A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum => Topic started by: the visitor on February 08, 2024, 09:03:44 PM
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Just zooming out a little bit over the course of the past 3 months we have had
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- A live boxset many of us have been waiting for for years (to either listen to with joy or moan about)
- A guitar auction of a chunk if MKs most famous guitars
- A new album release announcement
- A high profile charity release announcement
Something going on here ? Feels a like a moment we might sooner or later look back on.
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This is normal behaviour for an artist who cares about his fans. If you're subscribed to a lot of other artists like I do, you can notice they release something ALL THE TIME. Whether it's a book, a new album, a podcast, or at least something. Mark's been silent for a while, so this stream of information feels like magic, though it's completely okay. The more different new stuff, the better! The problem of development hell and long waiting time is it raises expectations and hopes, that are crushed in catastrophic emotional implosions, when you were waiting for something for years, and get not something you were hoping for.
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The human being has inked in his genome the quote that says that everything that is rare is precious, I understand that this affects us so emotionally.
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Sorry to say but I think it's the beginning of a long goodbye....
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Don't forget a TV show coming up too. To me, 2024 is the year of Mark Knopfler :clap Guy has been saying for a while that there is lots of stuff coming up, and here we have it.
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Maybe also the long rumoured musical soundtrack of Local Hero
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Will we still get the EP?
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Just zooming out a little bit over the course of the past 3 months we have had
:
- A live boxset many of us have been waiting for for years (to either listen to with joy or moan about)
- A guitar auction of a chunk if MKs most famous guitars
- A new album release announcement
- A high profile charity release announcement
Something going on here ? Feels a like a moment we might sooner or later look back on.
It's just a natural reaction to the loss of the touring income. Without it, Mark is forced to market on other avenues such as going back to DS live recordings to keep BGS afloat. He did mention in the Mark Lawson interview (2013) that BGS was bound to lose money and that he would give approval to any initiative (advertising, for example) as long as it would pay for his expenses.
We never had this kind of activity in one year while he was active touring, so it's pretty obvious to me. As long as Mark wants to keep making new albums, there will need to be new activities so I am expecting more during this year, and especially 2025.
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I doubt money is an issue for Mark or a motivation, it's more likely that because he has stopped touring he can do more things like this.
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It's great we end having all this stuff finally this year, specially since most of it has been in the works for years, with a pandemic in between.
I truly hope this is not the last things and we could continue enjoying (or not) more things in the future.
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I doubt money is an issue for Mark or a motivation, it's more likely that because he has stopped touring he can do more things like this.
It certainly isn't a motivation, it never was for Mark. But it's a need, and much more so at this moment.
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I doubt money is an issue for Mark or a motivation, it's more likely that because he has stopped touring he can do more things like this.
It certainly isn't a motivation, it never was for Mark. But it's a need, and much more so at this moment.
Actually money is not a motivation but a necessity if you think how expensive British Grove Studio is to mantein. I remember someone managed to find online the financial papers of the studio since it opened and until today, it ends every year losing money, so maybe every source of income would be good to keep the studio working, the sale of guitars he doesn't use, extra income from all stuff that was getting dust in the vaults...
And also he's making sure some of that money goes to charities, which is great too.
It's all publicly available information but you need to be a bit of an expert to decipher it:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04825535/filing-history
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Actually money is not a motivation but a necessity if you think how expensive British Grove Studio is to mantein.
He doesn't need the money. Even his income from the song publishing alone would be enough to live in the style he does.
His studio 'loses' money (technically) because he doesn't allow many people to use it.It is essentially his private studio, which he sometimes allows friends or respected others to use.
He's not putting out product because he has lost touring income. He has a studio sitting there and people like Guy looking for something to do.
It sounded like he had very little to do with the live box set, other than signing off on it.
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Actually money is not a motivation but a necessity if you think how expensive British Grove Studio is to mantein.
He doesn't need the money. Even his income from the song publishing alone would be enough to live in the style he does.
His studio 'loses' money (technically) because he doesn't allow many people to use it.It is essentially his private studio, which he sometimes allows friends or respected others to use.
He's not putting out product because he has lost touring income. He has a studio sitting there and people like Guy looking for something to do.
It sounded like he had very little to do with the live box set, other than signing off on it.
Chris, British Grove is a commercial studio that you can hire to record, even myself if I would have money and a band, lol
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I doubt money is an issue for Mark or a motivation, it's more likely that because he has stopped touring he can do more things like this.
It certainly isn't a motivation, it never was for Mark. But it's a need, and much more so at this moment.
