Quiz: how much money has Stairway to Heaven made in royalty payments?

[DaneMcCloud]

Okay, as I had assumed, the revenues reported by the article in the OP are extremely overstated.

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...source=twitter

Michael Einhorn told jurors in federal court in Los Angeles that songwriters Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have received $58.5 million since 2011 for dozens of works, including “Stairway,” their band’s 1971 hit and most recognizable song.

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Even if we extrapolate that figure over the course of 37 years, it equals $440 million dollars, which is far shy from the $575 million stated in the OP article, which supposedly was for Stairway only.

Add to that, I can certainly guarantee that the majority of Zeppelin's overall royalty and album sales earnings were garnered in the past 15 years, not the first 22, with the bulk coming from the remasters. As I mentioned earlier, Statutory Rate for an album released in 1971 was 2 cents per song whereas an album released in 2007 would have paid 9.1 cents per song. It's likely that they negotiated a much higher percentage than the 14% earned from each unit sale in 1971, probably 21% or more, which is generally allocated to "Superstar" acts.

I'd approximate that the band earned $10.5 million from the sale of Motherload (5 million copies times $9.99 times a 21% royalty rate) while the album overall earned nearly $50 million.

Zeppelin didn't allow their music to be used in Film & TV early in their career, with Cameron Crowe's film Almost Famous, the first allowed to do so. They earned tens of millions for the Cadillac advertising campaign and apparently, a minimum of $10 million in sync fees in the past few years.

I would estimate that their overall career earnings from mechanical and performance income is closer to $275-350 million, which is still a staggering number but no where near the $575 million reportedly for a single song.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Okay, as I had assumed, the revenues reported by the article in the OP are extremely overstated.

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...source=twitter

Michael Einhorn told jurors in federal court in Los Angeles that songwriters Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have received $58.5 million since 2011 for dozens of works, including “Stairway,” their band’s 1971 hit and most recognizable song.

---

Even if we extrapolate that figure over the course of 37 years, it equals $440 million dollars, which is far shy from the $575 million stated in the OP article, which supposedly was for Stairway only.

Add to that, I can certainly guarantee that the majority of Zeppelin's overall royalty and album sales earnings were garnered in the past 15 years, not the first 22, with the bulk coming from the remasters. As I mentioned earlier, Statutory Rate for an album released in 1971 was 2 cents per song whereas an album released in 2007 would have paid 9.1 cents per song. It's likely that they negotiated a much higher percentage than the 14% earned from each unit sale in 1971, probably 21% or more, which is generally allocated to "Superstar" acts.

I'd approximate that the band earned $10.5 million from the sale of Motherload (5 million copies times $9.99 times a 21% royalty rate) while the album overall earned nearly $50 million.

Zeppelin didn't allow their music to be used in Film & TV early in their career, with Cameron Crowe's film Almost Famous, the first allowed to do so. They earned tens of millions for the Cadillac advertising campaign and apparently, a minimum of $10 million in sync fees in the past few years.

I would estimate that their overall career earnings from mechanical and performance income is closer to $275-350 million, which is still a staggering number but no where near the $575 million reportedly for a single song.

I am not sure about this part. Yes the remasters did sell-but nothing like Zep in its earning years as a touring band. They had 6 albums in the top 100 all at the same time. They sold something like 2 million records of Zep 4 in the first month-went on to sell 23 million copies. Physical Graffiti sold over 4 million copies its first few years-now sitting at 16 million.

A quick look at the RIAA site tends to go against your statement as well. If you go back 15 years- only 9 records have achieved another level of Gold or Platinum. 3 of those are greatest hits.

IMO their "bulk" came in the 70's with a huge boost when Compact Disc became available. Most fans went out and bought every issue on the "new" format.

With a 111.5 records sold- a majority (56 million plus) in the last 15 is not plausible-the RAII does not support those numbers. I don't think any of the remasters even broke number 1-if they did it was short lived and nothing close to having 6 records sit in the the top hundred for a year or two. My guess would be the remasters and all the Greatest hits issues added maybe 15 to 20 million on the tally, at best - according to the Gold/Plat awards-which is still better than most bands in a career.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

I am not sure about this part. Yes the remasters did sell-but nothing like Zep in its earning years as a touring band. They had 6 albums in the top 100 all at the same time. They sold something like 2 million records of Zep 4 in the first month-went on to sell 23 million copies. Physical Graffiti sold over 4 million copies its first few years-now sitting at 16 million.

