Royalty Income

Dominic Thomas
Dec 2023  •  1 min read

Royalty Income

For those of you who are business minded or ‘entrepreneurial’ (perhaps the most overused business word), the ‘rules’ around royalty income may be changing.

In recent decades we have all seen, particularly in the arts, how doing your work once and then getting paid repeatedly for it is the most honest definition of a ‘passive income’.

This is most evident in the music and film sector where stars of the past continue to earn income from repeats, resales, commissions and so on of a performance long ago. In fact I think it was George Lucas and his Star Wars franchise that really brought this to most people’s attention.

Imagine, you worked hard, made an album or wrote a book and forty years later you are still collecting money for your labour. Some of our clients are in this happy position.

So the twist is that this appears to be changing, well for some anyway. Various financially successful artists have been selling their back catalogue for a single, substantial lump sum, forfeiting the future royalties.

I wonder what this suggests? Perhaps that they would prefer to have the lump sum to spend, invest or gift rather than a lifetime of income. Perhaps they are concerned about the ability and resources to prevent plagiarism in the future or to restrict the use of their materials in other ways. Perhaps they are concerned that AI will actually make them irrelevant. I don’t know why, but it’s certainly an unexpected change to the basic business model in some sectors.

In September we learned that pop princess Katy Perry has agreed a deal to sell her back catalogue for around $225m. Her actor husband Orlando Bloom played Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean, so no need for bootleg albums for Katy (or perhaps bootstrap albums, with such a load of pieces of eight).

Katy Perry reportedly makes $225m by selling her music catalogue:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66853047

Royalty Income2023-12-17T13:36:40+00:00

Bare Foot Obsession

Bare Foot Obsession

There’s something terribly predictable about the new show to arrive at The Barbican. Obsession, staring Jude Law and Halina Reijn is the very familiar tale of old man, young wife, cuckolded by a visiting younger man. A storyline so old that even Chaucer may have asked “ Whyts newe?”… as it turns out, very little… even a few clumsy lines about being a beneficiary of the life assurance policy (for an unimpressive £50,000).

Once again audiences are treated to a minimalist set, which at The Barbican, feels like an empty expanse – which merely serves to underline the empty script. One can only assume that the bowling lane size TV screen that rises in the final sequence, must have consumed the entire budget. The Director, Ivo Van Hove seems somewhat obsessed with actors running barefoot across the stage and when not bare-footed, bare-chested which is not as radical as I suspect he believes. In truth, no amount of talented acting could really rescue this production, which feels and looks pretentious, carrying the gravitas of a sixth form script.

Coupling and Fracture

Whilst I’m not a relationship counselor, clearly most, if not all, relationships have periods of difficulty. Many, perhaps most, find a pathway through trouble, some do not. There are lots of assumptions made in financial planning, but making assumptions about current relationships over the next thirty years or so, clearly is problematic. That’s why it is important to express your values, not simply your goals for your life. Understanding, or at least, being aware of the differences in attitudes towards money, how its handled and what its for is fairly fundamental for most couples. Yet economic power, or the lack of it can wreck or enhance a relationship, depending on who you really are. A reality displayed regularly within various “media” who pick over the disintegration of any “celebrity” relationship.

So a decent financial plan will touch (carefully) on these issues, a really good one will help a couple to face areas of “non-alignment” and furnish them with thoughtful options. In drama, a bad script can sometimes be salvaged by good actors or direction, but not always. When it comes to financial planning, you write your own script and having an impartial observer can make all the difference to a worthwhile story.

The Car Man

As for “Obsession” it didn’t leave much of an impression. The dramatic tension left almost as soon as it arrived. If you wish to see a much better retelling of this story, without a script, I can thoroughly recommend the ballet, The Car Man by Matthew Bourne… a guy that knows a thing or two about storytelling without using words.

and here is the trailer for the play…

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

Bare Foot Obsession2023-12-01T12:18:36+00:00
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