May and June are just the FIRST leg of the summer!

[Cammie]

Merf, we Gotta' Agree with you on
this one!Shouldn't The Mac Stop while
they are ahead in the Music Game? Hope
it's not just for $$$ as said! What game are
they playing? Last Man Standing?haha!Sky

[mylittledemon]

No, a certain guitar tech told me 3-5 years of staying together as a band. Not touring...he meants staying together period, whether that involved making more records and touring remains to be seen.

[SteveMacD]

Originally posted by mylittledemon
No, a certain guitar tech told me 3-5 years of staying together as a band. Not touring...he meants staying together period, whether that involved making more records and touring remains to be seen.

I wouldn't read anything into it, especially with these four people. Lindsey all but ruled out working with the Mac again as late as 1995, and Stevie has been saying "five years" for about twenty (or more) now. This is one of those bands where they can't stay away from one another.

[HomerMcvie]

I wouldn't read anything into it, especially with these four people. Lindsey all but ruled out working with the Mac again as late as 1995, and Stevie has been saying "five years" for about twenty (or more) now. This is one of those bands where they can't stay away from one another.

Well, the glitter has pretty much faded on ALL solo careers, so, whatcha gonna do? (Here come the chiffonheads......run!)
Does anyone actually THINK that if Stevie was BIGGER than FM, that she'd be doing FM now? Go with your strong suit. Fill dat piggy bank.

[rianbay1]

Originally posted by HomerMcvie
Well, the glitter has pretty much faded on ALL solo careers, so, whatcha gonna do? (Here come the chiffonheads......run!)
Does anyone actually THINK that if Stevie was BIGGER than FM, that she'd be doing FM now? Go with your strong suit. Fill dat piggy bank.

Yeah, I think she would. Say You Will (Last I heard 900,000 copeis sold) and Trouble in Shangri-la (about 700,000 copies sold)...Not a HUGE difference there. Touring, F MAC makes substantially more, but always has. Plus, I think it would be a lot easier to do an EXTENDED tour as part of a group (more dates, more $).

She was there back in the day when Bella Donna outsold Mirage. tour and all.

[rianbay1]

Originally posted by HomerMcvie
Well, the glitter has pretty much faded on ALL solo careers, so, whatcha gonna do? (Here come the chiffonheads......run!)
Does anyone actually THINK that if Stevie was BIGGER than FM, that she'd be doing FM now? Go with your strong suit. Fill dat piggy bank.

Yeah, I think she would. Say You Will (Last I heard 900,000 copeis sold) and Trouble in Shangri-la (about 700,000 copies sold)...Not a HUGE difference there. Touring, F MAC makes substantially more, but always has. Plus, I think it would be a lot easier to do an EXTENDED tour as part of a group (more dates, more $).

She was there back in the day when Bella Donna outsold Mirage. tour and all.

[strandinthewind]

I think FM is together because they want to be. So, I think FM is what it is and its best just to enjoy it and not worry about it.

I think there will always be the underlying issue of solo careers. After all LB is the one that left first, inter alia, to concentrate on his solo career, which he has stated he felt the more mainstream FM was retarding. TITN was originally his solo record that, like the current SYW morphed into a FM record for whatever reason. As for Stevie, I think she knows she does not "need" FM to sell a record even though she does not sell millions of records anymore. Moreover, her solo tours are perhaps more succesful for her in that she is the only one getting paid a star's salary, etc. I also think that after the millions (at least $5 rumored before the DC went on the road) she made off of the Dixie Chicks' cover of Landslide, she never has to work again or, at the least, she could sell another old song or write songs and let other people sing then a la Dianne Warren. As for Mick and John, they are FM in the sense that as Stevie said, they could fire LB and SN and start over with new people.

So, I conclude that FM wants to be together or they clearly would not be together. I do think, however, SN and perhaps LB, will put out at least one more more solo record. Hopefully, they will do another FM record. Of course, that makes LB and SN touring at least into their early 60's. What was that about swinging a walker at LB

[John Run]

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.

[strandinthewind]

Thanks for the info. on Landslide. I got my info. from someone in the business who would have cause to know. But, I never saw any supporting documentation (damnit!! ).

Also, I loved it when Dolly Parton was asked if she liked Whitney (there allegedly was a feud between them) - Dolly in classic manner responded - "Of couse I like her - she made my $X million dollars and it costs alot to look this cheap!!"

[Livia]

Also, keep in mind that John and Mick don't get royalty money. They're not songwriters. So, album sales and touring IS their bread and butter.

[gldstwmn]

For some reason, I do think that Mick and John get some of the publishing. Otherwise, why would Stevie have to go to Mick to ask permission to use Silver Springs on Timespace?

[strandinthewind]

Originally posted by gldstwmn
For some reason, I do think that Mick and John get some of the publishing. Otherwise, why would Stevie have to go to Mick to ask permission to use Silver Springs on Timespace?

I have often thought that as well. I do not think they are treated like session players - "here's your wage for the time put in and that's it." I think that as a part of FM they must get something more than that. Maybe when CM, LB, or CM submit a song and FM works on it, after a point FM has the rights to release it. Interestingly, I wonder if Stevie had to buy or get permission to use POTU and Candlebright? I think FM wokred on POTU and LB worked on Candlebright.

[sodascouts]

Originally posted by rianbay1


She was there back in the day when Bella Donna outsold Mirage. tour and all.

Bella Donna outsold Mirage? Ouch!

[Livia]

For some reason, I do think that Mick and John get some of the publishing. Otherwise, why would Stevie have to go to Mick to ask permission to use Silver Springs on Timespace?

Because Silver Springs had already been recorded by the members of Fleetwood Mac. Mick, or Ken Caillat, or whoever, had the master tapes. Stevie had to ask whoever to hand them over so she could put it on Timespace. I don't think it had anything to do with publishing, as it had more to do with Mick not wanting a Fleetwood Mac "recording" on a Stevie Nicks solo album. Stevie and her mother share the publishing rights on Silver Springs.

As far as Planets, Candlebright, etc., Fleetwood Mac may have played on the demos, but the publishing rights belong to Stevie. If she wants to hire completely different musicians to make the recording that ends up on her solo album, no one in Fleetwood Mac can, or should, stop her.

[gldstwmn]

Originally posted by Livia
Because Silver Springs had already been recorded by the members of Fleetwood Mac. Mick, or Ken Caillat, or whoever, had the master tapes. Stevie had to ask whoever to hand them over so she could put it on Timespace. I don't think it had anything to do with publishing, as it had more to do with Mick not wanting a Fleetwood Mac "recording" on a Stevie Nicks solo album. Stevie and her mother share the publishing rights on Silver Springs.

I thought about that as well. While I know Silver Springs belongs to Stevie's mom, I can't see Stevie not having the master to Silver Springs. Also, SS was written at a time when Seedy Management (Mick and John) was still managing FM. Wasn't it common for managers to get a percentage of their artists publishing?