A quick look at the RIAA site tends to go against your statement as well. If you go back 15 years- only 9 records have achieved another level of Gold or Platinum. 3 of those are greatest hits.

IMO their "bulk" came in the 70's with a huge boost when Compact Disc became available. Most fans went out and bought every issue on the "new" format.

With a 111.5 records sold- a majority (56 million plus) in the last 15 is not plausible-the RAII does not support those numbers. I don't think any of the remasters even broke number 1-if they did it was short lived and nothing close to having 6 records sit in the the top hundred for a year or two. My guess would be the remasters and all the Greatest hits issues added maybe 15 to 20 million on the tally, at best - according to the Gold/Plat awards-which is still better than most bands in a career.

Okay, you need to go back and re-read everything I've written.

In short, the Publishing rate per song pre-1971 was 2 cents and the band received 75% of that. That's peanuts. Albums cost anywhere from $2.99-$5.99 and the band only received 14% of the sale price.

The Statutory Rate and Artist Percentage doesn't change when the Stat Rate changes. It only changes when there's a Re-Mastered Edition released to the public, which is why so many Remasters of Classic Artists are issued every few years.

Once again, Led Zeppelin didn't allow their music to be used in film, TV or advertising until 1999. They've probably earned in excess of $20 million in sync fees and performance royalties since then but had zero sync income before that.

I'm not going to re-hash everything I've explained, so please read everything and if you still have questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Okay, you need to go back and re-read everything I've written.

In short, the Publishing rate per song pre-1971 was 2 cents and the band received 75% of that. That's peanuts. Albums cost anywhere from $2.99-$5.99 and the band only received 14% of the sale price.

The Statutory Rate and Artist Percentage doesn't change when the Stat Rate changes. It only changes when there's a Re-Mastered Edition released to the public, which is why so many Remasters of Classic Artists are issued every few years.

Once again, Led Zeppelin didn't allow their music to be used in film, TV or advertising until 1999. They've probably earned in excess of $20 million in sync fees and performance royalties since then but had zero sync income before that.

I'm not going to re-hash everything I've explained, so please read everything and if you still have questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Oh I am sure you are correct-but when you look at the overall picture-it makes no sense. An active touring band (biggest in the world) selling records as fast as they can print them, while selling out night after night-makes less in a Majority of their career...

then a retired band- selling a fraction of units while being slowly forgotten by a new generation.

It is no wonder why a band like Rush-sells their entire portfolio for a lump sum. David Bowie did this too I think.

I am sure this goes for the Stones as well-who sold most of their records decades ago-but probably make far more money now.

Thanks for posting all the info-it is very interesting!

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

Oh I am sure you are correct-but when you look at the overall picture-it makes no sense.

The reason why it doesn't make sense is because of inflation and the fact that their first four albums were released pre-1972, which meant they their royalties were infinitesimally low compared to the 90's (3x as much) or the new millennium (more than 4x as much).

Also, if you'll recall, CD's were $14.99-$17.99 for more than a decade. So 14% of 4.99 is .70 cents per unit where as 14% of $15.99 is $2.24 per unit. That's a huge difference when we're talking 100 million records ($70 million versus $224 million). Also, I'd add that since Zeppelin would have been considered a superstar act, they would have likely earned 21% per CD sale as opposed to the 14% they earned per unit in the late 60's and 70's.

Also, the RIAA is completely unreliable. They certified on Albums Shipped, not Point of Sale, which wouldn't come along until Soundscan in the early 90's. Record companies would often ship Gold (500,000 units) and even Platinum (1,000,000 units). What most people don't know is that the record company allowed as much as 30% in return each quarter. So a label would ship 500,000 to get a certification, then allow as many as 150,000 of those units to be returned at a loss. Those would often go to the record clubs (such as Columbia House) and be resold at 75% of retail, but would appear as "shipped" again, thus inflating the numbers!

The old joke at Casablanca Records, which was owned by Neil Bogart, who signed bands such as Kiss and Donna Summer, was they'd "Ship Gold and Return Platinum".

All the labels did it, which makes the RIAA numbers to be very skewed. Only the accountants knew the actual sales figures, as they're allowed three years from the date of release to audit.