How much did get Prince get paid for Writing Manic Monday for The Bangles?

Astasheiks said:

How much did get Prince get paid for Writing Manic Monday for The Bangles?

I think he just got a composing credit. Similar to how he structured all his other "giveaway" songs.

Prince probably got an initial flat fee and then royalties based on radio/TV plays, etc.

Supposedly, Prince met Susannah Hoffs on a flight to (or out) of Los Angeles in the mid 80s and he was seriously smitten with her (who wouldn't be?). Out of the blue, a few weeks later, the Bangles management gets the tune from Prince's management...

Rest is history.

He didn't really write it for them, it was written for Apollonia 6. Just then gave it to The Bangles.

Astasheiks said:

Oh great now I have that song stuck in my head.

crimesofparis said:

Astasheiks said:

How much did get Prince get paid for Writing Manic Monday for The Bangles?

Nunya.

morningsong said:

Oh great now I have that song stuck in my head.

Astasheiks said:

crimesofparis said:

Mechanical royalties for copies pressed/sold. PRO royalties for live performances, including radio play. Any negotiated rates for sync licenses. Basically all the normal stuff a songwriter gets.

If you took a wild guess, how much would you think dollar amount would be to this day? And on the 2nd point, is that royalties on any radio station anywhere, in other words each individual radio station the song is played on pays a royalties?

Well, the album it was on went 3X platinum in the US, so that's at least 3mm copies pressed, and the mechanical royalty rate back then was ... I think it was 5 cents. So that's $150,000 JUST from the album sales in the US. The album went platinum in the UK, so at least 300,000 copies sold, so $15k.

.

I don't see single sales certifications in the normal place for the United States, but it went Silver in the UK, which is at least 200k copies -- that's $10k.

.

Sync licensing is impossible to say -- can you think of anywhere it was used in film or on TV that was notable? It depends on type of use (incedental background music without words, was it a major scene that was 2 minutes long where the lead character was singing it at a party, yadda yadda) and more famous songs like this one can command a lot more money than a song by an unknown artist.

.

PRO (radio and live performance) revenue is also impossible to say, but it was certainly significant.

.

So, for live performances, any venue or restaurant that plays live or recorded music has to pay a blanket license to all three PROs in the United States. The PROs then take that money and pay the songwriters on their individual rosters from all of the money they get paid.

.

How the PROs decide who gets what amount of money is more of an art than a science, and it's perplexing and secretive. Back then, they'd probably mostly go off of radio charts. Sometimes they literally record hours of radio play and then mark how often different songs get played (they still do this).

.

But each radio station pays these PROs, and then they pay the writer. I almost wrote "artist" there, but normal AM/FM radio only pays the songwriter in the US.

.

It has probably been a really really good amount of money, the bulk of which was earned before the end of 1987.

rogifan said:

Speaking of royalties this reminds me of when Prince played NC2U at Hop Farm. After the song he joked that it wasn’t his song it was Sinead O’Connors. When the crowd booed he said “come on now, I bought me a house with that song”.

1990 -- 5.7 cent mechanical rate.

.

Worldwide album sales - 7mm

That's almost $400,000 on album sales.

.

Single sale :

Australia - 140,000

Austria - 30,000

Germany - 250,000

Sweden - 50,000

United Kingdom - 600,000

United States - Platinum 1,000,000

.

That's $117,990 at a minimum

.

So, that's $517k before performance royalties.

.

Yeah, you can buy a house with that!

dbpdexter said:

morningsong said:

Oh great now I have that song stuck in my head.

I don't mind. It's just Friday tis all.

morningsong said:

crimesofparis said:

Astasheiks said:

crimesofparis said: If you took a wild guess, how much would you think dollar amount would be to this day? And on the 2nd point, is that royalties on any radio station anywhere, in other words each individual radio station the song is played on pays a royalties?

Well, the album it was on went 3X platinum in the US, so that's at least 3mm copies pressed, and the mechanical royalty rate back then was ... I think it was 5 cents. So that's $150,000 JUST from the album sales in the US. The album went platinum in the UK, so at least 300,000 copies sold, so $15k.

.

I don't see single sales certifications in the normal place for the United States, but it went Silver in the UK, which is at least 200k copies -- that's $10k.

.

Sync licensing is impossible to say -- can you think of anywhere it was used in film or on TV that was notable? It depends on type of use (incedental background music without words, was it a major scene that was 2 minutes long where the lead character was singing it at a party, yadda yadda) and more famous songs like this one can command a lot more money than a song by an unknown artist.

