does depend on who spends the most money...She is worth many many millions, as they all are..

Chris

Difficult to guess at. I think I read somewhere that the 3 concerts at Earls Court last year grossed about $4 million, which would be substancially less after expenses.

I also believe I read somewhere Lindsey and Stevie earned around $9 million upto the end of the Australia leg. So I would hazard a guess the main members would recieve upto maybe $50,000 a concert each.

I would expect Mick and John to get the same or close during a tour, unlike recording an album unless of course songwriting credits come into it too. Again I remember Mick mentioning once that touring pays the bills for him. Fleetwood Mac have to tour for him to make money, in the studio he is just paid as a drummer.

Hard to tell really without being their accountants.

According to Rolling Stone, and other articles they were guaranteed $750k per night for the first 40 dates , thats nearly 190k per member each night...for the first 40 dates...although they did say that number went down after the first 40 dates...
Rolling Stone mentioned that Fleetwood Mac "gave" the 2nd leg of the US Tour to the promoter, so they probably earned little money for those 30 dates...(of course little to them is diff to me.)

I would say after the first 40 shows they were probably working on a 300k per night guarantee, which if that is correct, by now each member (if it were split evenly) would have earned around 12 million each by the end of this tour

Also according to Forbes they were given a "lucrative" advance from WB for Say You Will.
Chris

Mick and John can't make more than $50,000 each per show. Stevie and Lindsey make quadruple that amount per show, at least.

And, why would that be?

I'll bet the live show guarantee is divided equally, because that's still a hell of alot of dough. Stevie and Lindsey get their songwriter royalties, and Lindsey gets producer royalties, so they're making considerably more in the long run.
I could be wrong( :lol: ), but it IS Mick and John's band. I know S&L could refuse to tour unless they got a bigger share, but I doubt that's the case.

I think it is because without them, Stevie in particular, neither Mick nor John would get the huge demand they have had with this record. Also, Stevie has a very savy, very manager - arguably one of the best there is. I am sure he negotiated her to get the most money per concert, his point being without her the demand could not sustain the 727, the suites, etc. - he would be correct in the sense that she is the most popular in terms of drawing a huge arena crowd. Please do not read into this that I am saying the other three are not talented, not worthy, etc. They are and I love them. I am just saying that they all have managers/agents and they have them for a reason, which is to represent their interest in the most effective way. Representation of that interest in that world means more per night, etc. BUT, they could have put all of that aside and divided it four ways a la the cast of Friends when then negotiated their per episode compensation. Or, they could have had a standing agreement for the pro rata share for all FM shows since Tusk, when the managers first appeared. So, who knows.

Also, some money must be paid to CM for "The Chain," "Don't Stop" and "World Turning" if she retained rights. I think the other songs they sing that she did not write may be sung without remuneration to CM.

Interestingly, if you look at Stevie's Enchanted and TISL ticket prices, you can get a general sense of what it takes for Stevie to go on the road in similarly high style. She has a private jet. She has the suites. She has a smaller band, but it still is pretty large (three guitarists, two percussionists, two back up singers, etc. ) - I think those tickets topped out at somewhere around $80 on average. I know this is a few years later, they are playing at times larger arenas, etc. But, it is a fairly accurate general assessment.

My guess is of the $650,000 - it gets broken down like this:

Stevie $300,000
LB $250,000
Mick $ 50,000
John $ 50,000

But, we will never know - it is fun, however, to speculate however :cool:

also, it is important to remember that not all of the per concert remuneration goes to the artist. The manager/agent has their take, Uncle Sam gets his take, etc. So, if my numbers are correct for this hypo. LB would take home about $100,000 or so per concert.

Well, strand, assuming those numbers are correct, $100,000 for a day's (night's) pay, is none too shabby! :)

Patti

I'd take it any day of the week :laugh: I was just noting the initial amount is not reflective of what they actually take home just like my salary is not what I take home (DDAAMMMNNNIIITTTTTTTTT :laugh: ) - so that $650 a night pays more than just the four.

Also, I wonder of Stevie pays Karen J. and if LB pays Ray L. If so, their pay (prob. at least $1,500 a week plus per diem) comes out of the take home amount. Many times, the associates fees are not taken out of the star's take home and instead charged to the tour.

Here are some quotes from John Run, a ledgie who is in the business and has posted about the earnings of the band members for the SYW tour. John's information has always been accurate. I don't ever see Stevie being paid more money than Lindsey or Christine as a member of Fleetwood Mac, no matter how wonderful her solo career is at the time FM tours.



1. "FM is touring because they want to be together. They do not need the money, with maybe the exception of Mick. Over the last 8-9 years he has finally begun to recover from 30 years of excessive spending and bad business decisions.

