And yet, recordings from 50 years ago are public domain in Europe, and those weird grey area radio show things are completely legal, there is widespread piracy/counterfeiting in China and it's cheaper to send those goods to the US than it is for me to send the same goods within the US, there's the Internet....
Truly....despite all the trolling he’s received as an artist for being a happy camper doing “silly love songs” ...the man proves happiness pays and folks crave it.
You have intelligent comments throughout this forum though I often completely disagree with your opinions. LOL. I am a new poster. Songs are like valuable art passed down or maybe more similar to stocks and bonds. Not to get too personal but there was some money in my family at the end through my ancestors and my parents, who lived through the Great Depression and WW2, and due to the careful saving , they passed on a decent sum to each of their four kids and I was glad to receive it and it mainly paid for a house for me. I’ve known folks however who inherited much more and I don’t begrudge them of it. What you complain of has been an ages long problem in most societies ......Thus, the old funny adage, the first generation makes it, the second one saves it and the third one spends it. This is the old gilded age argument about the leisure class though. Someone had to work to make all the money to begin with. The alternative is a massive inheritance tax that takes almost all of it.
Yes, resenting success is not a valuable use of time...For instance, the Beatles lost multiple millions on merchandising rights in 64 and lost many millions in the Apple debacle but McCartney followed the wise investment counsel of his father in law and took what money he first got out of the Beatles and invested it in songs which greatly paid off later. McCartney is a good example of many later successful business folks who have many financial set backs before getting great financial success.
I still stick with my original statements. I don’t begrudge a person earning a fortune, but the gap between the rich and the poor in America is so out of control it is disgusting. McCartney should definitely be rich, but I think there’s a point where you have to stand back and think, “damn.... does he deserve THAT much money?”. Hundreds of millions of dollars? Does anyone deserve that much money? In my humble opinion, no. If ‘all you need is love’.... then what’s with the stockpiling of funds? Spread the love.... like this.
Your original statement was about royalties and whether or not something someone creates should generate income in perpetuity (in fact, copyright has a fixed term so it intellectual property can't generate revenue in perpetuity). Now you're more generally bemoaning people making money from their labor -- it's OK with you up to a point (a point you don't specify), but after a certain point on your moral scale, some people don't deserve any further income for their work. Duly noted. Tell me when you think you should stop being paid for your work. And who you think should decide when you've made as much as you deserve.
.....in America folks admired the wealthy only a few decades ago and strove to be wealthy themselves , but this is a new frustration that is more about the gap between the really wealthy and the average person. Many things happened to cause this I’m sure you know.....Average folks wage depression as wages haven’t climbed much in the last many decades to keep up with COL and those in labor jobs have lost labor unions that fought for wage increases. In the last many years, very high housing costs, cars and thanks to US swapping of government funding for a public college education, tuition have gone way up. On the other hand, groceries and gas are much cheaper when compared to other expenses than in the seventies. The recent congressional tax law changes giving the very wealthy and corporations massive advantages has greatly widened the gap. The majority of folks have not voted their economic interest in a long time but instead have voted single issue, sometimes emotional issues, not to get political. I’m sure you are aware of these things. This has been building over decades. My last job it took me up until the very last few years to finally get a wage adjustment. Despite your sarcastic probably reference to “all you need is love,” implying some kind of hypocrisy the Beatles were millionaires at least on paper in 1964 and John and George were multi millionaires, you can see their assets when they died. It takes more than love to eat and have a home, the hippies eventually found out. This is probably not the place for these types of discussions. If you are troubled by very wealthy musicians, movie stars or sports stars, boycott their products and save your money. As for McCartney deserving that much money he has worked steadily since he was 15 and is still working and had to fight the other three Beatles and sue for breakup to keep Klein from owning the entire Beatles song catalogue. He has destroyed his voice touring these last many years and so many musicians do that because technology from the last many years has completely destroyed the music industry and touring is the only way they can make money now. See what they are paid online per song for streaming and Spotify. Their albums are broken up, vinyl is a small niche market and CDs are gone. Every income level has its own expenses. As my husband and I made more our expenses increased. Again, I’m not sure this forum is the place for these discussions, but I’ve explained it well as I can. I didn’t write all of this to change your views but to present some complicated other factors involved for you to consider. Some less fortunate person could make the same argument about you, as it’s all relative.
