It's not just the writers who get the royalties, there is a performers royalty as well, so nobody would have been 'unpaid' by the release. It used to be the writer's royalty was 15% of the total sale, and the performer's royalty was 7% but what I can't tell you is if there are two writers does that mean 15% split two ways, and is it 7% split between each member, or if it's 15 and 7 percent each.
Also if there's an advance then the royalties first of all go to paying the advance.
I don't know what the exact percentages would be for a major band like Queen, it would depend on their contract, but I should imagine that the record companies would be more favourable to such a money-spinning act.
JeroenG · Member since
Unless otherwise decided on a case by case basis, the standard for writing credits is equal divided.
Example:
A song > lyrics by B / music by C > 50% for B / 50% for C
A song > lyrics by B & C / music by D > 25% for B / 25% for C / 50% for D
A song > lyrics by B & C / music by C > 25% for B / 75% for C
etc
So let's take the AKOM album as an example (assuming that all lyrics and music are devided equally, we don't have specifications for that):
To start with: Each track gets 1/9th, which is 11,11%
One Vision > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,78% of total album
A Kind Of Magic > RT > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
One Year Of Love > JD > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Pain Is So Close To Pleasure > FM/JD > each 50% of track > each 5,56% of total album
Friends Will Be Friends > FM/JD > each 50% of track > each 5,56% of total album
Who Wants To Live Forever > BM > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Gimme The Prize > BM > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Don't Lose You Head > RT > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Princes Of The Universe > FM > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Funny detail in this case: They all have exactly 25% of the writer credits of this album
JeroenG · Member since
Another example: The Works album
Radio Ga Ga > RT > 100%
Tear It Up > BM > 100%
It's A Hard Life > FM > 100%
Man On The Prowl > FM > 100%
Machines (Or Back To Humans) > BM/RT > each 50%
I Want To Break Free > JD > 100%
Keep Passing The Open Windows > FM > 100%
Hammer To Fall > BM > 100%
Is This The World We Created...? > FM/BM > each 50%
and again 9 tracks, so 11,11% for each track
Brighton Rock > BM > 100% > 7,7% of total album
Killer Queen > FM > 100% > 7,7% of total album
Tenement Funster > RT > 100% > 7,7% of total album
Flick Of The Wrist > FM > 100% > 7,7% of total album
Lily Of The Valley > FM > 100% > 7,7% of total album
Now I'm Here > BM > 100% > 7,7% of total album
In The Lap Of The Gods> FM > 100% > 7,7% of total album
Stone Cold Crazy > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% > each 1,9% of total album
Dear Friends > BM > 100% > 7,7% of total album
Misfire > JD > 100% > 7,7% of total album
Bring Back That Leroy Brown > FM > 100% > 7,7% of total album
She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettoes) > BM > 100% > 7,7% of total album
In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited > FM > 100% > 7,7% of total album
In this case the album has 13 tracks, so each track is 1/13th = 7,7%
And to end with, a later example, and the reason why they decided to credit every track to 'Queen' on their later albums:
Party > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,5% of total album
Khashoggi's Ship > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,5% of total album
The Miracle > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,5% of total album
I Want It All > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,5% of total album
The Invisible Man > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,5% of total album
Breakthru > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,5% of total album
Rain Must Fall > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,5% of total album
Scandal > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,5% of total album
My Baby Does Me > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,5% of total album
Was It All Worth It > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,5% of total album
10 tracks, so each track is 10%
FM: 10 x 2,5% = 25%
BM: 10 x 2,5% = 25%
RT: 10 x 2,5% = 25%
JD: 10 x 2,5% = 25%
Very simple and effective, and no reason for fighting over tracks and money anymore.
dysan · Member since
'Did John effectively work for "free" during QI and QII and to a extent SHA?'
I think they pretty much all did.
Holly2003 · Member since
I wonder does this help explain why Fred decided to release a solo album. His hit singles dried up a bit in the 1980s, so his royalties dropped. Mind you, sales of the 1981 Greatest Hits release likely more than made up for that. Still, he had expensive habits...
brENsKi · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Holly2003 wrote:[/b]
I wonder does this help explain why Fred decided to release a solo album. His hit singles dried up a bit in the 1980s, so his royalties dropped. Mind you, sales of the 1981 Greatest Hits release likely more than made up for that. Still, he had expensive habits...[/QUOTE]
I think it was a case of the band being a little fragmented around that time. Roger had had already released 2 solo LPs - Brian a mini Lp and had been producing others. I think that after 10+ yrs of recording together, they all wanted control over their own pet projects.
fras444 · Member since
@Dyson that's so true. With sales from QI and QII being not million dollar earners and SHA, their first true hit with Killer Queen, and with their troubles with management, fair to say that all four went rolling in the cash...
@brENsKi; do you thing that had Roger and Brian but all of their solo efforts into the Queen project. Would we have a couple more "classic" albums from the 70s, with all four working on on those songs, or less 'filler' on the current albums.. Or were thos songs just simply the dregs/leftovers that were simply not good enough to be on a Queen album...
fras444 · Member since
We hear that Led Zep raked in huge cash from their American tours, Why was it that Queen, or from what Roger and Brian claim... Their tours before the 'Magic' tour they barely broke even...