Stevie and Lindsey when all is said in done with this tour and all of its associated revenue streams they will have grossed upwards of 15 mil each 2003 and 2004 combined. That far exceeds what Stevie made from TISL's revenue streams. It also far exceeds Lindsey's earnings from any single music project from any other time in his career.

John and Mick will probably realize 10 mil in that time. Again the height of their take from music.

So yes lots of money involved. They have made more money than most of us over an 15 month period (May 2003-August 2004) than most of will see in a lifetime. To put this in perpesctive a person could earn an average 100,000 a year from their job (the averge income in the US is 43K) for 45 years and earn 4.5 mil in their lifetime from work.

They don't need to do it. They are doing it because they get paid well and they can demand to get paid well, however in the end if there was no desire to do it, they would not be there. Enjoy the music. It is a good time to be a Fleetwood Mac fan!!


One post script. Stevie did not earn 5 mil from the Dixie Chicks Landslide. There was probably a 250k flat fee paid to record it and then another 2 million in royalities both from album sale and airplay royalties. The average number 1 song earns about 1.25 mil in songwriting airplay royalities. What may have helped landslide earn a little more was its crossover success. Heavy airplay on country formats, AC, HAC, AAA. That is a lot of airplay. Also her versions of Landslide still earn royalty money.

The songs to date that are believed to have earned the most royalty money are Yesterday and believe it or not I will Always Love You which has earned its song writer Dolly Parton upwards of 8mil."




2. "To the best of my understanding the way it is working on this tour is the band is guaranteed 600,000 per show by concerts west. From that guarantee the cost for production, venue, travel, and personnel must be paid. On average 300,000 per show. Buckingham and Nicks each have a guarantee of 100,000 per show. McVie and Fleetwood 50,000 per show. After the guarantees are met then the rest is profit to be split among the band, promoters, mgmt, and bonuses to backing players, crew,etc. If a show grosses 1,000,0000 the band is getting about 200,000 additonal per show. There has been only one show, Grand Forks that did not break even. With 71 US dates that is a lot of money! Europe and AU are probably a little different, but needless to say those will be 27 more profitable nights for Fleetwood Mac. 30 more outdoor shed dates in the summer of 2004 will add to the money for all. Sheds are less expensive to play which means more profit!"




3. "The numbers posted are for there 70 US dates and do not include the 15 dates they played in Europe in November and December.

My understanding of the money breakdown. The cost per show was around 600-700k. This included a 250k guarantee to the band. (Which is why concerts west got the deal. Clear Channel was only offering a 200k guarantee) The remaing 300k per night was profit. A good chunk of which went to Concerts West. However based on a 300k profit the band was splitting another 100-150k per night in addition to the guarantee. The range there depends on how much the band was giving back as profit sharing to its additional players and 80 or so tour personnel. Rough estimates on what the band made for 70 us dates. Lindsey and Stevie 8-9 mil. Mick and John 5-5.5 mil.
A good 6 months of work. The 15 dates in Europe, the dozen dates down under and 30 dates in the US this summer stand to gross them another 40 million. Profits will be a little less in in EU & Aus, but a little more if they play sheds. So the band members stand to bring in 9-15 million each for there 130-145 dates of touring

No they don't include merchandise. That is a whole other segment. Most likely that works out to paying the promotions company they contract with to coordinate its design, production, and sale. After costs that company takes it share and the rest is usually split evenly among the band. It is a signifcant chunk of change to you and I, but in terms of the other money we are talking about not all that much. Probably adds another 500k to each of there total takes.

Stevie and Lindsey get more because their agents got them more during negotiations with Concerts West and the band. Nothing to do with songwriting royalties per se. Has to do with the fact Stevie and Lindsey are the front men for the tour and without them there would be no million dollar per night grossing tour. The 50,000 per show guarantee is the most money Mick and John have realized from long term touring ever. This practice is common with established bands. Henley and Frey make more when the Eagles tour. The only money Christine now makes from Fleetwood mac are for songwriting royalities and album share payments "

EEK - I thought the $650 or $750 per night was split (in some manner) amongst the FOUR and then each one of the four pays the people they are obligated to, like their managers. If the four are guaranteed only $300 or so a night with a percentage of the overage, then that is diff. But, using the figues from John Run (thank you John Run!!!) Stevie and LB are still making around $100,000 in take home a show. Not bad either way :laugh:

I don't know, you seem to know the answer, enlighten us mortals. :wavey:

Exactly. Take $300,000 and look at the four members. Does anyone honestly think that they're going to divide it up and give Mick and John almost the same pay as the two stars? Hell no. The reason Mick is always pushing to go on the road is because that's how he makes his money; he barely makes anything from the studio albums because he doesn't produce and he doesn't write. Same for John. I would think that Stevie and Linds make about $100,000 per show, and Mick and John make $50,000 each.

