verve/stones sample update (was Fw: Safe (from Harm))

k kiernan
Mon, 30 Mar 1998 12:57:08 -0500


i have since learned the story. after the song was done, they tried to
clear the sample with abko (allen b. klein), the owner of the stones'
publishing. klein said no way. ken berry, the head of virgin, the stones
label, and potential prospective head of all of emi, went to klein and said
"come on, it sounds great." klein listened to the song, agreed it sounded
pretty good, and agreed to a "50/50 split." berry was delighted, thinking
this meant 50% abko, and 50% verve, but it turns out he meant 50% jagger and
50% richards. given that 50+50=100, this means that 'bittersweet symphony'
is technically a cover of 'the last time." ok, that's half the story.

the nike commercial. nike wanted to use the verve version. they said no
way, no selling out. nike went to abko and said, you own the publishing,
can we get some studio hacks to cover the song and use that? klein said
sure, but let me just tell the verve guys i'm doing that. when they found
out, they said screw it, use our version, we'll give the money ($175,000!!!)
to charities, which is what happened.

if my little insider insights like this are wasting bandwith, lemme
know....]

kevin k

>>At 13:15 19/03/98 -0000, you wrote:
>>
>>I wonder what the "Stratus" sampling cost them in terms of publishing
>>>>royalties ?
>>
>>>I bet it cost a fair bit. It isn't just a sneaky sample, it's like the
>>>whole song!
>>>I know that when The Verve did Bitter Sweet Symphony, the orchestral bit
>>>is from a classical version of the Rolling Stones song "The Last Time"
>>>performed by the Loog-Oldham orchestra. They got stung for every penny!
>>>Then again that track kick-started their careers to big time, and I
>>>think in Massive Attack's case, it added to a brilliant debut album and
>>>they've never looked back.
>>
>>Mind you....The Verve used the sample without permission and were pretty
>>powerless to stop Alan Klein (the owner of the copwrite) asking for 100%
of
>>the publishing royalties. Must amount to a great deal of money....
>
>