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How Can Musicians Allow This To Happen to Themselves?


Charles J. White

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It seems too common, How Can Musicians Allow This To Happen to Themselves? I really don't understand how one ends up destitute with so much wealth provided to ensure one is comfortable forever. If we have any legal types from America here on the forum, please reach to him and give him a helping hand up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7V_xJy3Phk

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It seems too common, How Can Musicians Allow This To Happen to Themselves? I really don't understand how one ends up destitute with so much wealth provided to ensure one is comfortable forever. If we have any legal types from America here on the forum, please reach to him and give him a helping hand up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7V_xJy3Phk

Life in the fast lane...

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His former manager who bilked him did get jail time but was released because of prison overpopulation. I get that there are hardened criminals who need to be locked up, but given her threatening messages to Leonard, his family, his friends, and associates, it is disturbing that she's free. I guess they have professionals who assess the levels of threats, but it must not be easy knowing that she's out there.

Many movie stars were cheated of their investments with Madoff (Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, for instance) or business managers (Al Pacino - hence the need for some dubious films. He didn't say which ones, but my guesses would be "Righteous Kill" and "88 Minutes").

The main difference with musicians and actors, I think, is that musicians do their own work, and so in the case of Cohen, the quality and integrity is in his hands. With actors being interpreters of others' work (for the most part), it's often a case of taking what's there and pays.

If you really want a long list of examples of bad money self-management, though, go take a look at retired basketball players. Sad.

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There are a lot of ways to go bankrupt. As long as any person is just a pawn of corporations, however, they will never be really rich. That's why a lot of top movie stars now produce their own films. I don't understand why musicians don't form their own record labels, the way Zeppelin eventually did. I don't understand why they don't produce their own records and I don't understand why they don't hire more trustworthy people as managers. I don't understand why they don't keep a more careful eye on where the money is going. I guess one reason though is a lot of professional musicians have been people who didn't finish high school and maybe can't even do arithmetic or grasp legal concepts so they just sign whatever and hope they're getting a fair deal.

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There are a lot of ways to go bankrupt. As long as any person is just a pawn of corporations, however, they will never be really rich. That's why a lot of top movie stars now produce their own films. I don't understand why musicians don't form their own record labels, the way Zeppelin eventually did. I don't understand why they don't produce their own records and I don't understand why they don't hire more trustworthy people as managers. I don't understand why they don't keep a more careful eye on where the money is going. I guess one reason though is a lot of professional musicians have been people who didn't finish high school and maybe can't even do arithmetic or grasp legal concepts so they just sign whatever and hope they're getting a fair deal.

You seem to not and don't understand a lot of the things you mentioned even though I actually kind of agree with what you posted. It costs money/millions to make money/millions, no matter what the field of entertainment is. If someone makes a product that costs a lot of money and it is well received then the maker of such product is most likely to make his or her money back plus a substantial profit from said product. It is called the "back end".

With that being said, some entertainers are more aware and acute of such practices and endeavors (Jimmy Page, Robert De Niro, etc... for example), than a lot of other, more recent and more gullible or naïve people like hundreds of other Rock/Movie Stars that had it made at some time in Their career but lost money, pride, status, etc... because of, and basically what it comes down to, Poor Management or Poor Judgment.

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and basically what it comes down to, Poor Management or Poor Judgment.

I would say poor judgement: I have a bank account, I have a house, and so on. At the end of the day, it's up to me to examine my bank account, and every month I get a statement from the bank telling me where my money went and it's up to me to read that statement. It's also up to me to have a regular updates with my financial investor. I'm shocked when I read about people hiring drivers, doormen, cleaners, owning 100 ft yachts, and 3 or 10 houses and so on. Maybe if they just cleaned there own house like the rest of the little people that $25 million would last a lifetime. I don't know, I don't get it, maybe there is something in a rock star's constitution of truly not understanding basic math statements like $1 minus $1= $0. I don't get it, I really don't.

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I think it's a combination of the above-mentioned factors: Poor judgement, poor management and a desire to lead the extravagant lifestyle that they think a rich person "should be" living. Money can be a very, very dangerous thing, particularly for people who hail from modest circumstances or suffer from addiction problems. Also, newly-rich musicians (and others) are often quickly descended upon by hordes of greedy and unscrupulous business managers, investment advisors, "friends", hangers-on, and gold-digging women. (These gold-diggers alone can destroy a man's life and finances.)

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I would say poor judgement: I have a bank account, I have a house, and so on. At the end of the day, it's up to me to examine my bank account, and every month I get a statement from the bank telling me where my money went and it's up to me to read that statement. It's also up to me to have a regular updates with my financial investor. I'm shocked when I read about people hiring drivers, doormen, cleaners, owning 100 ft yachts, and 3 or 10 houses and so on. Maybe if they just cleaned there own house like the rest of the little people that $25 million would last a lifetime. I don't know, I don't get it, maybe there is something in a rock star's constitution of truly not understanding basic math statements like $1 minus $1= $0. I don't get it, I really don't.

if you think millionaire entertainers have very simple savings accounts that they receive bank statements for every single month, you are very mistaken. Once you have financial planners involved, and most rich people do, your money is traditionally thrown into an extremely complex web of financial instruments
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In the U.S., medical expenses can quickly add up if you have a catastrophic illness or suffer a severe injury. Most Americans receive their health insurance through their jobs. The problem for most musicians is that their jobs don't offer health insurance so many of them don't have it. A heart attack or bout of cancer can easily bankrupt them. Does anyone remember Angela Bofill? She is a singer who has been around since the Seventies. She's one of the those talented artists who never make it big, but is still able to make a living at music. Bofill recorded and toured for over two decades until she suffered a massive stroke that left her paralyzed on the left side in 2006. She didn't have health insurance so her manager organized a benefit concert to raise money to help with her medical bills.

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if you think millionaire entertainers have very simple savings accounts that they receive bank statements for every single month, you are very mistaken. Once you have financial planners involved, and most rich people do, your money is traditionally thrown into an extremely complex web of financial instruments

Let me try this a different way, when you have money, like a few million dollars, it is inexcusable why you don't have at least 1 home paid for so don’t end up living in a car or shelter if it all goes to pot. It is inexcusable that you don’t have set up a savings account just sitting there for a rainy day fund so if you fuck up with buying all sorts of homes as investment properties and moving things around to avoid taxes and so on that at the end of the day, there is bank account there with real cash so you don’t find yourself living in your car or a shelter someplace. It is inexcusable that a university fund is not set aside for your kids.

There are some very basic investments that in the long run make money i.e. Walmart shares, Colgate toothpaste shares on so on.

Hiring a chef, butler, doorman, cleaner, gardener is a great way to piss your money away, and frankly isolate yourself from the world at large. Buying 10 cars is not a really good way to hold onto your money in the long run. I don’t get it, and I’m sure a lot of people don’t get it. My grandmother owned a motel chain, and despite the fact that she had money, she lived a simple lifestyle. It’s not rocket science, I think a lot of musician types think its normal hearing yes all of the time, that perhaps every whim seems logical to them.

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if you think millionaire entertainers have very simple savings accounts that they receive bank statements for every single month, you are very mistaken. Once you have financial planners involved, and most rich people do, your money is traditionally thrown into an extremely complex web of financial instruments

That sounds like a cop-out excuse.

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