Actually money is not a motivation but a necessity if you think how expensive British Grove Studio is to mantein. I remember someone managed to find online the financial papers of the studio since it opened and until today, it ends every year losing money, so maybe every source of income would be good to keep the studio working, the sale of guitars he doesn't use, extra income from all stuff that was getting dust in the vaults...
And also he's making sure some of that money goes to charities, which is great too.
It's all publicly available information but you need to be a bit of an expert to decipher it:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04825535/filing-history
Thanks to 500 years of democracy and this level of transparency (if you're not a Russian oligarch of course) in the UK. These documents show that Mark assigned his wife as BG director, this doesn't look great in my opinion and is another sign of possible major health problems. Also, speaking of money, I took a quick look at it and it doesn't seem like a constant stream of millions of pounds of net income. No really impressive numbers there, both from BG and Dire Straits LTD, Straitjacket songs, etc.
How people can say Mark doesn't need money I don't understand. I agree money can't be his priority, though we all need to earn some cold cash to live.
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Actually money is not a motivation but a necessity if you think how expensive British Grove Studio is to mantein.
He doesn't need the money. Even his income from the song publishing alone would be enough to live in the style he does.
His studio 'loses' money (technically) because he doesn't allow many people to use it.It is essentially his private studio, which he sometimes allows friends or respected others to use.
He's not putting out product because he has lost touring income. He has a studio sitting there and people like Guy looking for something to do.
It sounded like he had very little to do with the live box set, other than signing off on it.
He needs the money like I need money, like you need money, like everyone in the world needs money. Because, even though he is a multi-millionaire, he has bills he needs to pay like everyone else, with addition that his bills are much more expensive than mine or yours.
I mean, I'm not pulling stuff out of my ass. Mark himself said this many times when he's asked about money and financials. The balance sheet of BGS says it's in a net deficit position, which means that it can't operate on its own without intervention of the parent company, which is Straitjacket Songs Ltd. Which, of course, means Mark is pouring his own money into it. Is that all because he restricts the usage of his studio? Maybe. But it's irrelevant.
Now, I don't know for certain if he's putting product out because he lost the touring income, but it seems to be a very reasonable explanation. It explains why we're getting an album and an EP in the same year for the first time ever, explains the selling of the guitars, explains the return to the cash cow of DS.
But, of course, I could be wrong.
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Another thing to note is the TV presenting he's turned his hand to. This may or may not be a way for him to earn some income in order to run the studio. If he's not going to be riding into the city every week now - and presumably he's not - then now may be the time to sell BG.
The pandemic has certainly had a big effect and robbed him of the Local Hero musical in London and probably some other work too.
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These documents show that Mark assigned his wife as BG director, this doesn't look great in my opinion and is another sign of possible major health problems.
This is a major stretch. There are all sorts of reasons for people to include family members as directors, tax, having someone you trust etc etc etc. If you were to go and look at some other company accounts in the UK you will see that it's fairly commonplace in the UK.
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Another thing to note is the TV presenting he's turned his hand to. This may or may not be a way for him to earn some income in order to run the studio. If he's not going to be riding into the city every week now - and presumably he's not - then now may be the time to sell BG.
The pandemic has certainly had a big effect and robbed him of the Local Hero musical in London and probably some other work too.
I don't think he will ever sell BGS. He would probably sell his house and reform DS for a reunion tour first than sell BGS ;D
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Another thing to note is the TV presenting he's turned his hand to. This may or may not be a way for him to earn some income in order to run the studio. If he's not going to be riding into the city every week now - and presumably he's not - then now may be the time to sell BG.
The pandemic has certainly had a big effect and robbed him of the Local Hero musical in London and probably some other work too.
I don't think he will ever sell BGS. He would probably sell his house and reform DS for a reunion tour first than sell BGS ;D
He probably wouldn't, but if it's running at a loss and he's not using it or going there and sold so many guitars, then perhaps it would be for the best financially speaking.
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https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01073534/officers
David Gilmour added his wife as a director, oh no, he must be ill, maybe he caught AIDS off MK.
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https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01073534/officers
David Gilmour added his wife as a director, oh no, he must be ill, maybe he caught AIDS off MK.
That is very common, not only in the UK. Usually for tax reasons.
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"It explains why we're getting an album and an EP in the same year for the first time ever"
He simply wrote a lot of songs :)
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https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01073534/officers
David Gilmour added his wife as a director, oh no, he must be ill, maybe he caught AIDS off MK.
