We then made a very different arrangement for our management and created a UK management company that would take 10 percent of UK and ROW (rest of world) earnings and 5 percent of USA earnings and a USA manager who took 10 percent of USA earnings and 5 percent of ROW earnings. Gary wasn't happy with this, as it was less than his usual percentage, but it meant everyone had to see what the other earned. It was our bid to try not to be left in the dark, as our past experience with management had not been something we wanted to repeat.
We were determined to avoid what happened to most bands, which was to end up broke. My father gave me an amazing piece of advice after reading our record contracts and management contracts, each the size of a telephone directory. He told me that even though he was a certified accountant, quite honestly, he didn't have a clue what those contracts meant.
The only advice he offered was: "Make sure you and Annie get the money first. Then pay everyone else." In other words, stay in control. This pearl of wisdom was invaluable. Because we kept our recording costs very low and we didn't employ outside producers, as I was mostly producing, those royalty checks started pouring into the same bank account in Crouch End, where only eighteen months earlier we had just five thousand borrowed pounds to record the Sweet Dreams album. We were now set to conquer the world.
Best approach I've ever encountered for a band or musician to protect themselves from avaricious forces of the music business. From Dave Stewart's autobiography "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: A Life In Music"
2 managers auditing each other to get that last 5%.
#music
#business
#managers
#agents