Prince, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury and Elvis Presley have all had a string of hits since their deaths. But how do artists’ estates keep the posthumous profits rolling in?
When a major pop star turns up their toes, it is guaranteed that their biggest singles and albums will return to the charts in the aftermath. That is partly because fans wish to mark their passing with a grieving gesture of support and also because record labels are extremely keen to get the posthumous profits rolling in.
Inevitably the lyrics to the Smiths’ Paint a Vulgar Picture get wheeled out here to castigate those avaricious record companies (“And oh, the plans that they weave / And oh, the sickening greed”), but the cold “business as usual” approach is best summed up by Tom Parker in August 1977 after the death of his sole management client. “Elvis didn’t die – the body did,” he was reported as saying. “It don’t mean a damn thing. It’s just like when he was away in the army … This changes nothing.”
Comments