Interesting. Though, I'd assume Oasis has made tenfold what Pulp has..globally especially. And fact Pulp no longer is really a thing to the general public. Unless a reunion tour occurs.
Plus, it probably depends on how each band had funds split and contracts. If I recall, I think Jarvis said in an interview not too long ago that he wasn't a millionaire. Or that they were all briefly millionaires or cusp of it, for a short while.
So, no idea.
Pulp never really made it out of the UK scope. Unfortunately.

Wonder why he's so defiant against being assumed as a millionaire? I mean, he was in a very successful band with big singles, UK tours, it's kind of automatically assumed they'd be at least living comfortably. So no idea why his reaction. And I think he got defiant once before over it. Unless he feels weird or guilty about admitting he is wealthy in midst of fact that his biggest song is about classism and spokesperson for the "common people". But I don't think anyone would blame him for that. Wasn't like he foresaw all this ahead of time. And he deserves it for his work. Nothing wrong with earning a living. And not like he's living it up like a Kardashian. He lives modestly and still in touch with his homebase and roots. So, no reason for him to be ashamed of it. 

Well, those sites aren't very reliable, true, but they give some pretty good informations on a few celebrities. If we take Noel Gallagher for instance, we know he made between 50 / 100 millions with Oasis, and this site says 60 millions, which is probably way below the real number. With that in mind, you can pretty much guess what Jarvis made.

It's all guessing, but really, Pulp was very big in the 90s, an era when record sales were at the highest, radio plays was at the highest and gigs and festivals were also paying well.

Different Class went platinum four times, that means 4 millions records in the UK only. Common People also sold well as a single and had a lot of radio plays (which is a good source of income too). 

An interesting link for record sales : https://bandzoogle.com/blog/record-sales-where-does-the-money-go

Artist (6.6%) Producer (2.2%) Songwriters (4.5%) Distributor (22%) Manufacturing (5%) Retailer (30%) Record label (30%). So that's 11% of total sales to divide between 6 band members. Records were sold at around 20 euros back then (yes they were expensive). You do the maths but roughly, one million each for Different Class in the UK only. Add gigs and festivals (big money).

The Libertines got paid 1 million for one show at Hyde Park. Pulp probably got the same, even maybe a little more... divide that by 6 band members and you got around 170.000 for Jarvis only... for one gig. For the reunion tour, they played a lot of festivals which are paying pretty well...

Take all that into account, and you can safely assume he's a multi-millionaire. If a britpop icon didn't reach the millionaire status, who can ? My guess would be between 5 and 10. 

Then, with the divorce (divide the fortune by half ) and investments, it can all change... It all depends on how they managed their money.

As you said, Jarvis feels probably a bit weird about being a millionaire when he sung about Common People. That's the main reason to me.

Eamonn wrote:

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Pulp probably only ever made decent money in 1996 and 2011. 

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I doubt that, especially with live shows. They toured extensively in 98 and that tour was probably very profitable because even though TIH was not a success, they did many many festivals, which are the highest paying gigs. They also made extensive tours in 2001/2002, again with many festivals.

As for the Hyde Park gig, i dont think they were paid the same as in any other festival. This gig is not really a "festival", it's headline show with guests, so the headliner gets way more money. The 1 miilion remark was just for this gig, not the others, and to divide between the six of them.

Also rumored, Pulp sold 10 million records worldwide in their carreer.

Billboard printed in feb 96 that they sold 900.000 worldwide Different class records, and pulpwiki mentions 1.2 millions in the uk only as of 1998. They also had a massive success in europe and Asia, so maybe 2 millions is not too far off.

https://books.google.fr/books?id=Gw8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Pulp+different+class+sales+worldwide&source=bl&ots=_MDdTNp--i&sig=AFnjvuo6QlcqZklB0hcdX69NmNs&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjl05WhyOTYAhVQKlAKHSs8CxkQ6AEIYzAK#v=onepage&q=Pulp%20different%20class%20sales%20worldwide&f=false

Let's no forget radio plays and tv plays, which used to be an important source of income back in the 90s.

The others are probably milionnaire or just (most people in their 50s now that invested in real estate in big cities are millionaires too...), but Jarvis probably has more money in the bank. Because we have to take into account Jarvis solo where he gets 100% of the profit wheareas he only got 1/6 in Pulp. Again, many festivals, especially in 2006.

Overall, i highly doubt Jarvis made less than 5 millions (after tax) in his whole career. What he has left is another matter. 

Eamonn wrote:

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I think platinum in the UK is for 250k records, last estimate I saw for Different Class was 1.2m units shifted. I often see the figure of 10m records sold worldwide by Pulp and I've never found a clear source for that claim. Wikipedia got it from a news article which was flimsy enough to be based on "think of a likely, round number". Considering they never crossed-over in the US, I imagine the true figure might be closer to half of that amount.

Also, might be of interest to some that the band members all set-up limited companies at the start of the reunion in 2011. A year later they each reported profits of about £250k - into the £300k's a year later which would take into account the 2012 shows. Of course there are costs to factor in and they may have chosen to be paid for some of the gigs through other means but roughly speaking you can estimate a £15k-£25k per band member per show given the number of festivals/gigs they did. That seems a lot more likely than the £1m Libs reunion-type tabloid talk. I may be wrong, as I said, there's ways of spreading income.

All that company info is on public record at Companies House (best company name is Candida's - "Lovely Doyle Music"!). I work in finance and during idle time once had a nose around.

I think the broader point is that music and the arts is incredibly precarious as a "profession". You really have to make hay while the sun shines and Pulp probably only ever made decent money in 1996 and 2011. That's 15 potentially lean years where you have to consider earning elsewhere. Encroaching middle-age and without other major employable skills etc. would likely be a worry. Royalties are steady but increasingly lower income streams so reunions are often a financial necessity, especially if you have kids coming up to university age and probably even regardless. As Nick once put it, "We did alright but I still ain't got a Lear jet". Also worth taking into account that for DC, the money would be split six ways and for all the Island records, Fire Records received a percentage as per the terms of the group signing to Island. Once you factor in the recording costs on an album which have to be recouped (and TIH and WLL both had very lengthy/expensive recording processes) you can imagine how unstable Pulp's income may have been.

Still, at least they did manage a couple of lucrative periods. Consider the lot of a band in their 20's or 30's now, it's just not viable long-term. So I can understand Jarvis get arsey about quite an ignorant/rude question.

-- Edited by Eamonn on Friday 19th of January 2018 03:38:40 PM

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So much more complex than people assume. Great info also, Eamonn. 

They should do another mini reunion tour. or just a few shows. Especially USA given I am sure many would be blown away by them and even get them some belated exposure. Can't see why things like Coachella and the like wouldn't take them on in a heartbeat. Big money, too. Easier taking into account how big Jarvis is currently with festivals overseas.