That is very common, not only in the UK. Usually for tax reasons.
"I think what we've had is an embarrassment of riches, really" – Mark Knopfler
:lol
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It explains why we're getting an album and an EP in the same year for the first time ever,
He simply wrote a lot of songs :)
Yes, it could be. But he also wrote tons of songs for Privateering and Tracker and we never got a separate EP.
I'm not complaining, I think it's great for us fans, that we get more material to enjoy! :) I was just trying to answer the question of the OP.
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https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01073534/officers
David Gilmour added his wife as a director, oh no, he must be ill, maybe he caught AIDS off MK.
That is very common, not only in the UK. Usually for tax reasons.
I know it's common. However, a close friend of our family recently did the same (added his wife as a director) and died of cancer in December. Reasons can be different, it's strange to just jokingly cut off my concerns for Mark's health. As if we all don't know he's not feeling perfectly well lately.
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I think we should be cautious on the matter.
Of course Mark need to pay the bill and he has to have incomes to do so.
But we basic fan aren't in the know of all Mark's sources of incomes, are we?
Was Mark selling his guitars to fuel BGS deficit?
Well he donated a quarter of the raised money to charities :think
The way Mark is dealing with BGS loosing money is definitively out of our scope.
All we know is that Mark doesn't earn money with it, that it even cost him some and that is all!
It is easy to make assumption but that lend to nowhere unless someone dare to interview Mark on the subject... and he answers to it large and open.
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I really doubt Mark has any money problems!! He has multiple avenues of income stream, and I am sure he has made lots of investments. Let's leave Mark to worry about his own money and concentrate on the music ;)
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Mark has a property portfolio. No doubt his advisors recommended investment schemes, off shore trust funds and all manner of financial safeguards while Mark was selling millions of albums and doing sell out stadium tours.
Trust me, he never needs to work again. I knew a guy who wrote a couple of hit songs for Michael Jackson and Tina Turner and he never needed to work ever again. Mark is way above that level.
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Mark has a property portfolio. No doubt his advisors recommended investment schemes, off shore trust funds and all manner of financial safeguards while Mark was selling millions of albums and doing sell out stadium tours.
Trust me, he never needs to work again. I knew a guy who wrote a couple of hit songs for Michael Jackson and Tina Turner and he never needed to work ever again. Mark is way above that level.
One thing is never having to work again, but the cost of operating the studio and paying his full-time staff (which includes Guy, I assume) is considerable. Plus his album budgets must be insane.
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Releasing the EP must not automatically be motivated financially. Dire Straits have done the same within 6 months after Love Over Gold. It might be an artistically decision. Maybe he had left-over songs too good to store or found One Deep River too deep and dark and wants to set a different tone. Or maybe there was just the idea of having fun in the Studio with the band.
Guy has not the usual "our best record so far" tone but indeed sounds exhausted and described the album with "it took very long and it is deep." Maybe they felt that it was too long and too hard work and they want to refresh their working spirits with a little fast recorded EP of first takes maybe?
LE
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One thing is never having to work again, but the cost of operating the studio and paying his full-time staff (which includes Guy, I assume) is considerable.
I doubt he has trouble paying for the studio, but if he was he could allow more outside people to use it. As he doesn't I presume it's because he can cover the costs out of his own finances.
Seriously he has car collections, multiple properties, large royalty cheques coming in every 3 months. His studio contains many rare and collectable items he hardly ever uses he could sell if he needed the money - which he doesn't.
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Mark has a property portfolio. No doubt his advisors recommended investment schemes, off shore trust funds and all manner of financial safeguards while Mark was selling millions of albums and doing sell out stadium tours.
Trust me, he never needs to work again. I knew a guy who wrote a couple of hit songs for Michael Jackson and Tina Turner and he never needed to work ever again. Mark is way above that level.
I remember an interview I read years ago where Gerry Rafferty said he made a comfortable living just off the royalties from "Baker Street".
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Just curious what kind of cash we are talking about here. With all the mega hits from the 80's, what might such a royalty cheque look like? Is it thousands or tens of thousands or maybe 6 figure of $$ every 3 months?
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Just curious what kind of cash we are talking about here. With all the mega hits from the 80's, what might such a royalty cheque look like? Is it thousands or tens of thousands or maybe 6 figure of $$ every 3 months?
It's of course a highly secretive and highly debatable topic, it all depends on a million factors, and the song's popularity. I remember reading about "Every Breath You Take" that, "As of 2003, Sting was making an average of $2000 per day in royalties for the song." But that was 2003, and it's a very, very, very, very, very popular song and a member of a Billion Club (1B+ views and 1B+ listens). No Mark's song reached this level of popularity and impact.
