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Musicians coining it in Sunday Times Rich List

88 individuals from the music and entertainment industries appear in the 2010 Sunday Times Rich List. An elite half dozen or so are richer than the Queen. Is this who the Digital Economy bill is designed to protect?

 

The Digital Economy Bill is openly intended to protect the interests of those who benefit from rights vested in entertainment and music. It seeks to erect an infrastructure of censorship for their benefit, which will be ultimately paid for by consumers in increased broadband charges. It is therefore interesting to see how many individual rights-holders are in this year's Sunday Times Rich List and who they are. They include many well known singers and actors,  such as Elton John, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Bryan Ferry, Kylie Minogue, as well as Daniel Radcliffe (of Harry Potter fame). Their fortunes are more than most people could ever imagine earning,  seven are richer than the Queen,  and quite a few who are not much poorer than she is.    The  full list is pasted below.

From a policy perspective, in a deep recession which we are not yet clear of,  when many  people are being made redundant and young people have no chance of a first job, we have to

ask the question - how can such a law as the Digital Economy Bill be sustained? It is illusory to think that it will create any new jobs unless we see the unlikely revival of the CD, and it will stifle digital innovation. And any political will to obligate the entertainment industries to change their business model was not translated into the law, so they have little motivation to move into the 21st century.

 

And should the music industry retort that their fortunes are dropping ( most have gone down in the past 12 months), a response could be that this only increases the protectionism of the DEBill,  and moreover,  these fortunes are very likely to include stock market investments, and this may well be the cause of any  drop. 

 

Sunday Times Rich List - source of wealth - music, television  and entertainment 

Rank   Name   Worth  
28=   Clive Calder   £1,300m  
52=  Lord Lloyd-Webber  £750m 

101            

Joanne Rowling   £499m  
120=  Sir Paul McCartney  £440m 
146=  Sir Cameron Mackintosh  £350m 
178=  Simon Fuller  £300m 
238=  Mark Burnett and Roma Downey  £235m 
297=  Sir Mick Jagger  £190m 
309=  Sting  £180m 
322=  Nigel and Trevor Green  £175m 
322=  Keith Richards  £175m 
322=  Sir Elton John  £175m 
333=  Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas  £170m 
388=  Olivia and Dhani Harrison  £140m 
388=  Sir Tim Rice  £140m 
406=  Jamie Palumbo  £130m 
406=  Sir Tom Jones  £130m 
406=  Jamie Palumbo  £130m 
426=  David and Victoria Beckham  £125m 
438=  Eric Clapton  £120m 
438=  Ringo Starr  £120m 
438=  Simon Cowell  £120m 
492=  Barry and Robin Gibb  £110m 
503=  Phil Collins  £108m 
510=  Arpad Busson and Uma Thurman  £105m 
510=  Sir Ridley and Tony Scott  £105m 
540=  David Bowie  £100m 
540=  Rod Stewart  £100m 
600=  Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne  £90m 
600=  George Michael  £90m 
600=  Roger Ames  £90m 
657=  Charlie Watts  £85m 
657=   Roger Waters   £85m  
694=  Sir Sean Connery  £80m 
694=  Chris Blackwell  £80m 
694=  Robbie Williams  £80m 
742=  David Gilmour  £78m 
751=  Judy Craymer  £75m 
751=  Robert Plant  £75m 
751=  Judy Craymer  £75m 
793=  Brian May  £70m 
793=  Jimmy Page  £70m 
793=  Rowan Atkinson  £70m 
843=  Tracey Ullman and Allan McKeown  £68m 
853=  Moya Doherty and John McColgan  £67m 
863=  Sir Anthony Hopkins  £65m 
863=  Roger Taylor  £65m 
924=  Engelbert Humperdinck  £60m 
924=  Mark Knopfler  £60m 
986=  Chris Wright  £55m 
1046=  Matthew Vaughn and Claudia Schiffer  £52m 
1046=  Noel and Liam Gallagher  £52m 
1077=  Guy Ritchie  £50m 
1077=  Sir Roger Moore and Kristina Tholstrup  £50m 
1077=  Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter  £50m 
1077=  John Deacon  £50m 
1077=  Nick Mason  £50m 
1077=  Van Morrison  £50m 
1203=  Sir Michael Caine  £45m 
1296=  Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow  £42m 
1348=  Bernie Taupin  £40m 
1348=  Pete Townshend  £40m 
1348=  Sir Cliff Richard  £40m 
1348=  Hugh Grant  £40m 
1550=  Nigel Sinclair  £35m 
1550=  Jay Kay  £35m 
1550=  John Paul Jones  £35m 
1550=  Ken Berry  £35m 
1550=  Kylie Minogue  £35m 
1550=  Mick Hucknall  £35m 
1550=   Ronnie Wood   £35m  
1673=  Paul Smith and Sarah King  £32m 
1673=  Roger Daltrey  £32m 
1771=  Anne Robinson  £30m 
1771=  Jane Leeves  £30m 
1771=  Daniel Radcliffe  £30m 
1771=  Annie Lennox  £30m 
1771=  Bryan Ferry  £30m 
1771=  Chris de Burgh  £30m 
1771=  Daniel Miller  £30m 
1771=  Dido  £30m 
1771=  Gary Barlow  £30m 
1771=  Jim Kerr  £30m 
1771=  Mary Austin  £30m 
1771=  Mike Rutherford  £30m 
1771=  Sade  £30m 
1771=  Sarah Brightman  £30m 
1771=  Vanessa-Mae Nicholson  £30m 

Source: Sunday Times Rich List 2010 , compiled by Philip Beresford

 

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial-Share Alike 2.5 UK:England and Wales License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ It may be used for non-commercial purposes only, and the author's name should be attributed. The correct attribution for this article is: Monica Horten(2010) Musicians coining it in Sunday Times Rich List http://www.iptegrity.com 28 April 2010

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About Iptegrity

Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten, independent policy advisor: online safety, technology and human rights. Advocating to protect the rights of the majority of law abiding citizens online. Independent expert on the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on online safety and empowerment of content creators and users.  Published author, and post-doctoral scholar, with a PhD from the University of Westminster, and a DipM from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  Former telecoms journalist,  experienced panelist and Chair, cited in the media eg  BBC, iNews, Times, Guardian and Politico.

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