Who pays?

[Nickname]

I'm a little confused about the new album. We are happily talking about things that I suppose it costs a lot of money.

We suppose EMI is not going to put all the effort in a promotion of the new PSB album but who pays all these things?:

Abu Duque: ok, he doesn't worth a lot of money.
The comissioned orchestra of Numb: I suppose it's expensive.
Trevor Horn: one of the best ever producers all around the world (VERY EXPENSIVE).
Diane Warren: probably the most famous and successful female songwriter all over the world (VERY EXPENSIVE).

If EMI-Parlophone pays this amount of money (and much more because we don't know how many things are going to include the whole album), probably they confide in PSB more than we think.

[rabagast]

Shouldn't be more expensive than your typical PSB album. Any form of orchestra have appeared on every album since Introspective (and was booked for Actually).

Also, PSB's record deal means they deliver (sell) the finished product to EMI, whose main job is to publish and market the thing. PSB can choose to do it expensive (Nightlife) or cheap (Release). Although EMI probably pays an advance sum, this is quite a comfortable situation for EMI. And also for PSB, who have near maximum creative control (wich, according to many on this forum, they shouldn't have ).

EMI confide in PSB. They don't make shitloads of money on them, but they are guaranteed profit because the worldwide fanbase alone shift about a million copies, even without a proper hit single.

[rabagast]

... and it's usually the post-production that beefs up the costs

[Dipso]

Diane Warren: probably the most famous and successful female songwriter all over the world (VERY EXPENSIVE).

She wouldn't get paid anything, would she? If the song is on the album then she will get royalties.

[Zeus On The Loose]

Abu Duque: Probably didn't cost much, if at all

Orchestra: It's not as if they got a full orchestra to play on a track, they probably just had a a couple pf string players in and recorded them live instead of using samples/MIDI. Session musicians are hardly expensive, it probably took them about an hour to play their parts.

Trevor Horn: He probably has a % deal off the sales -possibly higher than other producers would have- but even if he is salaried, which isn't very likely, I doubt he's VERY EXPENSIVE considering he's only had 1 proper hit single in about 10 years and even Belle And Sebastian can afford him

Dianne Warren: Surely she'll only get a % of the sales and airplay money if Numb is released as a single, song writers are not paid per song. Song writers normally have 2-3% of an albums profit. So assuming the album will have 12 songs, she'll receive 1/12th of the 2-3% of the album's net profit + airplay/videoplay royalties.

I doubt Parlophone funds recording of new PSB material anyway, they own their own music and only have a publishing/licensing/distribution deal with the label, so at best, they get an advance payment every so often on top of whatever sales profit they have flogged. Keeping PSB running probably costs Parlophone much, much less than the bulk of their acts.

[bookshopboy]

Surely the orchestra could just be the same orchestra from Battleship Potemkin and whilst they were in for that, maybe PSB got them to do some other work?

[Eldritch]

I doubt Parlophone funds recording of new PSB material anyway, they own their own music and only have a publishing/licensing/distribution deal with the label, so at best, they get an advance payment every so often on top of whatever sales profit they have flogged. Keeping PSB running probably costs Parlophone much, much less than the bulk of their acts.

That's also why Release was recorded so cheap. PSB had lost money on Bilingual & Nightlife which were done over a long period of time with several producers in different studios, so that's why they did Release all by themselves – to recoup some money lost in two previous and in the end underperforming extraganzas.

[Nickname]

Orchestra: It's not as if they got a full orchestra to play on a track, they probably just had a a couple pf string players in and recorded them live instead of using samples/MIDI. Session musicians are hardly expensive, it probably took them about an hour to play their parts.

I think it was a FULL orchestra, it's the typical Trevor Horn's thing. I don't know if the official site talked about 33 members.

[Nickname]

Orchestra: It's not as if they got a full orchestra to play on a track, they probably just had a a couple pf string players in and recorded them live instead of using samples/MIDI. Session musicians are hardly expensive, it probably took them about an hour to play their parts.

I think it was a FULL orchestra, it's the typical Trevor Horn's thing. I don't know if the official site talked about 33 members (more or less).

[Zeus On The Loose]

I doubt Parlophone funds recording of new PSB material anyway, they own their own music and only have a publishing/licensing/distribution deal with the label, so at best, they get an advance payment every so often on top of whatever sales profit they have flogged. Keeping PSB running probably costs Parlophone much, much less than the bulk of their acts.

That's also why Release was recorded so cheap. PSB had lost money on Bilingual & Nightlife which were done over a long period of time with several producers in different studios, so that's why they did Release all by themselves – to recoup some money lost in two previous and in the end underperforming extraganzas.

They tried to recoup the money they lost with Nightlife/Nightlife Tour by doing the Summer 2000 tour. It doesn't seem as if the new album will cost too much anyway, I'm sure they've been mostly working on their own and Trevor Horn studio and studio time is the biggest recording cost for everyone.

[Zeus On The Loose]

Orchestra: It's not as if they got a full orchestra to play on a track, they probably just had a a couple pf string players in and recorded them live instead of using samples/MIDI. Session musicians are hardly expensive, it probably took them about an hour to play their parts.

I think it was a FULL orchestra, it's the typical Trevor Horn's thing. I don't know if the official site talked about 33 members.

Even if that's true, they only recorded a few bits for a track which couldn't have taken a lot of time.

[jamie1978]

You can hire an averagely-rated orchestra for few thousand pounds for the day. They are not well paid and many do it for the love of playing, not the money.