Militant said:

I imagine Bono might be close due to his business interests.

Jay's money is mostly to do with his Live Nation deal and U2 have been working with Live Nation for longer, I believe.

I imagine Prince isn't far off, either. I remember reading he was worth half a billion before even the Musicology tour happened, and he had to have made a serious amount from the Earth Tour as well ($200 million in revenue from ticket sales alone.... you gotta imagine he took at least half of that if not more....)..... Vegas residency probably brought in a nice amount of money.

I remember reading he made £11million from the residency at the O2. Not as much as you might think. Still,

SoulAlive said:

musicjunky318 said:

I've never heard about him being in debt. And Forbes estimated he made $50 million back in 2004.

http://www.forbes.com/lis.../4L20.html

Prince has had financial problems in the past.The first time was in 1988.'Lovesexy' wasn't selling and the tour wasn't selling out in many cities.His Paisley Park Records label was releasing one flop album after another.The second time was in 1995.You should google the newspaper article "Purple Drain" which appeared in the St.Paul Pioneer Press.Nobody doubts that Prince is capable of making alot of money.The problem is,he doesn't know how to manage it and spend it wisely.

That's true, one look in the 3121 booklet tells you that.

There was a documentary maybe 5 years back where they tried to work out Prince's finances, it wasn't exactly scientific being a tabloid-type affair. They came up with $125million.

[Edited 9/24/10 13:05pm]

Militant said:

I imagine Bono might be close due to his business interests.

Jay's money is mostly to do with his Live Nation deal and U2 have been working with Live Nation for longer, I believe.

I imagine Prince isn't far off, either. I remember reading he was worth half a billion before even the Musicology tour happened, and he had to have made a serious amount from the Earth Tour as well ($200 million in revenue from ticket sales alone.... you gotta imagine he took at least half of that if not more....)..... Vegas residency probably brought in a nice amount of money.

Earth Tour surely couldnt take that much-440,000 people at an average of £30 odd-doesnt make £20m gross. However I do think Prince is richer than people think he is. The reason why I think this is that he never sells property etc when folks say he owes money. It appears to me he will only pay out of what he earns rather than what he has stored up

jcurley said:

Earth Tour surely couldnt take that much-440,000 people at an average of £30 odd-doesnt make £20m gross. However I do think Prince is richer than people think he is. The reason why I think this is that he never sells property etc when folks say he owes money. It appears to me he will only pay out of what he earns rather than what he has stored up

Yeah, my bad. My math was wrong.

25k x 21 nights x £31.21 ticket price = £16,385,250 (not including the Premium/Gold Circle tickets, but you gotta imagine those boosted it up to at least £25mill)

+

2500 (Indigo2 capacity) x 21 nights x £31.21 = £1,638,525 (again not including the Premium tickets which were more expensive, let's say pushing it up to £3 mill)

Then you've got whatever endorsements he did and merch sales which would have made a lot. Selling the rights to the final show footage to Sky probably netted a mill.

If 25% of people spent £20 at the merch stand (and it was probably more than that what with programs costing £10 and a whole range of merch...I myself must have spent at least £150 on merch) that works out at: £2,625,000........ so I reckon we could reasonably round that up to £5mill to cover for us uber-fans that spent much, much more than that.

Then you're hitting about £31 mill. Based on the 2007 exchange rate, something like $55 mil US.

It's obviously not about the money for Prince though. He could have doubled the ticket price and still sold out all 21 nights, you know? £31.21 was a very affordable price.

The comedian Russell Peters just sold out the O2 at £50 a ticket, last night and he's not even THAT famous (hilarious though).

Prince could probably have charged £70 a ticket without anyone complaining.

midiscover said:

musicjunky318 said:

Michael Jackson should have easily been one but I don't feel like getting into it. The most finacially mis-managed artist in history.

and that's his own fault.

child.....

musicjunky318 said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think there's been one right? And no Paul McCartney is NOT nor never was a billionaire despite popular belief.

I'm interested because I was reading a Forbes article that said they expect Jay-Z to be a billionaire in the next five years. He'd obviously be the first in rap but I was wondering whether he'd be the first overall.

Michael Jackson should have easily been one but I don't feel like getting into it. The most finacially mis-managed artist in history.

When you mean a billionaire musician, do you mean net worth or money grossed generated over a career span, also living or passed away, etc.? That's a big difference.

But if you're talking about a musician who made a billion dollars during their career after debt, taxes, lawsuits, paid off lawyers, managers, rent, staff, auditors, etc., then no. There's never been an artist like that.

Artist like MJ, Madonna, Elvis, and the Beatles are examples of artist who generated/grossed billions of dollars in record sales, royalties, tours, merchandise, movies, etc., but it wasn't pocketed/net.

Michael Jackson had assets (mansions, artwork, catalogs) worth a over a billion dollars, but that wasn't money in the bank/cash in your pockets, so he was struggling in that sense because his debt was more than he could handle. So when Bashir asked him how much he's worth, MJ wasn't lying, he was a billionaire but in assets only.

thatruth said:

musicjunky318 said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think there's been one right? And no Paul McCartney is NOT nor never was a billionaire despite popular belief.

