He might not seem it or look it but everyone knows a songwriter gets more royaltys than anyone else in a recording. All those royalty checks he must get every year must add up to a lot. No doubt through Rough Trade he will actually make more money per record/single than he did before as that is usually the case with independant labels. I'm sure from actual stores like HMV it wont be much but i know Rough Trade supply many many stores in the UK exclusively with their stuff and do good deals online. I know of artists who were lucky to get 50p for every album they sold and they sold tens of thousands yet when they went independant they made £6 from every album sold so even though they weren't selling as many records as before they were infact making more money than they ever did.
Pulp always divided their earnings equally, and I believe that included royalties. Steve Albini famously wrote an article explaining how a band can sell 250,000 records and only manage a net income of $4,000 under the studio system.
If I understand correctly, Pulp had inherited a sizable legal fee from their battles with Fire and Chris Thomas was expensive. DC sold 1.5 million copies, but how much did they get to keep? I doubt TIH and WLL ever managed a profit after their long gestation times.
If Jarvis is 'rich', it's probably due to his appearances, endorsements and concerts. Doesn't really matter though, does it? I'm sure he holiday's on Johny Depp's private island.
-- Edited by Fuss Free on Sunday 20th of September 2009 05:36:35 PM
Worlwide didn't DC do well over two million copies? And they toured extensively dor a year between Sep '95 - Aug '96, so I imagine they were all minted for a while at that stage.
Depends on the divorce settlement really... (sorry)
I'd say with touring, records and merch, he's got quite the money. maybe not 10 millions, but he doesnt seem like a kinda guy who spends a lot, so i guess he's wealthy, but not rich rich.
I seem to remember an article in the NME in the late 90's about how wealthy various British bands were. Pulp were valued I think at roughly 1m each, which isn't really much when you think about it.
There were a few video interviews i watched and twice i remember him saying 'i have to keep working' but he never elaborated as to why that was, if it was his love or performing or financial worries. You'd think with him being a musician if he is gonna go out and mention the fact that he has to keep working that he would at least say 'because he loves what he does' but he never did say anything like that....
I suppose they could have all put their money into good savings accounts and just lived off the interest!
He had to do an advert for BT? around 2001-2 in order to pay for the place in Paris. Correct me if i'm wrong but I remember NME slagging him off for it.
He's probably fine in terms of owning property but doubt he's a millionaire.
SarahAWilson wrote:I seem to remember an article in the NME in the late 90s about how wealthy various British bands were. Pulp were valued I think at roughly 1m each, which isn't really much when you think about it.
You have to be careful with valuations as sometimes they are based on future predicted earnings (well that's what accountants do!)
Given Pulp are fairly consistently on the radio and are still selling their back catalog, then the royalties are probably coming in steadily and they are getting fairly decent cheques. The share of song writing credits was a very good idea as this is normally the cause of problems as bands become successful.
I would also say that given the record sales from Intro onwards along with merchandise and touring income, Pulp have generated a lot of money, but it would all depend on their contracts how much they netted from this activity.
Them all being worth around £1m each is possible (Russell/Mark possibly less likely), but there are comparable bands from the sixties, seventies and eighties whose sales outstripped Pulp's yet none of the band ended up with anything to show at the end of it. I guess it depends on how much they spent on booze & drugs and how much of the rest of it they squandered.
But is £1m rich? Probably buys you a decent house in a decent area of London. I wouldn't say Jarvis is rich, but he probably isn't struggling to pay his bills.
I believe that, as part of his settlement when he left, Russell actually gets some PPL royalties (although obviously not songwriting) from This Is Hardcore and We Love Life. He still has to work, albeit not full-time I don't think, and obviously he won't have any income from any post-1997 tours or songwriting royalties.
__________________
"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
Here's something to chew on... one lazy, hungover afternoon a few years ago i found myself watching an episode of 'Behind the Music' on N'sync. Now, put aside your personal feelings about the band for a moment, and consider this startling statistic: N'sync's first album sold over 10 million copies in North America, but the band members net earnings from that album were only $16,000 each.
Now of course, the industry preys on the desperate and the naive, and Pulp were a little older and more world-weary than most bands when they signed to Island. But at the same time, they were also pretty desperate, and Fire had them by the balls. If you go back and read the Albini article I linked above, you can see where it might relate to Pulp circa 1992.
For more examples of label misfeasance look up the story of Echobelly. Top ten album, never saw a dime.
But did N'sync write their own lyrics? (i guess any five year old could have written it but i guess an adult is responsible to them) Dunno how much more money you get by doing that but it should bring in some more.
Supposedly pollstar pro lists Jarvis Cocker as getting around $33,000 on average per gig. But then give his musicians a cut, then agent, manager, taxes, etc.
If he does a Pulp reunion, then the paycheck given to a Pulp gig would be huge. So if the Pulp reunion tour consists of just a summer full of like festivals Glasto (more for V or Reading/Leeds), Coachella, Fuji, Benicassim or Primavera, Oxegen, etc, that would be enough make them all millionaires again.
-- Edited by Bort on Tuesday 22nd of September 2009 07:35:51 AM
-- Edited by Bort on Tuesday 22nd of September 2009 07:36:52 AM
Put it this way, if Mark and Steve could both afford houses in Kentish Town and Jarvis his Hoxton flat, they must have been doing ok.
Doesn't look like Jarvis can afford a new jacket though. The one I saw him wearing tonight was the exact same one as he has on the cover of FC. Not a crime in itself, but if I'm going to be brutally honest, it did smell a little when I was stood near enough!
Jarvis's personal hygiene has always been questionable. I seem to remember a few articles from the mid 90's, one around the time of the Ryegate scandal and another from Select magazine, by Russell Senior in which Jarvis's frankly disgusting habits were discussed quite freely.
I remember one time at "Litle Stabs", at the "Wicker Man" screening, Jarvis turned up with a massive blob of shaving foam hanging off his left ear. So he's standing there for the whole film with this massive white drip haging from his ear, AND NOBODY TELLS HIM.
After the film, in the ICA theatre foyer, Rich Bradley, another Pulp Person in attendance flicked most of it off, but there was still loads left, so summoning all my courage, I got my index finger and with a flick of my wrist got the remainder. Jarvis spins round and looks at me and I hold up my soapy finger as proof of my non malice. then he gives me a smile, which was rather sweet.
I remember one time at "Litle Stabs", at the "Wicker Man" screening, Jarvis turned up with a massive blob of shaving foam hanging off his left ear. So he's standing there for the whole film with this massive white drip haging from his ear, AND NOBODY TELLS HIM.
After the film, in the ICA theatre foyer, Rich Bradley, another Pulp Person in attendance flicked most of it off, but there was still loads left, so summoning all my courage, I got my index finger and with a flick of my wrist got the remainder. Jarvis spins round and looks at me and I hold up my soapy finger as proof of my non malice. then he gives me a smile, which was rather sweet.
At least it wasn“t a “There“s Something About Mary“moment.