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Back then he would have also been getting the royalties from I’ll Be Missing You which would have been even more popular at that point.
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There are hit songs and there are HIT songs.
Some songs go beyond being just a hit and end up being played multiple times a day somewhere in the world.
With Mark that is numerous - Sultans Of Swing, Brothers In Arms, Money For Nothing....arguably Walk Of Life, not to mention Private Dancer by Tina Turner. You can live comfortably on one massive hit from the pre-streaming era. When it comes to multiple hits, you never have to work again, unless you want to of course.
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The german GEMA which collects the royalties in Germany hat about 94000 clients who received one billion Euro in 2023. If my math is correct each client received an average of about 10000 Euro last year.
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There are hit songs and there are HIT songs.
Some songs go beyond being just a hit and end up being played multiple times a day somewhere in the world.
With Mark that is numerous - Sultans Of Swing, Brothers In Arms, Money For Nothing....arguably Walk Of Life, not to mention Private Dancer by Tina Turner. You can live comfortably on one massive hit from the pre-streaming era. When it comes to multiple hits, you never have to work again, unless you want to of course.
I lived in a random city on Turkey's south coast for a whole year and during my long walks, I heard Mark's hits all the time coming from radios, cars and speakers everywhere. It was all the usual suspects, of course, exactly the songs you've listed and I never ever heard any other songs apart from those. Sigh... Maybe also Your Latest Trick, You And Your Friend and Ticket To Heaven for some reason.
Man, music business is really a f-up place. How it's fair if you wrote a song, that could become a hit, even if it was written in the amount of time it takes to listen to it, maybe by accident, maybe because your guitar player transformed it from a mediocre song to a masterpiece (talking about you, Sting). Or it may be forgotten, but if it's not — you don't need to work again.
You can write a hit song and never work again, but if you're a professional studio musician who made all this what it is, you'll need to work till you die. Makes you think about all these one-hit wonders, a whole Universe of those, and how it differs from other creative mediums.
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I've recommended it before but I'll say it again, this is a great book on the history of the moral cesspit that is the song publishing industry:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-One-Money-Clinton-Heylin/dp/1472111907
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the french singer Patrick Hernandez had only one Hit, and to my knowledge, did only one song in his whole career : "born to be alive"
He had never to work again, and lives with only royalties from ONE song/hit
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the french singer Patrick Hernandez had only one Hit, and to my knowledge, did only one song in his whole career : "born to be alive"
He had never to work again, and lives with only royalties from ONE song/hit
Depends on how much you get from royalties, and your lifstyle, of course. Probably all of us would live the same way with the royalties of one hit ;D
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the french singer Patrick Hernandez had only one Hit, and to my knowledge, did only one song in his whole career : "born to be alive"
He had never to work again, and lives with only royalties from ONE song/hit
Depends on how much you get from royalties, and your lifstyle, of course. Probably all of us would live the same way with the royalties of one hit ;D
That's exactly the type of BS I was talking about. Can you imagine a painter doing just one picture and never working again? And now this streaming royalties controversy and all that... No wonder everybody universally hates the music business. Because it sucks!
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the french singer Patrick Hernandez had only one Hit, and to my knowledge, did only one song in his whole career : "born to be alive"
He had never to work again, and lives with only royalties from ONE song/hit
Depends on how much you get from royalties, and your lifstyle, of course. Probably all of us would live the same way with the royalties of one hit ;D
That's exactly the type of BS I was talking about. Can you imagine a painter doing just one picture and never working again? And now this streaming royalties controversy and all that... No wonder everybody universally hates the music business. Because it sucks!
Even worse is when you write a hit and someone else never has to work again because of it.
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It's the Christmas songs that can bring in your pension money, take Chris Rea for example:
https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/driving-home-for-christmas.html
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It's the Christmas songs that can bring in your pension money, take Chris Rea for example:
https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/driving-home-for-christmas.html
A nice cash cow for sure but even better to have a classic that is played all year round.
Driving Home For Christmas has 500m plays on Spotify, Sultans has 1.2 billion.
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Just curious what kind of cash we are talking about here. With all the mega hits from the 80's, what might such a royalty cheque look like? Is it thousands or tens of thousands or maybe 6 figure of $$ every 3 months?