I'm interested because I was reading a Forbes article that said they expect Jay-Z to be a billionaire in the next five years. He'd obviously be the first in rap but I was wondering whether he'd be the first overall.

Michael Jackson should have easily been one but I don't feel like getting into it. The most finacially mis-managed artist in history.

When you mean a billionaire musician, do you mean net worth or money grossed generated over a career span, also living or passed away, etc.? That's a big difference.

But if you're talking about a musician who made a billion dollars during their career after debt, taxes, lawsuits, paid off lawyers, managers, rent, staff, auditors, etc., then no. There's never been an artist like that.

Artist like MJ, Madonna, Elvis, and the Beatles are examples of artist who generated/grossed billions of dollars in record sales, royalties, tours, merchandise, movies, etc., but it wasn't pocketed/net.

Michael Jackson had assets (mansions, artwork, catalogs) worth a over a billion dollars, but that wasn't money in the bank/cash in your pockets, so he was struggling in that sense because his debt was more than he could handle. So when Bashir asked him how much he's worth, MJ wasn't lying, he was a billionaire but in assets only.

Michael owned:

Neverland Ranch

Hayvenhurst (the Jackson family home in Encino

other properties around CA and other countries

Sony/ATV catalog

Mijac catalog

his master recordings

and other assests

Isn't Paul McCartney close to being a billionaire?

bboy87 said:

Isn't Paul McCartney close to being a billionaire?

Last I checked he was closing in on it.

bboy87 said:

Isn't Paul McCartney close to being a billionaire?

But he doesn't own the Beatles masters, does he?

Who cares? They're not paying your bills.

According to any type of reputable source, Sir Paul is not a billionaire. This is from the Wall Street Journal in 2008 around the time of his divorce.

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/03/20/paul-mccartneys-real-estate-empire/

"Sir Paul McCartney is the latest member of the super-wealthy ranks to have his belongings catalogued. According to the British press, the former Beatle’s total fortune is valued at 387,012,000 pounds — or about $768 million."

Maybe his is now, though.

trueiopian said:

Who cares? They're not paying your bills.

We do. Clearly.

bboy87 said:

Isn't Paul McCartney close to being a billionaire?

Remember that we're in a worldwide recession, and the music industry isn't making large amounts of money like it did in the 80s or early 90s.

As far as McCartney, at one time he was very close to becoming a billionaire when he started trademarking his name on merchandise, but that's back in early-mid 2000s, not anymore.

McCartney is in that category of grossing billions over a career span and has lucrative assets (MPL Inc., royalties from Beatles songs, solo masters) plus he doesn't seem like a extravagant lifestyle type which helps a lot, but as I said before, that's not lots of money in the bank for artists, expenses are paid first.

[Edited 9/24/10 14:45pm]

bboy87 said:

Isn't Paul McCartney close to being a billionaire?

Before he divorced Heather Mills...he had over 1.6 billion dollars I believe...don't quote me on the exact figure but yeah, he had that much money

And Heather Mills is still looking for Mick Jagger's cell phone number

Harlepolis said:

bboy87 said:

Isn't Paul McCartney close to being a billionaire?

But he doesn't own the Beatles masters, does he?

No.

thatruth said:

musicjunky318 said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think there's been one right? And no Paul McCartney is NOT nor never was a billionaire despite popular belief.

I'm interested because I was reading a Forbes article that said they expect Jay-Z to be a billionaire in the next five years. He'd obviously be the first in rap but I was wondering whether he'd be the first overall.

Michael Jackson should have easily been one but I don't feel like getting into it. The most finacially mis-managed artist in history.

When you mean a billionaire musician, do you mean net worth or money grossed generated over a career span, also living or passed away, etc.? That's a big difference.

But if you're talking about a musician who made a billion dollars during their career after debt, taxes, lawsuits, paid off lawyers, managers, rent, staff, auditors, etc., then no. There's never been an artist like that.

Artist like MJ, Madonna, Elvis, and the Beatles are examples of artist who generated/grossed billions of dollars in record sales, royalties, tours, merchandise, movies, etc., but it wasn't pocketed/net.

Michael Jackson had assets (mansions, artwork, catalogs) worth a over a billion dollars, but that wasn't money in the bank/cash in your pockets, so he was struggling in that sense because his debt was more than he could handle. So when Bashir asked him how much he's worth, MJ wasn't lying, he was a billionaire but in assets only.

Net worth. That's where people get confused. Tons of artist have generated billions from their business but that's different from liquid cash. I remember getting in an argument in high school with my friend who claimed that Raven-Symone and the Olsen Twins were billionaires.

Militant said:

jcurley said:

Earth Tour surely couldnt take that much-440,000 people at an average of £30 odd-doesnt make £20m gross. However I do think Prince is richer than people think he is. The reason why I think this is that he never sells property etc when folks say he owes money. It appears to me he will only pay out of what he earns rather than what he has stored up

Yeah, my bad. My math was wrong.

