Quote:
Originally Posted by HomerMcvie
Okay - even though this doesn't cover everything(obviously), here's what Bob wrote to me about copyrights, several years ago.
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No, the publishers don't have to ask permission...although it's considered courteous if they at least run it by you. I'm not the "publisher" of Sentimental Lady. I own the "writers share" which is 50% of all income from the song. On other songs , like Ebony Eyes for example, I own 3/4 of the song ; the 50% "publishers share" is split 50/50 between me and EMI Music. If I owned Sentimental Lady 100% , I could turn down any given commercial if I wanted...because I would be the publisher, and the advertiser must get whats called a "sync" liscence . As far as the amount of money...it all depends on the specific deal. For example , supposedly Led Zepplin sold "Rock And Roll" outright (100%) to Cadillac for $1,000,000.00. The more well known any given song is , the more money it's worth. Sentimental Lady is pretty far up in the ranking since it was a top 5 "hit" , and is still played. The lowest price for a song like that is usually from $35,000.00-$50,000.00 and up. It also depends on the budget of the company that's doing the advertising. The writer and publisher also make money from the "performance societies" ,i.e. ASCAP and BMI every time the commercial is played. If it's played (shown) a lot nationwide , or worldwide , this can really add up . Basically , the publishers called us up and said that ask.com was "maybe" gonna' use the song. Then we heard nothing for a month...and then a friend called us up to say she'd seen it. So much for "being in the loop " ;-) Bob Welch
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Edit - it's weird to me to post Bob's response to me, now that he's gone. It makes me sad to read it. I don't want to delete it.....it's just weird to read his words. An integral member in FM's history, and easily the most accessible. Rest in peace, Bob.
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this is why in the beginning (well, at least starting with Rumours) they all were their own publishers... Stevie had Welsh Witch Music, Lindsey had Now Sounds, Chris had... was it Gentoo?? So they would have publisher rights AND songwriter rights. Maybe because of the accounting nightmare they eventually partnered with ..was it Kobalt? or somebody and gave whoever it was some % in exchange for handling all the business tracking/royalty paying part of it. (This was one of the reasons so many artists were selling now before they kick, according to one of the many articles that came out on all this.People just wanted to leave the $ to heirs and not the headache of sorting out royalties etc especially when their heirs weren't going to be savvy about how it all worked and possibly get majorly ripped off). But FM had a publishing entity which was them as a group, I believe.... so everyone kinda got some sort of slice of the $$ pie from each other's material as well (which would benefit John and Mick the most as they would have no other songwriting or publishing royalties as non-writers. Someone else may know more.
I copied one article somewhere in one of these threads in which Mick basically said having all this money up front now would allow him to do things he wouldn't be able to do for more years (i.e., after more lucrative tours. Now they've all cashed out, the impetus or incentive for more big tours goes wayyy down). One imagines maybe he meant his restaurant, and whatever other splurges he wants before he kicks. I don't recall he said anything about what he could leave to his kids, just what he would need money to do and that having the cash now meant he could do those things sooner rather than later. we all KNOW he'll be broke again in a few years.
Stevie notoriously gave away rights to songs willy-nilly back in the day, including numerous boyfriends. The lay that keeps on giving! We know the rights Silver Springs went to her mother, it would be interesting to know who the mother left them to-- if she didn't specify it likely went to Stevie and her brother as her heirs. Beautiful Child went to UNICEF but not clear if that was in perpetuity or for x number of years. I think Sara went to a boyfriend .... can't recall what else. If she was smart she never gave anyone else a piece of Landslide as that one alone would have paid her til her kicked.