It's of course a highly secretive and highly debatable topic, it all depends on a million factors, and the song's popularity. I remember reading about "Every Breath You Take" that, "As of 2003, Sting was making an average of $2000 per day in royalties for the song." But that was 2003, and it's a very, very, very, very, very popular song and a member of a Billion Club (1B+ views and 1B+ listens). No Mark's song reached this level of popularity and impact.
Of course Sting is rolling in the 50% songwriting royalties from Money for Nothing too!
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Just curious what kind of cash we are talking about here. With all the mega hits from the 80's, what might such a royalty cheque look like? Is it thousands or tens of thousands or maybe 6 figure of $$ every 3 months?
It's of course a highly secretive and highly debatable topic, it all depends on a million factors, and the song's popularity. I remember reading about "Every Breath You Take" that, "As of 2003, Sting was making an average of $2000 per day in royalties for the song." But that was 2003, and it's a very, very, very, very, very popular song and a member of a Billion Club (1B+ views and 1B+ listens). No Mark's song reached this level of popularity and impact.
Of course Sting is rolling in the 50% songwriting royalties from Money for Nothing too!
Might not be 50/50 - royalties aren't always split equally.
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Whatever Sting gets for MFN would be probably more than what I earn with my job, lol
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the french singer Patrick Hernandez had only one Hit, and to my knowledge, did only one song in his whole career : "born to be alive"
He had never to work again, and lives with only royalties from ONE song/hit
Depends on how much you get from royalties, and your lifstyle, of course. Probably all of us would live the same way with the royalties of one hit ;D
Money wise I’m set for life…..as long as I die next Thursday.
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the french singer Patrick Hernandez had only one Hit, and to my knowledge, did only one song in his whole career : "born to be alive"
He had never to work again, and lives with only royalties from ONE song/hit
Patrick Hernandez did others things but got only one success with Born To Be Alive.
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the french singer Patrick Hernandez had only one Hit, and to my knowledge, did only one song in his whole career : "born to be alive"
He had never to work again, and lives with only royalties from ONE song/hit
Patrick Hernandez did others things but got only one success with Born To Be Alive.
ah ok I didn't know. But I remember reading that royalties from this only one song was far enough to let him live without working
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You all are probably aware of this story, but I always find it amazing: https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/bitter-sweet-symphony.html (https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/bitter-sweet-symphony.html)
EDIT: Sorry, that link seems to be behind the paywall, so here's another to try: https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-05-29/the-bittersweet-story-of-bitter-sweet-symphony-the-song-that-ended-britpop-and-that-the-rolling-stones-appropriated.html (https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-05-29/the-bittersweet-story-of-bitter-sweet-symphony-the-song-that-ended-britpop-and-that-the-rolling-stones-appropriated.html). Scroll down to "the Controversy with the Stones".
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Yes, the truly bizarre thing about that is that Jagger and Richards didn’t even write that hook, it was whoever did the arrangement for the orchestral album.
I wonder what chunk MK got of that John Legend song.
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the french singer Patrick Hernandez had only one Hit, and to my knowledge, did only one song in his whole career : "born to be alive"
He had never to work again, and lives with only royalties from ONE song/hit
Patrick Hernandez did others things but got only one success with Born To Be Alive.
ah ok I didn't know. But I remember reading that royalties from this only one song was far enough to let him live without working
He is the guy that almost secured a 360° revenue scheme from that song.
You have to take account that as Mark Knopfler he is writer, composer, performer of the song.
And Patrick Hernandez even says in interviews that he owns publishing and producer rights from the song.
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https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01073534/officers
David Gilmour added his wife as a director, oh no, he must be ill, maybe he caught AIDS off MK.
lol
these comments, lol, sure he needs money like all of us need it to buy stuff. but the difference with us is, he has boatloads of it, and it KEEPS pouring in. his Studio can make a loss for the next 20 years and it would not dent his fortune even the tiniest bit. maybe i can add it as a tax expense. really, i find these assumptiond about his lingering on the verge of bankruptcy a bit funny. his wealth allows him to live on a whole different level as 99% of us on this forum do. our monetary worries are most definitely NOT his.
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Who is that 1% then? :lol
LE
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https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01073534/officers
David Gilmour added his wife as a director, oh no, he must be ill, maybe he caught AIDS off MK.
lol
these comments, lol, sure he needs money like all of us need it to buy stuff. but the difference with us is, he has boatloads of it, and it KEEPS pouring in. his Studio can make a loss for the next 20 years and it would not dent his fortune even the tiniest bit. maybe i can add it as a tax expense. really, i find these assumptiond about his lingering on the verge of bankruptcy a bit funny. his wealth allows him to live on a whole different level as 99% of us on this forum do. our monetary worries are most definitely NOT his.
