A question of wealth.

[Tango]

Originally Posted by diamondsnake

I mean if Stevie wasn't in the band they could only charge like twenty bucks for a ticket. She is the main draw. Period.

"only." This is the line that raised my personal ire. It does denigrate the contributions of the other members of the band. I love Stevie. But come on. Whatever though. It's just Christopher's opinion. And he is a Stevie fan. Young, and still learning about her. Clearly. Rock on. If Stevie quits (ain't going to happen, apparently), I think Lindsey generates enough firepower to keep Fleetwood Mac going. STILL, it's the whole band, including Stevie that makes FM. Take Lindsey away . . . it wouldn't be the same.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Tango

"only." This is the line that raised my personal ire. It does denigrate the contributions of the other members of the band. I love Stevie. But come on. Whatever though. It's just Christopher's opinion. And he is a Stevie fan. Young, and still learning about her. Clearly. Rock on. If Stevie quits (ain't going to happen, apparently), I think Lindsey generates enough firepower to keep Fleetwood Mac going. STILL, it's the whole band, including Stevie that makes FM. Take Lindsey away . . . it wouldn't be the same.

I'd love to see just how many people became Lindsey converts after going to a SYW show. All I could hear from people coming out of the venue was "My god! Lindsey!" He's the star of the show these days.

[Cour]

Originally Posted by dissention

I fail to see how anything that Jason said is negative in any way, shape, or form towards Lindsey. He's stated his thoughts on their wealth in this thread, neither one of us needs to agree with them, but they aren't negative, they aren't malicious, and they aren't part of some huge conspiracy amongst Stevie fans.

I'll be the first to say that a lot of Stevie fans can be quite rabid if you dare say anything about the Queen that doesn't fit their views. They don't care if it has basis in fact or not, if they don't like it, you're the anti-christ. But I see none of that in this thread, with the exception fo one post and it wasn't even Jason's post. This thread is being turned into something a bit ridiculous: an argument over who's better, Stevie or Lindsey. To me, that's patently absurd and I'm a bit amused and disgusted at the same time that this thread has degenerated that way.

Lindsey has the most money, period. Stevie spent a lot of hers by living an extravagant lifestyle, whereas Lindsey's lifestyle was tame in comparison. He got the lions share of the money in Fleetwood Mac because he was one of the big draws in concert, he produced the albums, he wrote hit songs, and he played the gee-tar. It's only natural that he'd make the most out of everyone in the band. Stevie has said numerous times that he's the wealthiest, take it or leave it.

That's all I've got to say.

My original comment that started this discussion down this road was:

"If this is about doing everything possible to make Stevie look more successful financially than Lindsey than no amount of quotes are going to prevent this discussion from being spun in that direction"

IMO this is what happens when fans start discussing things like the band members personal finances. When the original questions came up it seemed like this was headed in a "Stevie should/could be paid more money". I brought up the original posts from John Run and Stevie to shed some light on what is know and prevent this discussion and thread from going down the all too familiar road of "Stevie is a bigger draw than Lindsey and deserves more" and "Stevie surely has more money than Lindsey because she's had a more successful solo career".

As you and others have pointed out, there are some fans who cannot allow that Stevie could ever be anything less than better than Lindsey no matter what anyone says, even the band members themselves. I think it's petty to try to constantly bring down one band member in order to make the other one shine just a little brighter. But as you and other fans have pointed out there are some fans who just can't stand to see her star diminished even if it's in ways that have nothing to do with their talent.

I also said that I don't see a need to bring up Stevie's mistakes or excesses and problems to make Lindsey look better. IMO there was a pattern of trying to make Lindsey look just a little worse, no matter what facts were presented. If you don't want to use the word negative to describe that consistent pattern, fine with me. I stand by what I originally said which is:

"If this is about doing everything possible to make Stevie look more successful financially than Lindsey than no amount of quotes are going to prevent this discussion from being spun in that direction"

[Cour]

Originally Posted by dissention

Unless a live show is recorded and sold as a video, CD, or DVD, no royalties have to be paid if someone covers a song.

So are you saying there wouldn't have to be any fee paid to Destinys Child in order for Stevie to use the Bootylicious song in her show?

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

Originally Posted by Cour

I just heard about this recently, someone said it was Tony Dimitriades.......Lindsey's current manager

Blimey!

[Cour]

Originally Posted by dissention

Oh, Bowie! He has more money than the US Mint!! For cripes sake, he owns his own freakin' internet company.