There's absolutely no way that Stevie makes more than Lindsey on this tour. Never. I don't think his manager would go for it and I don't think he'd go for it. :laugh:

I agree in theory. But, if I was Stevie's manager/agent, you can bet I would have pushed for it unless she told me not to or something like that. Agents have a fiduciary duty to represent their client's best interests, which means using what ever assets that client has - Stevie's is she remained in the limelight, etc. - to put that client in the best position whatever that may be -money, power, number of tour dates, 18 songs on a record, staff, amenities, etc. So, in the end she may not have gotten it, if she even asked for it in the first place. Who knows for sure I guess.

I think FM may have an agreement of somekind in place about the pro rata for touring so they do not have to get into it everytime - that way they would avoid this exact negotiation headache.

Oh, I agree. I'm sure her managers wrangled to the death to get her even one grand more than Liddy Buck. But if Lindsey and his managers did not approve of it, they would have said sorry and would not have signed the contracts, resulting in a modern-day TITN. :laugh:

I guess you are asking who is the most personally well off in the total picture? I wonder if anyone knows the answer. Stevie's had a successful solo career, but, just as with Fleetwood Mac, there's a lot of overhead, including paying (in Stevie's solo tour) the back up band, the back up singers, the crew (roadies, etc), and the lavious manner in which bands live. It doesn't sound like the crew is staying in the deluxe accomodations (according to Cory's reports), but they aren't sleeping on cots in tents. Whatever it is, this band certainly seems able to afford living well on the road.

And why not!? We don't seem to shy from paying for tickets, albums, DVDs, and the trinkets. Some of us have also paid for airfair and some pretty decent accomodations along the way as well. (I guess the difference is some of us have credit cards that are on FIRE!) :shrug:

Stevie mentions she doesn't have to worry about a new morgage and raising a family. Could be that most of her major expenses are behind her at this point. It's a good place to be.

Lindsey has more money than anyone else in the band, if we're talking simply in terms of general wealth.

:nod: Even Stevie herself said so. Not only did he get loads of money from the touring, but he also gets royalties from his songs and he's produced many Mac albums. I read something from her where she said he never spent anywhere near the obscene amount of money the rest of them did and that he wisely invested a LOT of his money.

I used to think that. But, then Stevie has toured essentially every other year since 1974. Almost all of those tours have made her money. I do not know of any of her tours that have not made her money with the exception of Tusk (and that is from MF so consider the source) and perhaps Timespace. Others may know this though. Also, the DC's made her a hell of a lot of money and she also made money from The Smashing Pumpkins and The Corrs. Other people have also recorded her stuff to less fame. Conversely, LB has not toured nearly as much and the OOTC tour was reported to have cost him a ton of money instead of making it for him. So, while LB certainly is not destitute and probably never will be, I tend to think La Nicks has made more money over the years because she has toured more and put out more product. Whether she kept it - now there is another question :cool: But, if there have been none of "those" expenses since she has been clean and sober since 1994, then she should have made tens of millions of dollars from 1994 to 2004. So, who knows.

Again, I think it is fun to speculate and none of us really know for sure.

I know - but that was awhile ago. I just do not see how he could have leved a year at the Four Seasons in BH I think more than once and not lived an extrvagant lifestyle. But, maybe he has kept a hold of it. I hope so and certainly he made a payload on this last tour.

Oh . . . I disagree. I hope he hasn't kept a hold of it and has to keep on working! LOL! It might be a great motivator to getting the boy out on the road sooner!

The OSOTM and SA tours weren't exactly blockbusters, my friend. :laugh: I have a hard time believing she made that much of a profit on those tours.

She made a little under $3 million from the Dixie Chicks' Landslide, and much, much, much less from the Smashing Pumpkins and Corrs covers. The reason Landslide netted her so much was because it was an enormous hit, not so with any other covers of her material.

Yeah, but she also blew a lot of her money away on cocaine and I can't see where she made much money from '92-'96, with the exception royalties and such. She made just as much as Lindsey and Chris when The Dance rolled around, so...Again, Stevie has said before the Lindsey got the lions share of the dough and that he invested wisely.

Exactly. None of us know, but it sure as hell is fun. :lol:

Yeah, but he lived there during the 80s, if I remember correctly. Stevie's comment was made in the nineties, I think '94. I have to dig that sucker up. :laugh: She specifically said that he made most of the money out all five of them and a lot of it came from his producing.

