Were queen members gained equal profit?

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[b]John S Stuart wrote: [/b]

The simple answer is that they are all paid seperately with different incomes.

This makes sense - as they also developed four unique solo and collaborative careers. John wrote the biggest selling Queen single ever (not Freddie), while Freddie then Brian contributed the lion's share of album material.

I always thought that 'Laurel and Hardy' would have been paid the same - but in fact - Stan Laurel was paid far more than his sidekick Oliver. I thought that was grossly unfair until I read that one was a talented genuis who wrote produced and directed all their movies - while the other was just a 'talentless' stoodge. (Same with Simon and Garfunkle or The Beatles if you think about it).

But surely such an answer is common sense and not rocket science - and therefore [b]not[/b] worthy of 'serious' discussion?[/QUOTE]
Outside of Ringo, who were the other "talentless stooges" in the Beatles? And was George Martin a stooge as well?

Lightning strikes - some get get hit, some don't. Those that don't are hardly "stooges".

Queen's quest for hit singles surely shows how they were compensated.

Sell records, get paid.

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[b]Sebastian wrote: [/b]

Freddie's heirs still receive publishing royalties from anything using his compositions (e.g. McFly's [i]Don't Stop Me Now[/i], QPR's DVDs containing [i]Bo Rhap[/i] or [i]Champions[/i], a film using 10 seconds from [i]Bicycle Race[/i]), so in that matter I suppose he still 'outearns' (for lack of a better word) the Doctor, especially considering TCR wasn't precisely a huge commercial success and Fred's solo re-releases (e.g. the one for his 60th birthday) easily outsell BttL & AW.

Moreover, Brian's only got one goose laying golden eggs ([i]Rock You[/i]), while Roger's got [i]Ga Ga [/i]and [i]Magic[/i], John''s got [i]Bites the Dust, Break Free [/i]and [i]Best Friend[/i] and Fred's got [i]Bo Rhap, Champions, Don't Stop Me Now, Killer Queen[/i] and [i]Crazy Little Thing[/i]. Averagely, it's much more common to find an artist covering (thus, paying royalties to the author for) [i]Somebody to Love[/i] or [i]Bicycle Race [/i]than [i]Save Me[/i] or [i]Flash[/i].

Still, the span is getting smaller with every passing day, and it's possible that some day Dr May will become more wealthy than Mercury ever was - hopefully, he'll do it through more hard work and less American Idol.
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I believe Sebastian has cleared it up with the first sentence in his 2nd paragraph.  Brian, by far, is much wealthier.  Do you know how much money Rock You makes for commercial use?  For instance... in a stadium setting WWRY is played EVERY time.  But not everytime does the home team win, so to think that Champions is on the same level is false.  Plus, I'm sure the phrase is copywritten and Brian gets a little chunk when someone wants to use them in some kind of promotion.  Plus there's the WWRY musical.  I'm sure Brian gets a little extra on top just because of the name of the thing... everytime a program or TShirt is sold.  It is also the 2nd most sampled song, next to Another One Bites The Dust. 

But most importantly, there isn't a Bohemian Rhapsody toothbrush, now is there?

[QUOTE][b]doxonrocks wrote:[/b]

Sell records, get paid. [/QUOTE]

Actually, no.  Selling records generates about the least amount of income for the artist.  Touring, promotion, and merchandise is #1.  If the artist is lucky to write a song that gains commercial value (such as movies and TV usage), then that can become quite lucrative as well.

Generally, an artist gets about 2% off the sales of an album or song, real or digital.

When a music video is aired on TV like on MTV or VH1, does the artist get paid by the channel for using their video or does the artist pay the channel for promoting them?

Here is an interesting article:

"ROCK legends Queen almost doubled their sales last year, banking more thean £10million.
The books of Queen Productions published yesterday, also revealed that band members Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon were paid more than £1.5million each.
The musicians got £1million a piece for "services and facilities", paid to their subsidiary companies, and they split a dividend of £1.75million. After a £925,000 corporation tax bill, the company still made a profit of £2.3million - up £1.6million on 2001.
Thanks to a technicality, frontman Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991, is still paid a salary of £107,975.
The company has also stumped up a £365,000 guarantee for the We Will Rock You musical through which Ben Elton put the band's tunes on stage".

From 2001 to 2008, the band were paid out 33 million pounds in terms of record royalties. In addition, "We Will Rock You" (the musical) generated tickets sales of over $600 million. Their two worldwide tours with Paul Rodgers, generated grosses of roughly $90 million put together (although these figures are estimated).

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[b]ParisNair wrote: [/b]



When a music video is aired on TV like on MTV or VH1, does the artist get paid by the channel for using their video or does the artist pay the channel for promoting them?