I thought they would have been top earners with the extensive touring all over the world during the breakthrough 70s period at least
dysan · Member since
They've always said money from tours got pumped back into the shows for next time.
At least, that's what they told the taxman.
Martin Packer · Member since
If you had a limited company for touring then you could easily pull the "we plough surpluses into the next product" stunt.
Nathan H · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]JeroenG wrote:[/b]
Unless otherwise decided on a case by case basis, the standard for writing credits is equal divided.
Example:
A song > lyrics by B / music by C > 50% for B / 50% for C
A song > lyrics by B & C / music by D > 25% for B / 25% for C / 50% for D
A song > lyrics by B & C / music by C > 25% for B / 75% for C
etc
So let's take the AKOM album as an example (assuming that all lyrics and music are devided equally, we don't have specifications for that):
To start with: Each track gets 1/9th, which is 11,11%
One Vision > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,78% of total album
A Kind Of Magic > RT > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
One Year Of Love > JD > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Pain Is So Close To Pleasure > FM/JD > each 50% of track > each 5,56% of total album
Friends Will Be Friends > FM/JD > each 50% of track > each 5,56% of total album
Who Wants To Live Forever > BM > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Gimme The Prize > BM > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Don't Lose You Head > RT > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Princes Of The Universe > FM > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Funny detail in this case: They all have exactly 25% of the writer credits of this album[/QUOTE]
What I find interesting about this is that John was going to be the only one to be recieving a writing credit on Pain Is So Close To Pleasure but he made sure Freddie one because of his help in arranging the song. If he hadn't then it would've been John recieving the most money from the album and Freddie recieving the less who would've thought that ten years prior.
Nathan H · Member since
Using the method mentioned by JeroenG...
[b]Flash Gordon:[/b]
John - 11.1%
Brian - 38.9%*
Freddie - 25%
Roger - 19.4%
Howard Blake - 5.6%
[b]Hot Space:[/b]
John - 15.5%
Brian - 29.1%
Freddie - 33.6%
Roger - 20%
David Bowie - 1.8%
[b]Live Magic:[/b]
John - 19.7%
Brian - 33%*
Freddie - 29.7%
Roger - 16.3%
David Bowie - 1.3%
[b]Greatest Hits II:[/b]
John - 23.2%
Brian - 26.2%
Freddie - 23.2%
Roger - 26.2%
David Bowie - 1.2%
[b]Made In Heaven:[/b]
John - 15.4%
Brian - 21.8%
Freddie - 34.6%
Roger - 23.1%
Elizabeth Lamers - 2.6%
Frank Musker - 2.6%
[b]Queen Rocks:[/b]
John - 6.9%
Brian - 62.5%
Freddie - 12.5%
Roger - 18.1%
[b]Greatest Hits III:[/b]
John - 12.9%
Brian - 26.6%
Freddie - 33.5%
Roger - 15.9%
David Bowie - 1.2%
Elizabeth Lamers - 2%
Mike Moran - 2.9%
Frank Musker - 2%
* I'm not quite sure whether these songs are credited solely to Brian, I've just assumed he gets all the money from them because he's the arranger but I'm probably wrong.
MisterCosmicc · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]21st Century Music Fan wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]JeroenG wrote:[/b]
Unless otherwise decided on a case by case basis, the standard for writing credits is equal divided.
Example:
A song > lyrics by B / music by C > 50% for B / 50% for C
A song > lyrics by B & C / music by D > 25% for B / 25% for C / 50% for D
A song > lyrics by B & C / music by C > 25% for B / 75% for C
etc
So let's take the AKOM album as an example (assuming that all lyrics and music are devided equally, we don't have specifications for that):
To start with: Each track gets 1/9th, which is 11,11%
One Vision > FM/BM/RT/JD > each 25% of track > each 2,78% of total album
A Kind Of Magic > RT > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
One Year Of Love > JD > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Pain Is So Close To Pleasure > FM/JD > each 50% of track > each 5,56% of total album
Friends Will Be Friends > FM/JD > each 50% of track > each 5,56% of total album
Who Wants To Live Forever > BM > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Gimme The Prize > BM > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Don't Lose You Head > RT > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Princes Of The Universe > FM > 100% of track > 11,11% of total album
Funny detail in this case: They all have exactly 25% of the writer credits of this album[/QUOTE]
What I find interesting about this is that John was going to be the only one to be recieving a writing credit on Pain Is So Close To Pleasure but he made sure Freddie one because of his help in arranging the song. If he hadn't then it would've been John recieving the most money from the album and Freddie recieving the less who would've thought that ten years prior.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn’t take Peter Freestone’s words so seriously about that. He said the same thing about Friends Will Be Friends, but Friends Will Be Friends is classic Freddie. They both worked on the tracks. It wasn’t one or the other, and Freddie wouldn’t take a credit unless he rightfully deserved it.