Like Diss said, Stevie's tours did not all make a ton of money- some outright lost money. She hasn't made *that* much off of those covers (especially The Corrs, Smashing Pumpkisn, Hole, etc- she's made VERY little off those), and her solo album sales have been good, but in terms of P&Ls probably haven't been the most successful. I have no doubt that she's had more $$$ coming in at times than LB, but she's not frugal. He's famously frugal. He started out as a well-off kid, and from what I've heard, has always been smart about investing his cash well.

Combine that with his production credits and royalties that the other band members don't have- on a lot of stuff, Lindsey's made 2X the amount of royalties as Stevie, and even more than Mick & John- he's rolling in it.

He lived there then. But, I think he also lived there while he and K's current house was being built. Could you imagine that bill. A suite there that could accomodate his family is about $5,000 a night, which would be about $150,000 a month. I am sure he got a deal because of the number of days, but still, I am guessing $75,000 to $100,000 a month in the 90's and a little less in the 80's AND that is not counting room service, staff, etc.
:shrug: Can you imagine :eek:

Did Law and Order and Go Insane sell well? I seem to remember they did not and I think he toured for one and not the other. OOTC (tour and record) did not not sell well, which is a shame IMO.

How can living for a year or two at the Four Seasons be anything close to "frugal" :shrug: :laugh:

I got The Corrs income from something Mick said in a recent interview. he said Stevie made a lot of money off of them or something like that. But, certainly she made the most off of the DC. Again, I heard it was way over $5 million, but others say it is closer to $3 million. So, let's say it was $4 :shrug:

Priceline.com :laugh:


Plus, since he comes from a well-to-do family, his inheritance probably has been pretty significant, as well.

She said something like the producers get paid first and then the songwriter, performer, etc. She made it in ref. to Mick and John I think and then went on about LB. That is my point though. I wonder if that still is true. She certainly has has success since then. I mean Enchanted was a reissue that cost little to produce and even though it was not a hit by any means, it sold okay. As an aside, I think the most $$$ per issue they have made was off od FM GH. That has sold millions and it essentially was a reissue with little production costs. CHA CHING!!!!!

LMAO - can you see it - bidding on the Presidential Suite at the Four Seasons for a year. Shatner would give LB a personal note of thanks for that commission LOL!!!!!!!

Also, Stevie's parents are pretty wealthy in their own right and LB shared with two siblings (I think). So, who knows.

strand, I can tell you exactly how many copies of "Home" were sold, and I can tell you exactly how many spins "Landslide" has received at radio to date in the United States, and Stevie's paycheck off of "Landslide" was more than likely approximately $2.5 million and not much more.

He spent the early money he inherited on some multiple track recorder. Hopefully he's spent later inheritance money on the facility he is building at home. Like I said, I hope he finds that he NEEDS to work. This "Rumours" generation group of the FM band got waaaaay too comfortable early on ("money in the washing machine") and never felt the belly hunger of having to scrape and work - we made them rich and lazy.

I hope the Buckinghams had MAJOR room service while living in the 4 Seasons during the building of their hotel! :laugh: I hope Mrs. B. does some serious shopping. To quote the Eagles, "take it to the limit one more time." Let's get this band spending more and MAYBE they'll be motivated to get some more music out! ;)

You're losing your point. :shrug: :laugh:

What does living at the Four Seasons tell you? That he could afford it. Do you think he would be so dumb as to live there knowing that it would deplete a great deal of his wealth? I think not. He was the richest one, he could afford living there for so long.

Then there you have it :cool:

How could she make a ton of money off of that Corrs cover? I don't get it. :shrug: It wasn't a hit single, to the best of my knowledge, and was but one of eleven covers on a Rumours tribute album.

And refer to the numbers John Run posted when it comes to Landslide. She got a base fee of $250,000 for giving them the rights to record it. Then she made $2 mill off of it's single success.

I know that. But, my point is it cost a tom to live there. So, if he had no significant income for a few years, it probably ate into his stash. Plus, that house had to have cost 10 million dollars. So, while he certainly has a wad of money, I am just saying he spends it freely and most certainly is not frugal in that sense.

My whole point is that he took all the money that he made and INVESTED it wisely. There are numerous quotes from Stevie saying as much. For all we know, he invested in a small company that made it big and made $60 million off of that one investment. ;) I find it hard to believe that he would stay at the Four Seasons without a steady source of income and let the bill for it eat away at a lot of his money. It's implausible.

I was also played in concert and there were the DVD sales. So, she got money off of that. Plus, it was a hit in Europe and around the world. I am just speculating off of that. But, if people in the industry say differently - who am I to argue :laugh: Plus and as an example of these peoples' lives, the two or three million $$$ difference we are arguing about here is not a lot of money in the big picture when you make 15 million a year :laugh: WHY CAN'T IT BE ME :laugh:

He may have invested wisely. I hope he did. I am just saying he is not frugal as that term is generally defined.