Could you "retire" off of royalties from one hit song?

This was inspired by the Eric Carmen thread, in which someone quoted an article that claimed Carmen made $600,000-$800,000 a year in royalties

That seems like a huge amount. If you are the writer (and/or publisher) of just one or two hit singles, would you be able to retire for the rest of your life?

I've always heard of course that songwriting is where the money is. I'd imagine Ringo Starr made more off if having songs on The White Album and Abbey Road netted him more money than anything else up to that point.

But I recall seeing episodes of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and seeing "one hit wonders" with mansions.

Obviously it helps if the song is still played on the radio and/or licensed for commercials, films, etc. But, without touring....could you "retire" off of one or two hits?

 

I seem to recall Noddy Holder of Slade saying Merry Xmas Everyone, or whatever it is called, is his pension plan.

 

Apparently Norman Greenbaum gets six figures/year off of "Spirit In The Sky" based on a 2005 interview. I'd take that!

 

Makes me think of Lee Mavers from the La's. Always wondered if he's more or less living off the royalties from "There She Goes."

 

Great song with good memories for me. Glad it worked out for him.

 

That's a pretty broad question. But you've got the right issues, considering how much that hit makes getting into commercials and movies. Also consider how it's used in that film...background of a car chase, or to illustrate the freedom Tom Cruise feels with his parents away, dancing in the hallway in his underwear. These iconic moments can instill lasting imagery to a simple composition.

Then, of course, there's the covers - and the shelf life of the covers as well.

Not to mention the other writing gigs that come, from hitting it big with that first meteoric fluke. Carly Rae Jepsen probably got a sh**-ton of Hollywood types calling her maybe, to write a ditty for their next rom-com.

 

Christmas songs are the real evergreens. They get played to death every year!

 

IIRC, Billy Squier has made more than $20 million in royalties off a song called "The Big Beat", which wasn't even a hit when it was released but has been licensed hundreds of times for sampling in rap songs.

I could retire on that, LOL.

 

Heard a newer cover of that, much prefer the original.

 

I'm not sure how much of this is urban myth but I recall reading that McCartney earns more from Wonderful Christmastime than he made from the Beatles. Whether that was at the time or ever, I don't know.

 

Harry Chapin's family makes hundreds of thousands a year from royalties for "Cat's in the Cradle"

 

Have we all read About A Boy?

 

Wasn't this the whole premise of the movie About a Boy? And in that, it was the songwriter's son who was living comfortably off of royalties from the one Christmas song. Has to be a kernel of truth there.

 

depends. on the song, on the publishing deal, on what royalties you are referring to,etc. Carmen has written a lot of songs, and has a lot of hits. songs in films, commercials, tv shows. songs on time life compilations. Couple all of that with him being more astute about the business than the average artist, and he's probably doing more than ok.

 

I remember an interview with Fred Wesley of the JBs where he recounted James Brown telling him, “If we take care of the music now, it will take care of us later on.”

He stated that he didn’t fully understand what James meant at the time but he gets it now, because he’s still receiving money from the music.

Principal songwriters and music publishers can profit handsomely for years off of hit songs. Back in the seventies I remember reading an interview with the writer of Jingle Bell Rock and he said he was making about $35,000 a year off that tune alone. At the time that was pretty good money. I could use an extra $35k a year right now!

 

I see different numbers but the range for Merry Xmas Everybody is 500,000 - 800,000 pounds a year. They typically mention Noddy Holder, but I thought Jim Lea co-wrote the song. So they either split that amount each year, or maybe they both get it.

Either way, they’re probably not pinching pennies.

Of course, in Slade’s case, they had a number of hit songs (and got a bonus when Quiet Riot covered them), but I think that one Christmas song outshines them all.

 

Depends what you mean by retire. If you mean buy your home outright and then live like a normal working person for the rest of your days then sure it was very possible. It was routine in the 90s that one international hit could set you up though few had that kind of discipline where an artist could view a big hit as a lottery win rather than the start of a dynasty. It was more common in the 90s than before or after because of a combination of better deals for artists and songwriters on the one hand and an industry still riding the cd boom on the other. Not so easy now. 100m streams might bring in $500k after fees etc if you wrote everything and own everything. Also keep in mind that the crazy life-changing advances for publishing that were flying around in the 90s have more or less dried up. No one really gets paid for the hits they haven't yet had any more.

 

Nick Lowe seems to imply just that about what he got from P,L, & U in The Bodyguard.

 

Yes, same here. (original '88 single version preferably) Also, Lee likely scored some decent royalties from Pearl Jam covering "Timeless Melody."

 

Streaming will have slashed these figures..

 

probably with Yesterday

 

Born To Be Wild seemed to be in a lot of movies for a while, wonder how much that pulled in.

 

Nick Lowe confirmed he made a packet from "What's so funny......" on The Bodyguard soundtrack

 

Well, only for a month. And cover songs of classics like Silent Night aren't particualrly big money makers. It's the relatively rare new holiday song that can generate some cash to whomever owns the publishing.

 

Overall, that song is more representative of his music making than The Beatles, so it seems fair .