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K.K. Downing's Song Rights Up For Sale


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Right now the royalties are worth $300K per year, but as kids and future generations keep going after free music one must consider how much money will be made when the entire Judas Priest catalog is 99% accessed through services like Spotify.  Those of us who prefer to hold a CD in our hands or still like to look at large vinyl album covers are dying off.  We have all that old music already.  Some of these rock stars are going to die, and the heirs will be holding very little when they inherit the catalogs of music. 

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So, is HIS portion worth almost $400k per year or is that the total the songs bring in and then he gets a share of that?

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2 hours ago, FrettyMcgee said:

Dang. Reminds me of the Curt Schilling video game debacle.  I think he lost his bloody sock after that venture.

Yes.   Really risky investment,  and relatively inexperienced.    Recipe for disaster.  

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I met Ian in NYC '85 (they were going to play MSG) when he met my parents as he was working towards an engagement to my step-sister and he was a complete gent. The ring was awesome.

It's a VERY long story but, true to form, my step-sister f*cked it up. I was leaving the hotel to go to a wedding at 1:00, I stepped out and KK was smoking a cig outside in the hallway and he made some a-hole comment to me asking who I was and what room I in. I told him, "If I don't know you and don't f*cking bother me"

Not saying the Karma bus hit him, but even I know opening a golf conference center in this day and age is a stupid proposition

End: Cool Story Bro

 

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That's really sad as I got the vibe that K.K. Downing seems to be a good person overall. Business ventures can either be successful or a failure and it all depends on the economy/supply & demand. The fact that he bought out his business partners seems that he wanted to part ways with them in a fair manner without being in debt to them. Selling off his Judas Priest song rights to pay off his debt is a terrible way to end his music career, considering how hard he worked for his money when he was part of the band. I wonder if he will be able to keep his property/assets/money without being forced to give it over to the bankruptcy court/debtors.

@Rockola:  I'm sorry to hear that your step sister decided not to marry Ian Hill and that KK was being rude to you in the hotel hallway. He probably thought you were a fan who was stalking him at his hotel. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Guitar George

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I just see that golf is not a serious investment idea either.

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Golf is a serious investment for those who know how to run golf courses.  Golf is still popular, but in decline.  It is likely that K.K. Downing invested at the wrong time. 

One has to wonder about all the rock stars who have their own wine labels.  They knew how to drink it, but if they have not operated vineyards or wineries for years they better stay safe and just license their names.  Michael Anthony and Eddie Ojeda have their own hot sauces, but that does not mean they have run a food processing plant or food distribution service.  These people may jump in and learn a business like Bruce Dickinson has with aviation maintenance.  Who knows?  The bass player for Midnight Oil started a wonderful bikini manufacturing business that is still going.  Of course, there is little investment in material which keeps his cost down.  Those bikinis really are like dental floss. 

A few of the rock and roll people did get jobs in something they know like opening music stores, managing artists, working for record companies, working for gear manufacturers... and maybe making nearly invisible bikinis. 

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This one made me laugh out loud when I heard about it probably 10 or so years ago.

 Rock and roll clothing, gifts and lifestyles products for babies, brought to you by Bon Jovi's Tico Torres

https://www.rockstarbaby.com/

The idea it's still around 10 or so years later must mean he/they are doing something right!

slideshow_1.jpg?11793576070782331296

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On 5/18/2018 at 3:19 PM, Ting Ho Dung said:

Should some of us pool together and buy it? May be a good retirement package. 

Run in the other direction!  Golf is def. a dying game.

You couldn't get a millennial on a golf course at gun point...

Couldn't get one to pick up a guitar either...

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On 5/19/2018 at 4:03 PM, Rockola said:

NP and agreed. He was on tour and possibly jaded by endless wannabees and hanger-ons. 

Apologies to the HFC if that came out too salty

Eric Bloom did the same thing to me except he got in my face which was laughable. And I was one of those a-holes who snuck into the green room and interrupted their chinese takeout.  

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54 minutes ago, Ting Ho Dung said:

Eric Bloom did the same thing to me except he got in my face which was laughable. And I was one of those a-holes who snuck into the green room and interrupted their chinese takeout.  

I love it!  BÖC is my all-time favorite band and EB's my favorite front person, but obviously

not the greatest singer.  If you were drunk as a hoot-owl, you could have kicked EB's ass!