.

PRO (radio and live performance) revenue is also impossible to say, but it was certainly significant.

.

So, for live performances, any venue or restaurant that plays live or recorded music has to pay a blanket license to all three PROs in the United States. The PROs then take that money and pay the songwriters on their individual rosters from all of the money they get paid.

.

How the PROs decide who gets what amount of money is more of an art than a science, and it's perplexing and secretive. Back then, they'd probably mostly go off of radio charts. Sometimes they literally record hours of radio play and then mark how often different songs get played (they still do this).

.

But each radio station pays these PROs, and then they pay the writer. I almost wrote "artist" there, but normal AM/FM radio only pays the songwriter in the US.

.

It has probably been a really really good amount of money, the bulk of which was earned before the end of 1987.

Thanks for taking the time to explain some of this! Compared to the other poster that said nunya. (childish )

Astasheiks said:

crimesofparis said:

Well, the album it was on went 3X platinum in the US, so that's at least 3mm copies pressed, and the mechanical royalty rate back then was ... I think it was 5 cents. So that's $150,000 JUST from the album sales in the US. The album went platinum in the UK, so at least 300,000 copies sold, so $15k.

.

I don't see single sales certifications in the normal place for the United States, but it went Silver in the UK, which is at least 200k copies -- that's $10k.

.

Sync licensing is impossible to say -- can you think of anywhere it was used in film or on TV that was notable? It depends on type of use (incedental background music without words, was it a major scene that was 2 minutes long where the lead character was singing it at a party, yadda yadda) and more famous songs like this one can command a lot more money than a song by an unknown artist.

.

PRO (radio and live performance) revenue is also impossible to say, but it was certainly significant.

.

So, for live performances, any venue or restaurant that plays live or recorded music has to pay a blanket license to all three PROs in the United States. The PROs then take that money and pay the songwriters on their individual rosters from all of the money they get paid.

.

How the PROs decide who gets what amount of money is more of an art than a science, and it's perplexing and secretive. Back then, they'd probably mostly go off of radio charts. Sometimes they literally record hours of radio play and then mark how often different songs get played (they still do this).

.

But each radio station pays these PROs, and then they pay the writer. I almost wrote "artist" there, but normal AM/FM radio only pays the songwriter in the US.

.

It has probably been a really really good amount of money, the bulk of which was earned before the end of 1987.

Thanks for taking the time to explain some of this! Compared to the other poster that said nunya. (childish )

I think the way you put the question was confusing (making it sound like you believed Prince received a fixed sum of money updfront instead of royalties), hence the confused or smart ass replies.

.

Certain people have been able to make a living for the rest of their lives with a single hit song.

Dez Dickerson confessed he was able to purchase a house only thanks to his half of the royalties from Cool, which wasn't a huge hit by comparison to Manic Monday.

.

We can't know how much radio and TV broadcasts added to sales (let's not forget to add to the original album and single sales later Bangles greatest hits packages, that sold quite well themselves), but you can assume Prince made hundreds of thousands, maybe more than a million bucks out of Manic Monday alone.

databank said:

databank said:

Astasheiks said:

Thanks for taking the time to explain some of this! Compared to the other poster that said nunya. (childish )

I think the way you put the question was confusing (making it sound like you believed Prince received a fixed sum of money updfront instead of royalties), hence the confused or smart ass replies.

.

Certain people have been able to make a living for the rest of their lives with a single hit song.

Dez Dickerson confessed he was able to purchase a house only thanks to his half of the royalties from Cool, which wasn't a huge hit by comparison to Manic Monday.

.

We can't know how much radio and TV broadcasts added to sales (let's not forget to add to the original album and single sales later Bangles greatest hits packages, that sold quite well themselves), but you can assume Prince made hundreds of thousands, maybe more than a million bucks out of Manic Monday alone.

I knew it wasn't a fixed some but money over time and so then a cumulative amount as you mention in your last sentence. The person that said "nunya" was being a smart_____.

Prince didn't get paid for it, because he didn't write it. Officially and legally, it was written by "Christopher".

jasopig said:

jasopig said:

Prince didn't get paid for it, because he didn't write it. Officially and legally, it was written by "Christopher".

You could not be more incorrect.

jasopig said:

Prince didn't get paid for it, because he didn't write it. Officially and legally, it was written by "Christopher".