A napkin ledger for The Smashing Pumpkins

Smashing Payouts✦

Pick a money stream, drag the assumptions, and watch a fan's dollar split between the label, the middlemen, the hired players and the four people who made the records. Every default is a ballpark guess. The real band agreements are private.

Pick a money stream

Where the money goes

Swipe sideways on the diagram to follow the money →

Money in Pot that gets split Company or middleman Hired player Band member Outside songwriter

The paper trail

Who actually cuts each check, in order. Money rarely goes straight from the fan to the band; it passes through a chain of companies that each count, collect and take a fee.

The lineup

Everyone else at the table

What the napkin chart skips

Old records mean royalty points, not ownership.The 90s masters belong to the label (Virgin, now part of Universal). Band members earn a royalty rate on them once the label has earned back its costs.
US AM/FM radio pays songwriters only.A spin on a US terrestrial station pays the label and the performers nothing. Satellite and internet radio do pay performers, through SoundExchange.
James Iha has real writing credits.He co-wrote "Mayonaise", "Soma" and "I Am One", and wrote and sang "Blew Away" and "Take Me Down".
Who played it isn't who gets paid.Corgan has said he tracked most of the guitar and bass on Siamese Dream. Royalties still follow the band's agreement, not the session notes.
Hired players get paid on bad nights too.If a show loses money, the partners cover it. Push production costs up on the tour tab to see it.
Merch carries a lot of tours.After the venue's cut and the cost of the shirts, the band keeps a bigger share of a T-shirt than of a ticket.

An illustration for curiosity, built from public industry rules of thumb. It isn't the band's actual books, contracts or splits, and it isn't financial or legal advice. (Please don't be mad, Billy.)