25k x 21 nights x £31.21 ticket price = £16,385,250 (not including the Premium/Gold Circle tickets, but you gotta imagine those boosted it up to at least £25mill)

+

2500 (Indigo2 capacity) x 21 nights x £31.21 = £1,638,525 (again not including the Premium tickets which were more expensive, let's say pushing it up to £3 mill)

Then you've got whatever endorsements he did and merch sales which would have made a lot. Selling the rights to the final show footage to Sky probably netted a mill.

If 25% of people spent £20 at the merch stand (and it was probably more than that what with programs costing £10 and a whole range of merch...I myself must have spent at least £150 on merch) that works out at: £2,625,000........ so I reckon we could reasonably round that up to £5mill to cover for us uber-fans that spent much, much more than that.

Then you're hitting about £31 mill. Based on the 2007 exchange rate, something like $55 mil US.

It's obviously not about the money for Prince though. He could have doubled the ticket price and still sold out all 21 nights, you know? £31.21 was a very affordable price.

The comedian Russell Peters just sold out the O2 at £50 a ticket, last night and he's not even THAT famous (hilarious though).

Prince could probably have charged £70 a ticket without anyone complaining.

He sold the rights to the final show to SKY-why has it never been shown-or has it?

jcurley said: He sold the rights to the final show to SKY-why has it never been shown-or has it?

It has. He only let them have the first 20 minutes or so, though.

bboy87 said:

Michael owned:

Hayvenhurst (the Jackson family home in Encino

other properties around CA and other countries

I assumed that was his parents. Hell, Joe managed them for long enough.

Cinnie said:

bboy87 said:

Michael owned:

Hayvenhurst (the Jackson family home in Encino

other properties around CA and other countries

I assumed that was his parents. Hell, Joe managed them for long enough.

The ownership was reversed after the release of Off the Wall. Afterwards, the house was in Michael's name rather than Joe's and Katherine's. People didn't know this. They just figured he was just living there...not quite like that.

Timmy84 said:

Cinnie said:

I assumed that was his parents. Hell, Joe managed them for long enough.

The ownership was reversed after the release of Off the Wall. Afterwards, the house was in Michael's name rather than Joe's and Katherine's. People didn't know this. They just figured he was just living there...not quite like that.

Little Penny was still tending to the animal cages.

SoulAlive said:

musicjunky318 said:

Michael Jackson should have easily been one but I don't feel like getting into it. The most financially mis-managed artist in history.

If he had played his cards right,he would have easily became a billionaire.Imagine if he had been touring alot during these last ten years.

Sure Michael's own choices played a huge part in that not happening, but some

context stuff was also going on.

1) 9/11 - Various people had said Michael had planned to tour for Invincible, but when

9/11 happened, his agenda changed, along with several artists.

2) Sneddon and Avrizos...due to them we as fans lost 2003-2007. 2 years

for that sham of a trial and 2 years for Michael to even release anything again:

"Thriller 25" I'm sure had that mess not have happened Michael would have

played a few shows.

3) Sony...not gonna even bother and explain this one.

But like I said above, Michael's own choices played a huge part in him not touring.

But, recently they did say, his share in the Sony catalog was worth 1 billion, right?

Cinnie said:

bboy87 said:

Michael owned:

Hayvenhurst (the Jackson family home in Encino

other properties around CA and other countries

I assumed that was his parents. Hell, Joe managed them for long enough.

Michael bought around 75% ownership from them after he released Off The Wall. Guess who now owns the other 25%.........

[img:$uid]http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Latoya%20Jackson%20Macy%20Passport%20Presents%20Glamorama%20hMVh8FYFcEfl.jpg[/img:$uid]

Yeah, it's surprises me too

bboy87 said:

Cinnie said:

I assumed that was his parents. Hell, Joe managed them for long enough.

Michael bought around 75% ownership from them after he released Off The Wall. Guess who now owns the other 25%.........

[img:$uid]http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Latoya%20Jackson%20Macy%20Passport%20Presents%20Glamorama%20hMVh8FYFcEfl.jpg[/img:$uid]

Yeah, it's surprises me too

I was kinda thinking someone else may have some part of ownership. I think I heard about La Toya owning a part of the house a while back. I knew it wouldn't be Rebbie since she rarely lived there lol

[Edited 9/26/10 15:50pm]

Not surprised that this turned into a MJ thread...

Cerebus said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

[img:$uid]http://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1020/211125.1020.A.jpg[/img:$uid]

I thought that was just a movie, lol.

You may be right! I did a search for it but so many things show up for anything related to phones or cell phones that I can't find an answer. This says he started a phone sex service, though. http://www.answers.com/topic/master-p

The man made a legacy off of cheap album covers and medicore music. I can't help but respect that

How much is Stevie Wonder worth?

bboy87 said:

How much is Stevie Wonder worth?

Man, that's amazing I never got to see how much his net's worth. I can imagine it's like $100 million. But knowing his catalog who knows? It could be higher since he owns everything after 1971.

How much is Elton got $ wise?