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The artist is paid by their record company.  Appearances, including promotion such as videos, are all part of the contract signed at the time the deal is commenced and therefore included in their salary.

The music industry usually pays shares on the [i]songwriting[/i] which includes music and lyrics. For performance there are NOT royalties payed as absurd as this may sound.

Usually the share of royalties is 50% for lyricist, 25% for songwriter and 25% for producer. So you have BoRhap for instance - Freddie (songwriter AND lyricist) gets 75% from each sale from [b]the song[/b] which includes on record, tapes (back then)  and EACH TIME the song has been aired on radio, TV commercials, film (Wayne's world) etc. Since the guys didn't have an equal input in songwriting in an album - there are albums with more material written by Brian, they do NOT get equal share. This is with regard to royalties. I'm not familiar on how they get their monies from live performances, though.

I was wondering - now there are CDs and downloads written by Queen and sold -  who represents Freddie's rights nowadays. For eventhough he's gone as an author he is entitled to his rights for 75 yrs after his death if I'm not mistaken.

For more info - The Bern Convention on Copyrights.

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[b]cmsdrums wrote: [/b]

That is true, although I think there was tension throughout the whole band, not just Freddie, about it.  It's not Roger's fault, but having written the b-side, he and Freddie would have shared the songwriting royalties for each copy sold.  Roger bought his Surrey home with the proceeds from that.

[b]Perhaps that's why the next single (You're My Best Friend) was a John composition, with a Brian song ('39) as the b side, so that they could try to spread the royalties around.[/b]

Until The Miracle, songwriting credits were still given individually, and those members would get the appropriate royalties - for The Miracle and Innuendo however, songwriting credits were given to the band as a whole, but my personal feeling is that this was done in the knowledge of Freddie's impending death so that the royalty shares were spread around, and not eaten away by Freddie's Estate taxes etc.. after his death.

Earnings apart from songwriting royalties were - I believe - all put into Queen Productions after John Reid sorted their finances; from there, they would have pooled company resources to fund touring, equipment, studio time etc.., and then pay a salary to themselves (the same to each member, and quoted as £700,000 pa each in the 1977/78 Guinness Book of World Records).

The WWRY and QPR enterprises have been set up as seperate trading companies, and I would expect that Brian and Roger (plus Paul Rodgers and their theatrical partners like Tribeca) will be directors of these companies.  John and Freddie's Estate will still get mechanical royalties from their mateial being played and recorded, but would not be paid any kind of salary etc.. and share in the gross income from those enterprises.

It would interesting to know however what the arrangements were however between 1995 (after Made In Heaven), through to 2000 (when the musical started) - Brian and Roger were working hard on behalf of Queen Productions and playing the odd gig here and there, releasing Queen Rocks, DVDs, various Greatest Hits etc...  Obviously John and Freddie's Estate would gain greatly from the continued work because album and DVD sales would generate good income but for no work on their part.  I only presume that QP paid Brian and Roger salaries for the their promotional work on behalf of the others?

Finally, I remember that at the time of his death, Freddie's Estate was quoted at approx £12m.  He was reputed to be a huge spender however and so would possibly have had a lot more without that habit.  In addition, as Jim Beach, an accountant, was his manager, and he could prepare for Freddie's death well in advance, I'm sure that there must have been careful 'management and realignment' of his wealth before his death, and that his true worth was greater than quoted. 

In recent years, the remaining members have been quoted as worth about £75m each - I'm not sure however how this compares to the income on Freddie's Estate since his death.

That's my thoughts on things!







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Once every few months, someone says something interesting on Queenzone, and there it is. Thanks cmsdrums!

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[b]LadySonnet wrote: [/b]

The music industry usually pays shares on the [i]songwriting[/i] which includes music and lyrics. For performance there are NOT royalties payed as absurd as this may sound.

Usually the share of royalties is 50% for lyricist, 25% for songwriter and 25% for producer. So you have BoRhap for instance - Freddie (songwriter AND lyricist) gets 75% from each sale from [b]the song[/b] which includes on record, tapes (back then)  and EACH TIME the song has been aired on radio, TV commercials, film (Wayne's world) etc. Since the guys didn't have an equal input in songwriting in an album - there are albums with more material written by Brian, they do NOT get equal share. This is with regard to royalties. I'm not familiar on how they get their monies from live performances, though.

[b]I was wondering - now there are CDs and downloads written by Queen and sold -  who represents Freddie's rights nowadays[/b]. For eventhough he's gone as an author he is entitled to his rights for 75 yrs after his death if I'm not mistaken.

For more info - The Bern Convention on Copyrights.
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Mary Austin.