Pribek

This is from the NY Times…

The estates of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II have sold the rights to the legendary duo’s songs and musicals — including “South Pacific,” “The Sound of Music” and “Oklahoma!” — to Imagem Music Group, an investment arm of a huge Netherlands-based pension fund, the company announced on Tuesday.

This stuff is going on all the time. The reason this shows up in the Times is because it’s Rodgers and Hammerstein and that resonates with most anybody. Truth is, most every writer that’s getting a little mailbox money is getting approached with a buy out.

And, here’s how it works: even though the quote says “a huge Netherlands-based pension fund”, those cats are tied in to a huge multi-media source. Hence, you will soon see Rodgers and Hammerstein songs showing up in ads for stuff that aren’t relevant and action movies. Because, the buyer is going to get their money’s worth while mostly keeping in house.

Now, the writer(s) and or estate is getting a big ass one time check. More dough than they can spend in their lifetime…in theory…but, usually doesn’t go down that way.

The folks that buy the catalog are looking at least 50 years ahead. How much money will this song make over a long period of time? And what they do is work out a mathematical “factor” for each song. The factor is based on the amount of years it will take to recoup the money they put out. If a song has a factor of 11, it means they will get their money back in 11 years. After the 11 years, the rest is gravy.

These cats are interested in songs with factors of 8-13. 22 doesn’t get them exited. See, 22 only leaves them 28 years of gravy on their 50 year plan and, they are primarily interested in 40 years of gravy.

It serves to further the bastardization of the art.

But, it also serves to get the songwriter some dough and live a comfortable life unless they piss it away.

The reason I bring all this up is; I have facilitated these kinds of deals and-it’s part of the real music business. Let me tell you this…it can be a gut wrenching decision.

I’ve kind of been avoiding saying anything about this Billy Bob Thornton thing because, I didn’t want to pile on even though he chose to throw his own guys under the bus.

If you haven’t been following along, Billy’s band, the Boxmasters, have been opening for Willie Nelson. Last week, the band did an interview where Thornton referred to Canadian audiences as “mashed potatoes but no gravy”. Then, the band received an unfavorable reaction in Toronto and now, they have left the tour. From Billboard…

“Canadian audiences seem to be very reserved,” he told Ghomeshi. “We tend to play places where people throw things at each other. Here, they just sort of sit there. And it doesn’t matter what you say to ‘em. … It’s mashed potatoes but no gravy.”…

…The Boxmasters opened for Willie Nelson on Thursday in Toronto, where they reportedly were booed and met with catcalls of “Here comes the gravy.”

A note posted on Nelson’s Web site Friday said the Boxmasters were canceling the rest of their Canadian dates “due to one band member and several of the crew having the flu.”

Here’s the deal; when I first heard about this, I thought, “It’s probably a case of a guy who knows how to incite the media and is using an old show-biz trick to get some run”. But then, I watched the interview and realized that it’s clearly a case of Billy Bob Thornton making a complete ass of himself at the expense of his band mates.

Probably, it’s either a runaway ego or, a guy who just can’t handle the road. Those would be my guesses. If you watch the clip, observe how the other guys in the band are acting. Those guys are clearly trying to subdue a mixture of confusion and anger.

As always, pass the gravy then click pause on the music player located in the side bar to your left before playing the YouTube.