That deal he made on his future royalties was one of a kind, I know who was on the losing end of that stick
Didn't he get a lump sum of about 80 million dollars in the early 90's? I can't remember the details, just how stunning the deal was.

Correction, here's the details:

"In January 1997 he made financial history by raising $55 million through the issue of issue of 10-year asset-backed bonds, the collateral consisting of future royalties from 25 albums that he recorded before 1990. Prudential Insurance Co. bought the bonds."

Here are some other interesting deals http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/bowiebonds.html

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Cour

So are you saying there wouldn't have to be any fee paid to Destinys Child in order for Stevie to use the Bootylicious song in her show?

Exactly. She didn't even play it in the set, she played it over the speakers before even comign onstage for the first time.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Cour

That deal he made on his future royalties was one of a kind, I know who was on the losing end of that stick
Didn't he get a lump sum of about 80 million dollars in the early 90's? I can't remember the details, just how stunning the deal was.

I'm not sure, but when Reality was released last year, I read an article in Forbes talking about how his personal fortune is worth just under $2 billion. It went on to say how he got it all: investing in Microsoft back in its early days then getting out before the stock fell, investing in Hewlett Packard and IBM, the list was endless. He must have been an accountant in a past life.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by dissention

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. She specifically said that he made most of the money out all five of them and a lot of it came from his producing.

He was just living there a few years ago, when the house was being rebuilt.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

He was just living there a few years ago, when the house was being rebuilt.

Yeah, but like I said earlier, he's obviously wealthy enough to do so. I just don't foresee him living at the Four Seasons with the knowledge that it's going to detract a lot from his wealth.

[John Run]

Well, this little post has taken on a life of its own, hasn't it?

I have not replied to this thread, as I did not want to become embroiled in a vitriolic debate of who has more, who is better, etc.

I do not know any details of the the personal wealth of any member of the band.

I do know that this tour has averaged a 600-700k GT that included a 250-300k payout to the band with the rest of the GT sum used to pay the 300k+ per show production costs. The numbers have varied a bit depending on the costs associated with particular markets/venues ,as well some reconfiguring of the deal for the second US leg, then EU and AUS, and then finally the 3rd US Leg. The tour is profitable. Stevie and Lindsey are getting more than Mick and John. It was 100/100/50/50 and now is around 85/85/40/40. The GT amount was lowered to help bring down the breakeven point and increase profits on the additional legs where attendance was expected to be on avg around 10k per night and gross receipts around 800k. They split evenly the profit revenues, as well as ancillary revenue streams such as merchandising.

From a broad view Lindsey did not earn more than Stevie over the course of their music careers. However how much of her earnings did Stevie retain?? I don't know. They have all made plenty of money. With good investment, they could have been set for life and never had to earn another dollar from work after 1978.

One final aside. Both the Ritz Carlton and the Four Seasons offer what the they call "residences." They are large apartments that are leased on a long term basis to people who will be calling the hotel home for a while. While they are not cheap, they are not 150k per month either. They usually run around 25-30k per month.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by sparky

LIVING in a 5k a night hotel is idiotic and self indulgent no matter how much money a person has. Rent a furnished house. Hire a cook and a maid. There's a difference between being able to afford 5k a night - for months at a time, and just throwing money out the window. I am sure his accountant was having a heart attack. It's so unnecessary to throw money around like that. It seems out of character - you don't get money by handling money in such a manner. Preposteruous when you can rent a furnished mansion and have hired help for about 1/4 the cost monthly. Whatever. It's like leaving the faucet on all night just because the water works.

Funny thing is, to my recollection, he never lived like that until he had the wife and kids. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not a shipper BTW.

[Tango]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

I'm not a shipper BTW.

LOL! I'm hoping LB's wife is a SHOPPER! Keep the man working!

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by chiliD

At least he didn't put $5k a night up his nose like a couple of his bandmates did.

How do you know? There were some nights there on the Tusk tour where he had some pretty dark circles under his eyes. I watched the Tusk phot shoot last night and he was thin.

[Cour]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

He was just living there a few years ago, when the house was being rebuilt.

There was an article or interview around the time of The Dance where Lindsey said he had moved into a hotel because his house was being repaired from earthquake damage. Since the Town and Country article said Lindsey and Kristen were living there while she was pregnant with Will in 1998, this seems to all be around the same time period. They eventually moved into a rented house while the new house was being built.