Yes, good point. This music forum is not the place for these types of discussions and I understand no political discussions allowed here but we have .....well you know the types of economic systems this guy is suggesting. I have written him a long response. This really should not be here and he’s free to go to other appropriate social media to discuss his views.
Last I checked McCartney was the fourth largest charity donor celebrity and gives to multi causes. He has always given more than John or George in their lifetimes but don’t know what their widows give. I got curious and actually checked this out online. So, yes, he has more but he gives more. This isn’t counting the charity cause concerts all the solo Beatles participated.
You to way too late to be worried about this...Lennon and George were multi millionaires when they died and I’m sure their widows are worth even more. You can research it. Also, McCartney’s current wife at last had 400 million so that adds to his wealth. You select McCartney as he’s known as one of the wealthiest but it’s my understanding he has always lived a frugal lifestyle, bought his kids their first car used, he takes public transport, they shopped at thrift stores. They did this because their money was invested which paid off later. When McCartney was living frugally in his two bedroom farmhouse for eight years and four bedroom for the kids windmill house to be frugal, there were many stories of him being a cheapskate going back to the seventies. He has saved, built his wealth by investing it wisely which is good business practice.
Well, communism or some type of wage controls is what the OP is discussing here. He ignores the extraordinary pay of CEOS a in many corporations but this is a music forum. This isn’t the place for this.
Then you need to vote against pols who changed the tax laws....that allowed massive tax loop holes to the very rich. Corporate executives and by far out number wealthy celebs.
You are singling out high profile wealthy celebs but by far there are way more very wealthy corporation CEOS.
We are all music fans in this forum and I’m a huge fan of your avatar dude, but check out his wealth when he died after yoko, a prominent Japanese banker for the emperor’s granddaughter, made some excellent investment for her and Lennon. I haven’t done so, but it would be interesting to check, her’s olivia’s and Ringo’s wealth. McCartney’s current wife has 400 million so that is part of his wealth. I have checked their charity giving and learned McCartney is or was, as don’t know if it’s changed, the fourth largest charity doner. when I was young, because I was liberal, I was accused of being a communist but I never was one, but when you top off allowed income and assets, that’s what you’re talking about.
I am on one and husband is but they are very rare and that’s another thing that has drastically changed in the last forty years. It’s only because hubby and I worked for state government that offered pension plus medical insurance after so many years of work that I’m on a pension. Your thread has strayed wildly and this forum isn’t really the place for this.
I read about three years ago McCartney is the fourth largest celeb doner. I must ask though, do you redistribute your wealth? I have given a lot throughout the years, especially when I was working and made more. Have you? I certainly have not redistributed my wealth though I’ve given a lot.
Dude, this has been happening since the early seventies. I know cuz after college, my first job paid $11,000 and gas and groceries were very high and there were more college grads in 80 than ever before all competing with jobs. The seventies had double digit inflation. You got exceptional interest n savings accounts but paid exorbitant interest on loans. Again, this forum is not the place for these discussions though the issues are important but complaining about some rock rock star doesn’t change the issue but voting with your pocketbook in mind maybe will.
How do you even know all these famous rock musicians.....they are all or were at one time extremely RICH and famous . You have some pipe dream that rock music and wealth doesn’t match.......Beatles, Stones STILL GOING extremely wealth, elvis.
You are on the wrong forum for this. May I suggest Reddit or some such place? Also, you haven’t expressed real outrage for the greatest fleecers in America, corporations.