Nobody in this thread mentioned anything about bankruptcy.
Of course our monetary worries are not his. We don't have multiple properties including a riverside mansion, an expensive car collection, a world-class studio, a world-class band of musicians, a management/accounting/marketing team, etc.
What people usually disregard is that the more money you have, the bigger your expenses are and the more money you need.
The financial concerns I mentioned in my posts are the ones Mark himself mentioned in different interviews. It's not a fabrication.
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https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01073534/officers
David Gilmour added his wife as a director, oh no, he must be ill, maybe he caught AIDS off MK.
lol
these comments, lol, sure he needs money like all of us need it to buy stuff. but the difference with us is, he has boatloads of it, and it KEEPS pouring in. his Studio can make a loss for the next 20 years and it would not dent his fortune even the tiniest bit. maybe i can add it as a tax expense. really, i find these assumptiond about his lingering on the verge of bankruptcy a bit funny. his wealth allows him to live on a whole different level as 99% of us on this forum do. our monetary worries are most definitely NOT his.
Nobody in this thread mentioned anything about bankruptcy.
Of course our monetary worries are not his. We don't have multiple properties including a riverside mansion, an expensive car collection, a world-class studio, a world-class band of musicians, a management/accounting/marketing team, etc.
What people usually disregard is that the more money you have, the bigger your expenses are and the more money you need.
The financial concerns I mentioned in my posts are the ones Mark himself mentioned in different interviews. It's not a fabrication.
And also that it doesn't matter how rich you are, if you are running a bussiness and it looses money, I guess at some point the bussiness would have to close, I'm not an expert on the subject, of course.
Another simple question... If you don't need money, why you would "only" give 25% to charity? I'd give it all to charity like David Gilmour did with his insane auction. Of course, nobody asks you to donate anything, but just from the logic perspective it doesn't make sense. "I don't need the money, but I'll keep 75%, thank you very much".
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And also that it doesn't matter how rich you are, if you are running a bussiness and it looses money, I guess at some point the bussiness would have to close
In reality it's Mark's personal studio. he may have registered it as a business, losing money, as a tax deductible. McCartney has his own studio and absolutely no other projects are recorded there except for Paul's.
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Another simple question... If you don't need money, why you would "only" give 25% to charity?
Who knows? Why does the fabulously wealthy billionaire Jeff Bezos pay his Amazon staff the minimum wage, while flogging them to death?
Maybe Mark wants to make sure Kitty and the kids enjoy an incredible standard of living should anything happen to him?
From the people I've met, I find multi-millionaires are never satisfied unless they are a billionaire. And a billionaire is never satisfied unless they are in the top 5 billionaire list.
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Another simple question... If you don't need money, why you would "only" give 25% to charity?
Who knows? Why does the fabulously wealthy billionaire Jeff Bezos pay his Amazon staff the minimum wage, while flogging them to death?
Maybe Mark wants to make sure Kitty and the kids enjoy an incredible standard of living should anything happen to him?
From the people I've met, I find multi-millionaires are never satisfied unless they are a billionaire. And a billionaire is never satisfied unless they are in the top 5 billionaire list.
True. I don't understand what drives these billionaire guys to keep working . I'd have retired to a quiet life after making a fraction of their wealth.
I would say about MK though that if he was solely motivated by money he could have kept on flogging the DS horse. Instead, he went from playing the last UK DS gig at Woburn Abbey (50/60 thousand?) to his first UK solo gig at the Ulster hall, Belfast (capacity under 2,000).
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Another simple question... If you don't need money, why you would "only" give 25% to charity? I'd give it all to charity like David Gilmour did with his insane auction. Of course, nobody asks you to donate anything, but just from the logic perspective it doesn't make sense. "I don't need the money, but I'll keep 75%, thank you very much".
I would suggest that you take this thing by the wrong side.
This is not a question of "needing money" but simply to "deal with money".
Myself needed to reflect on it because I found it strange the first time I read about this "25% charity donation".
But this is Mark deciding to sell a part from his collection for whatever reason.
I would feel wrong to question the fact he's keeping the money to him.
Basic fact it wasn't meant to be a charity auction and nobody would have dared to question this.
But still, Mark had the generosity to give a percentage to charity.
And then the question arise : only 25 % why not 100% after all, he does not need that money?
Utterly wrong questionning for my part even if I did not avoid from it at first.
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They were Mark's guitars, he can do what he likes with the money, simple.