
'I was paid £27 for the saxophone performance on Gerry Rafferty's “Baker St.” - DrScump
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/8241031/I-was-paid-27-for-Baker-Street-sax-solo.html
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ZeroGravitas
The rules around who gets copyright and royalties is a bit abitrary in many
fields, so I have some sympathy, on the other hand I like the quote from
famous session guitarist Tommy Tedesco on this topic (can't locate the quote
so paraphrasing from memory):

"I never gave my fee back if the song flopped either"

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sunstone
There's a human sentiment, carried over from the plains of Africa, that
compensation should be decided by percentage (a fair share) and not by a fixed
amount. It's been the cause of bad feelings ever since.

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flyGuyOnTheSly
So what?

I got paid $0.05 per paper I delivered as a child... and the newspaper company
charged $10,000.00 for a full page advertisement... I'm not complaining.

Business is never fair. It's competitive.

~~~
heldrida
That's not the same, takes years and talent to play a saxophone.

I'd definitely pay him better if he was featured in one of my tracks and I
kept getting that sort of royalties a year.

It's all a matter of respect for the art and not simply handing pizza flyers,
as some people may think.

He also said that the cheque bounce anyway, so he wasn't paid, plus "If I had
received pots of money, I wouldn't have known what to do. It might have
destroyed me."

To complete, he played a tribute to the guy who died.

Hopefully you'll hand some flyers out when your ex boss dies too right.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
Though in context, since Rafferty is one of the prototypical rich ex-rock
star, burnt out, alcoholic recluses, that may well be interpreted as a pointed
insult. Similarly calling your tribute to a dead person "forgiveness" is a bit
ambivalent.

