How does the band split the $$$?

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DPrinceNY

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I would think that Bono or the Edge would get the most money out of the band. Sure Adam and Larry are important members but it is the Edge who really makes the music and Bono the lyrics. I was just wondering how the band manages there incomes. How do other bands do this?

Probably when the band goes on tour, all 4 members split the final touring profits equally.

But aside from touring who gets what? Maybe u2 is a special case since they are all best of friends and they split there paychecks equally?
any thoughts ...
 
I guess thats what makes U2 such a great band. Maybe its for the better that they split everything equally. I mean awsume bands ie. Led Zeppelin broke up because of financial problems and members believing they diserve more then others.
 
DPrinceNY said:
But aside from touring who gets what? Maybe u2 is a special case since they are all best of friends and they split there paychecks equally?
any thoughts ...
Click to expand...


This was a big part of the At The End Of The World Book and Adam missing the Sydney performance.

They split it five ways and have since the beginning of the band. The point was made that maybe Edge and Bono contribute more but they also are the ones that cost the band the most by doing things like PopMart.

It's the reason they are still together and still friends. If Larry and Adam got less then there'd be a tendancy to be jealous and for Bono & Edge to think that they've got more of a right to be u2 than L&A. They avoid all that drama and in reality it's a four way partnership. If anything maybe they've scaled back Paul's portion but I doubt it. Larry counteracts Bono's bullshit with his anti-bullshit and Adam brings in a more fun normal not quite so manic personality to the mix. If Larry or Adam dropped out the band would fall apart.
 
^^^^ what he said

at the end of the world is a good book btw. i suggest you all read it.

i wish he wrote about them during the 80's instead of that one guy who wrote the questionable "unforgettable fire" book.
 
We are just assuming that Bono and Edge do more. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I'm guessing that Larry and Adam do more than what outsiders see.
 
Its not an assumption. Practically all the lyrics written are by non other then Bono. The edge has always been the musical genius, the rest of the band has even come out and said so. Larry and Adam play a big part in grounding Bono and Edges (mostly Bonos) huge egos. They definitely keep the band together and thats about all they do.
 
Isnt Larry involved in the merchandising? Adam and Larry obviously had a role in steering the new album away from what Bono and Edge wanted, which Bono has admitted was a good idea.
 
DPrinceNY said:
So Bono and the edge dont feel a bit ripped off since in my opinion they do so much more.
Click to expand...


Didnt it come up a few years ago that Bono and the Edge felt that they did do most of the work, and thus wanted to be compensated. I'm pretty sure that they wanted to restruture if Adam and Larry didnt take a more active role in the production of new tunes.
 
Bono is the dreamer who imagines all this crazy stuff.
Edge is the engineer that turns it into sound
Larry is the one saying whether or not it's going to actually work
Adam wonders if they really want to go there anyways....

They are are valuable parts of the machine. None of them are 'dead weight'.
 
DPrinceNY said:
Led Zeppelin broke up because of financial problems and members believing they diserve more then others.
Click to expand...


ummm......Led Zeppelin broke up because it's drummer, John Bonham, died. It was not possible, the rest of the band said, to replace him.
 
The final point made about this in the At the End of the World book was that, yeah, Bono and the Edge at times do more of the work. And in most cases, Paul, Adam and Larry would be asked to take less, proportionally. Instead, Paul, Adam and Larry offered to do more. Instead of accepting that they brought less to the table, and being compensated for that, they decided to earn what they were already making, and step up. Paul wouldn't make TV deals for himself in his free time--he'd make TV deals for U2, benefiting all of them. Adam and Larry wouldn't let Bono and Edge show up with the songs already written and just lay down some rhythm--they'd commit to being as involved in the creative process as the other two.

Who here doesn't think that Adam's bass line in A Man and a Woman is a bit more than just "grounding" the other members' spirituality?

Led Zep did split because Bonham died. It was the Beatles, the supposed "greatest band ever", that split over royalties. After Rubber Soul, this "band" was little more than three solo artists (Paul, John and George), backed by the other three guys, fighting to get as much of their own songs on each "Beatles" album as possible (and thus a larger percentage of the profits). Eventually, John got sick of the mercenary capitalism of it all and walked away.
 
The split the profits five ways.

Bono doesn't need to get more than the rest because all his high profile stuff lands him lucrative side projects that earn him more money than the U2 members.

Edge was rewarded for his hard work and given a co-production credit in the Zooropa album, meaning he was paid for being a producer. So for that instance he got more out of it than the rest.

Mullen takes care of the merchandising. Sure he doesn't get all the profits but I think outside of their 1/5th sharing, Mullen could earn a little extra as merchandising manager.

Mcguiness is the Manager. He books them gigs and high profile stuff. He has sideline projects like being tasked to manage other artists. Of course these earnings are outside U2.

Clayton ...well, he earns 1/5th. He's just the bassist.

Cheers,

J
 
mwheelonh said:
It was the Beatles, the supposed "greatest band ever", that split over royalties. After Rubber Soul, this "band" was little more than three solo artists (Paul, John and George), backed by the other three guys, fighting to get as much of their own songs on each "Beatles" album as possible (and thus a larger percentage of the profits). Eventually, John got sick of the mercenary capitalism of it all and walked away.
Click to expand...

I thought the Lennon/McCartney rivalry/ego broke up the Beatles.

Yes, U2 split the money five ways - the band members and McGuiness.
While it's true we could argue Bono and Edge do more than Larry and Adam, all 4 of them make the band what it is. It is fair that all get the same amount of royalties, which also helps prevent any bickering over money.
 
Jick is right, they split it 5 equal ways, That was always their deal from the beginning, and it has kept them together where so many other bands and their members and managers have split up over this. That is a big reason they are all still together. In a way, it's not fair to Bono, as the main songwriter in most bands he'd have a much larger share (as Pete Townshend did with The Who) Someone brought this up to Bono in 2001, and he replied 'let's just say I'm a generous genius";)
 
Aardvark747 said:
Paul Mc. has gotta be one of the most loyal and un-greedy music managers of all time!

From all I read of him that is!
Click to expand...

how could he even suggest pulling off being greedy? most agents/managers of high profile, long standing acts have a 10-15% take home... Paul's take has always been 20%, from start to finish. The band never tried to take that away from him as most major acts do as they move on, so why would Paul bite the hand that feeds him?
 
Most bands split profits equally, except for the songwritng royalties. I think Bono makes millions on side projects such as Elevation Partners.
 
boosterjuice said:
We are just assuming that Bono and Edge do more. We don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I'm guessing that Larry and Adam do more than what outsiders see.
Click to expand...
Er....U2 is the sum of four parts. Just as Edge's guitar would be nothing in Streets without Adam's bass, and Bono's vocals in Sunday Bloody Sunday nothing without Larry's drums.

Hell, from what I've read, if it weren't for Larry and Adam putting their foot down on a prematurely finished album, Hot Dub would have been released in Q4 2004. It might have been a crappy album except for Larry and Adam saying, "Er, what the hell, we need to rework this thayyyng."
 
DPrinceNY said:
I guess thats what makes U2 such a great band. Maybe its for the better that they split everything equally. I mean awsume bands ie. Led Zeppelin broke up because of financial problems and members believing they diserve more then others.
Click to expand...

Ummm, they broke up because John Bonham DIED
 
And that's a reminder to do your research folks, or to know what the heck you're talking about in the first place :wink:
 
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