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

And to give some more perspective: what song would that be?

 

Thanks for this!

 

Speaking of royalties, Ravel' Bolero is a crazy story:

Ravel dies in 1937. His brother is his only heir and dies in 1960. His heiress is his masseuse. The masseuse dies and her heir is her husband (who also was the driver of Ravel's brother). The husband dies. His heiress is his second wife and her daughter. The second wife dies and the daughter leaves in Monte Carlo a happy life since the 70s. "By some estimates Bolero has generated around €50 million in royalties since 1960, part of more than €400 million for all of Ravel’s works."

"“We are accustomed to say that a performance of Bolero begins every 10 minutes in the world. As the work lasts 17 minutes, it is therefore playing at all times somewhere,” said Laurent Petitgirard of France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers (SACEM). “And it is likely that we will hear it even more now, in advertisements or in films”

BUT, in 2016 Bolero entered the public domain. SACEM and the daughter get crazy and begin alegal fight for extension on the grounds that Bolero is co-written by the ballet's choreographer Bronislava Nijinska, and director and scene-maker, Alexandre Benois (died in 1960). It could extend Bolero’s international copyright - worth an estimated €1m a year - for another 20 years.

 

I believe Fred Neil basically retired off the royalties from "Everybody's Talkin'".

He got lucky. He was never exactly a household name, and his own version of the song remained largely obscure, tucked away on his self-titled album. Nilsson's version should have been a monster hit first time around, but to my eternal puzzlement on its initial release it failed to sell. A couple of years later, justice finally triumphed when Nilsson's version was used in the film Midnight Cowboy, assuring it of continued exposure and making it one of the most covered songs of the late 1960s. Neil then left the music business and retired to southern Florida, spending his time campaigning to stop the killing of dolphins. He died at age 65 from "natural causes" (skin cancer actually). A stark contrast to the large number of musicians that become wildly successful, make a fortune, have no idea how to save it or to spend it wisely, and end up dying at an early age due to substance abuse.

 

Well if I told you that, you'd know who she was. And, y'know

 

Not that it matters, but I have heard Bobby Picket referred to as "Bobby 'Boris' Picket, but never as "Wicked". You're not by any chance confusing him with Wilson Pickett? He was known as "The Wicked Pickett", and apparently with good reason.

 

Jim Peterik seems to do JUST fine off of "Vehicle" and Eye of the Tiger" amongst others.....

 

If the hit song was a Christmas song as popular as The Fairytale of New York or Merry Xmas Everybody, then yes probably.

 

That joke was actually about Kenny G's Christmas album, and I believe it was "Happy Birthday, Jesus. Hope you like crap."

 

Yeah, you're right. Mariah Carey's xmas music is garbage, though. that's something I will stand behind.

 

The Man with Golden Ear...and wallet

 

Nice work if you can get it.

 

A few years ago Beach Boy Bruce Johnstone wrote on the BBB board that in the morning he had collected his annual check for I Write The Songs (smash hit for Barry Manilow, but written solely be Bruce), and it was 250,000 USD...

 

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Dolly Parton claimed she received a million dollar plus royalty check for the song used on the The Bodyguard soundtrack. I think it was the first royalty check as well.

 

Do you mean $250,000?

 

There is some great wisdom for anyone interested in becoming a songwriter/music artist in Tori Amos' book Piece By Piece.

Basically, she says that the first thing to do is get a trusted representative, like a lawyer/manager/accountant who understands that side of the business and will give you honest advice and who won't screw you over. Then, make sure that you are the one who owns your own songs. That kind of control essentially gives you an incredible amount of security.

 

I wonder if Richard Thompson made more from The Pointer Sisters covering "Don't Let A Thief Steal into Your Heart" and Robert Plant's cover of "House of Cards" than from his own sales. I have a boot where he wryly describes the former as "my Greatest Hit".

Both are from "First Light" - my least favorite of his works...

 

Yep, thank You, corrected, that’s how we write it in sunny Italy

 

From an article on Nick Gravenites:

"The song "Born in Chicago," first recorded by the Butterfield Blues Band in 1965, may be Gravenites' best-known song, but three others recorded by Janis Joplin - "As Good As You've Been to This World," "Work Me Lord" and "Buried Alive in the Blues" - have been his most lucrative copyrights. Royalty checks for those tunes have appeared regularly in his mailbox for the past four decades.

"Janis was a good friend of mine," Gravenites says. "I loved the girl. Plus, I love her more dead than alive because she's been paying my rent for 40 years.""

 

Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t as much as he made fromBrown Eyed Girl.

 

Many songwriters mentioned in this thread are names I have never heard of - which goes to show that there is not always a simple correlation between wealth and fame.

 

One of two musicians named Ham to commit suicide. The other was related to royalty disputes as well.

 

Ah. So this is where that mysterious figure of 228 came from.

 

No, it was a Steam Powered Aeroplane.