Me and royalties are not very close partners. In my pop career, as bassist to (the name doesn’t matter) a band that peaked by scraping into the indie top twenty towards the end of the 1980’s/early 1990’s, but still making rare appearances and even the odd recording, royalties don’t come easy to us. As I didn’t either write any of the songs, or play on most of them, my total royalties are, to this date, nil. However, our singer and songwriter and only constant in the hundred or so years since we/they/he started the group does get royalties, even for so minor a song or two.
On a different level, Ellie Goulding, the pop superstar whose back catalogue already includes top ten hits (including a number one with her cover of Elton John’s Your Song) both sides of the atlantic, and albums with similar success. In fact she has sold in excess of ten million singles and three million albums. I can’t begin to imagine what her royalties are, but I imagine they keep her in gold-plated grand pianos and new socks everyday and whatever else pop stars these days hanker after.
Her new track, Burn is out on August 18th. It’s perfect summer pop, with this almost (at times, deep) house vibe underneath Goulding’s impeccable vocal. It ebbs and flows and features a killer singalong chorus. Even for one as cynical as I, it raised a little smile, and what was that involuntary twitch in my body when she said raise your arms. My God, I’ve been swayed to the pop side. The video has just been released (I say just, it’s had 8 million views so we might be working a little behind) and it reinforces this hot summer feeling.
The single is one of seven new tracks included on Ellie Gouldings repackaged second album, Halcyon (renamed Halcyon days)It features hits such as Anything Could Happen, Explosions, and I need your love.
It certainly seems like Ellie Goulding’s continuing success will result in royalites that eclipse even the singer in our bands. Mind you, (and this is not even a joke) his last cheque from PRS, about 2 years ago, was for 13 pence, so maybe thats not saying much.
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