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Musical rich list nonsense
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 24 April 2009
Ah, what a shame, the UK music business’ richest people are slightly less rich than they were a year ago. See, there is an advantage to owning nothing, you’ve nothing to lose when everything falls in value.
The Sunday Times, who have compiled their annual Rich List, reckon that the country’s musical millionaires have lost about 10% of their wealth in the last year, mainly as a result of the wider economic situation (those whose wealth is mainly tied up in property and shares were hardest hit). Still, even those at the bottom of the musical rich list top ten are worth an estimated £140 million, so I don’t think that matters much.
At the top of the heap still is Clive Calder, still living off the profits from one of the music industry’s most questionable acquisitions ever, BMG’s $3 billion purchase of Calder’s Zomba Music in 2002. Remember Sony subsequently bought the whole of BMG, including all of Zomba’s record label operations, for a reported $1.2 billion. OK, Zomba’s publishing catalogues had been sold off as part of another deal, but still, with hindsight the BMG/Zomba deal was only really good news for Calder who, as I say, is still topping the musical rich list as a result.
The full musical rich list top ten looks like this:
1. Clive Calder (£1.3bn) (pictured)
2. Andrew Lloyd-Webber (£750m)
3. Paul McCartney (£440m)
4. Cameron Mackintosh (£350m)
5. Simon Fuller (£300m)
6. Mick Jagger (£190m)
7. Sting (£180m)
8= Elton John (£175m)
8= Keith Richards (£175m)
10= Olivia and Dhani Harrison (£140m)
10= Tim Rice (£140m)
Other music types who appear in The Times’ wealth survey, not so much for the size of their bank balance (when compared to the lot listed above) but their youth include Cheryl Cole who, when clubbed together with ball kicking hubby Ashley, is worth £13 million, and that Duffy chick who, The Times reckons, is now worth £4 million.
