Post by darkstar on Jan 18, 2005 20:12:27 GMT
The Doors' Robby Krieger Still Gets Royalty Treatment
By Larry Getlen • Bankrate.com
The Doors was one of the most deeply admired and worshipped bands of the '60s, largely due to the oozing charisma of the band's singer, Jim Morrison. While it could be argued that a band is merely as good as its music, Morrison made The Doors something much greater than an amalgamation of notes, phrases and instrumental zeal. A sex god unmatched in today's popular culture, Morrison became an icon of spiritual sexuality at a time when spirit eclipsed all else, and his premature death at the age of 27 only served to cement the legend.
Bankrate spoke with Doors guitarist Robby Krieger about money matters prior to all the lawsuits.
Bankrate: Was your deal with The Doors structured in such a way that the band's lasting popularity has made you financially set for life?
Robby Krieger: Well, we divided everything equally, four ways, and we still get royalties from the songwriting and all that. So it's been pretty good.
Bankrate: Were all the songs credited equally?
Robby Krieger: They were split equally, money-wise. Up to the fourth album, the albums said "written by The Doors." Jim didn't want people to know who wrote what. He wanted to make it mysterious. When I started writing more of the songs on the fourth album, we started giving credit to who wrote what.
Bankrate: So who actually wrote most of The Doors' songs?
Robby Krieger: Well, Jim wrote most of the words. I wrote some of the words, including "Light My Fire." I wrote the words to "Touch Me," to "Love Me Two Times," "Love Her Madly," and Jim wrote the words to "The End," "When the Music's Over," and more of the heavy duty ones. I usually came up with the musical ideas, but we all worked them out together. Which is why it said "written by The Doors." It really wouldn't have sounded the same if we all weren't involved in working up the songs.
Bankrate: Have you ever needed other sources of income since the Doors days?
Robby Krieger: Nope. I'm lucky in that I don't have to do it for the money, so I don't have to do what I don't want to. Let's face it, The Doors sell pretty good compared to most of the '60s groups, so we've been very lucky as far as that goes.
Bankrate: Since it was such a hippie, druggie scene back then, was there any thought being given to the business end of what you were doing?
Robbie Krieger: We thought about it. My dad was a business guy, and he made sure we had a lawyer and business manager and all that stuff. Which was good because a lot of groups lost all their money on stupid business deals and stuff like that. We did pretty well.
Bankrate: If you had to do it all over again, from a business standpoint, would you have done anything differently?
Robby Krieger: We made some mistakes. We had some managers we didn't like and had to get rid of, and that cost some money. Stuff like that. But overall, we did really well. It was a great idea to split everything equally because that keeps the group together. So many groups today split up over arguments about, "well, I wrote this verse, I should get credit for that." I think if you're going to have a real group, it should be a democracy like we had.
Bankrate: So what's your biggest source of income today?
Robby Krieger: Obviously, The Doors.
Bankrate: So it's still songwriting royalties? Do they still make you a millionaire every year?
Robby Krieger: Well, not every year, but some years are better than others. The last couple of years haven't been that good, but years before that were very good. Who knows what the future might hold? This stuff we're doing now, with the new Doors thing, it might just kick the old stuff in the butt, too.
Bankrate: Do you invest in the market at all?
Robby Krieger: A little bit. I don't consider myself an expert, but I got screwed along with everybody else with the dot.com thing, but not too bad. My business manager for the past 10 years made sure I didn't do anything too stupid.
Bankrate: Any investments do either very well or very badly for you?
Robby Krieger: Like I said, some of the dot.com stuff didn't pan out very good. One of my best ones was Krispy Kreme donuts. That thing has been doing great. I got in about three or four years ago. Compared to everything else, it sure has been rising.
Bankrate: How are you planning for your financial future?
Robby Krieger: I've done the living trust thing, stuff like that. I stayed mostly in bonds.
www.bankrate.com/brm/news/investing/20030616a1.asp
By Larry Getlen • Bankrate.com
The Doors was one of the most deeply admired and worshipped bands of the '60s, largely due to the oozing charisma of the band's singer, Jim Morrison. While it could be argued that a band is merely as good as its music, Morrison made The Doors something much greater than an amalgamation of notes, phrases and instrumental zeal. A sex god unmatched in today's popular culture, Morrison became an icon of spiritual sexuality at a time when spirit eclipsed all else, and his premature death at the age of 27 only served to cement the legend.
Bankrate spoke with Doors guitarist Robby Krieger about money matters prior to all the lawsuits.
Bankrate: Was your deal with The Doors structured in such a way that the band's lasting popularity has made you financially set for life?
Robby Krieger: Well, we divided everything equally, four ways, and we still get royalties from the songwriting and all that. So it's been pretty good.
Bankrate: Were all the songs credited equally?
Robby Krieger: They were split equally, money-wise. Up to the fourth album, the albums said "written by The Doors." Jim didn't want people to know who wrote what. He wanted to make it mysterious. When I started writing more of the songs on the fourth album, we started giving credit to who wrote what.
Bankrate: So who actually wrote most of The Doors' songs?
Robby Krieger: Well, Jim wrote most of the words. I wrote some of the words, including "Light My Fire." I wrote the words to "Touch Me," to "Love Me Two Times," "Love Her Madly," and Jim wrote the words to "The End," "When the Music's Over," and more of the heavy duty ones. I usually came up with the musical ideas, but we all worked them out together. Which is why it said "written by The Doors." It really wouldn't have sounded the same if we all weren't involved in working up the songs.
Bankrate: Have you ever needed other sources of income since the Doors days?
Robby Krieger: Nope. I'm lucky in that I don't have to do it for the money, so I don't have to do what I don't want to. Let's face it, The Doors sell pretty good compared to most of the '60s groups, so we've been very lucky as far as that goes.
Bankrate: Since it was such a hippie, druggie scene back then, was there any thought being given to the business end of what you were doing?
Robbie Krieger: We thought about it. My dad was a business guy, and he made sure we had a lawyer and business manager and all that stuff. Which was good because a lot of groups lost all their money on stupid business deals and stuff like that. We did pretty well.
Bankrate: If you had to do it all over again, from a business standpoint, would you have done anything differently?
Robby Krieger: We made some mistakes. We had some managers we didn't like and had to get rid of, and that cost some money. Stuff like that. But overall, we did really well. It was a great idea to split everything equally because that keeps the group together. So many groups today split up over arguments about, "well, I wrote this verse, I should get credit for that." I think if you're going to have a real group, it should be a democracy like we had.
Bankrate: So what's your biggest source of income today?
Robby Krieger: Obviously, The Doors.
Bankrate: So it's still songwriting royalties? Do they still make you a millionaire every year?
Robby Krieger: Well, not every year, but some years are better than others. The last couple of years haven't been that good, but years before that were very good. Who knows what the future might hold? This stuff we're doing now, with the new Doors thing, it might just kick the old stuff in the butt, too.
Bankrate: Do you invest in the market at all?
Robby Krieger: A little bit. I don't consider myself an expert, but I got screwed along with everybody else with the dot.com thing, but not too bad. My business manager for the past 10 years made sure I didn't do anything too stupid.
Bankrate: Any investments do either very well or very badly for you?
Robby Krieger: Like I said, some of the dot.com stuff didn't pan out very good. One of my best ones was Krispy Kreme donuts. That thing has been doing great. I got in about three or four years ago. Compared to everything else, it sure has been rising.
Bankrate: How are you planning for your financial future?
Robby Krieger: I've done the living trust thing, stuff like that. I stayed mostly in bonds.
www.bankrate.com/brm/news/investing/20030616a1.asp