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1 hour ago, SSII x 2 said:

I love it!  BÖC is my all-time favorite band and EB's my favorite front person, but obviously

not the greatest singer.  If you were drunk as a hoot-owl, you could have kicked EB's ass!

Yes, definitely.  But I'm not a mean guy or a mean drunk. Everyone in the band thought it was funny as hell how I just pushed past Eric. I got all their autographs on the back of a business card I had in my wallet (probably mine). Even Eric's. The second or third time we snuck in the green room we all agreed I and my buddy had had enough fun. I thanked them and told them it was a great show. Ran into Buck a few more times that evening as he was enjoying a few drinks down in Club Detroit. 

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On 5/18/2018 at 9:27 PM, Steve Haynie said:

Right now the royalties are worth $300K per year, but as kids and future generations keep going after free music one must consider how much money will be made when the entire Judas Priest catalog is 99% accessed through services like Spotify.  Those of us who prefer to hold a CD in our hands or still like to look at large vinyl album covers are dying off.  We have all that old music already.  Some of these rock stars are going to die, and the heirs will be holding very little when they inherit the catalogs of music. 

Terms will be negotiated. The songwriters share from services such as Spotify, Youtube, AppleMusic etc. are far to low. They are actually down right silly. I don't understand why the Music Publishers have agreed to this. Change will come, be certain of that. Just as of today, or this week, Youtube will start showing songwriting credits for the music on youtube. 
 

Content is King. Owning song catalogues will continue to be very profitable, mark my words.

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Read this part of Spotify's user agreement and try to think of a good reason anyone would accept it. 

Quote

You grant Spotify a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, perpetual (or, in jurisdictions where this is not permitted, for a term equal to the duration of the Agreements plus twenty (20) years), irrevocable, fully paid, worldwide license to use, reproduce, make available to the public (e.g. perform or display), publish, translate, modify, create derivative works from, and distribute any of your User Content in connection with the Service through any medium, whether alone or in combination with other content or materials, in any manner and by any means, method or technology, whether now known or hereafter created. Aside from the rights specifically granted herein, you retain ownership of all rights, including intellectual property rights, in the User Content. Where applicable and permitted under applicable law, you also agree to waive any “moral rights” (or the equivalent under applicable law) such as your right to be identified as the author of any User Content, including Feedback, and your right to object to derogatory treatment of such User Content.

You give Spotify perpetual free use that can be given (or sold) by Spotify, but they let you own the intellectual property rights that they just gutted. 

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The collecting societies and the music publisher organsations are working hard to change this and to make awarness of the songwriters. Things need to change, and they will. I'm surprised that it moves so slowly though. Part of the problem is that the major publishers are under the record labels control. Warner Records, Sony Records, Universal etc. wants the Spotify money. The master rights generate a lot more money than the publishing rights, so they have let it slide. But the publishers are furious, so things will need to change.

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On 5/18/2018 at 3:30 PM, ZR said:

So, is HIS portion worth almost $400k per year or is that the total the songs bring in and then he gets a share of that?

Anyone? I've seen it asked on other websites as well but without any definitive answers. Just curious. 

 

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On 5/18/2018 at 3:27 PM, Steve Haynie said:

Right now the royalties are worth $300K per year, but as kids and future generations keep going after free music one must consider how much money will be made when the entire Judas Priest catalog is 99% accessed through services like Spotify.  Those of us who prefer to hold a CD in our hands or still like to look at large vinyl album covers are dying off.  We have all that old music already.  Some of these rock stars are going to die, and the heirs will be holding very little when they inherit the catalogs of music. 

I must have flunked math.

According to this article:  https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/03/how-much-musicians-make-spotify-itunes-youtube

The artist receives 23 cents on each dollar of revenue iTunes receives.  The ARTIST is Judas Priest, which I'd have to imagine KK is a 20% partner of.  Which means KK gets less than a NICKEL per song sold.

You know how many fucking nickels it takes to get to $300,000?  6,000,000 million of them, and since he is really getting about 4.6 cents, they would have to sell over 6,500,000 of their older songs per year.  To who? 

Why wouldn't the other partners, or the record label, just buy out his share if it was such a gravy train?

Stupid Priest fan with family money please step forward. 

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