Then you find out the other guys got paid 4 times more than you did.
Mike played dumb, and he ‘won’.
Marr’s account ..,,,
“Morrissey and I would meet up in the morning in Piccadilly, walk to the studio and plan what was happening next. We were on our way to record ‘What Difference Does It Make?’ when the subject of financial arrangements came up. I wasn’t thinking that we would actually make much money at that point, playing the weird songs that we did on an indie label, but we decided that we would split the income for the group with 40 per cent each for me and Morrissey, and 10 per cent each to the other band members, seeing as we ran the band. However much I’d have liked to have thought that The Smiths were made up of equals, we weren’t, and unlike some bands The Smiths didn’t fall into being a band together.
Like all bands starting out, none of us liked discussing the financial arrangements. I wanted to continue making the record, and I didn’t want to deal with it so I put it off.
Joe talked me round and said he’d straighten it out, and then he called a meeting between me, Mike and Andy the next day. I told them the situation had to be resolved and said that if they didn’t want to go ahead, I understood, and, as disastrous as it was, I’d go and do something else with Joe. We all talked about it and the next day we were back to normal and it was like nothing had happened.We didn’t even think to put it in writing. It would’ve been a good idea if we had as the uneven split of The Smiths’ royalties would eventually boil over into a court case, in which Mike and Andy denied they had ever agreed to an unequal split.”
££££
