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Salaries

Topic started by Bhoori (@ c660409-a.frmt1.sfba.home.com) on Mon Mar 6 02:48:27 EST 2000.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Any guesses on how much do and did the music guys make?

How much did people like G Ramanathan, MSV, Ilaiyaraja and AR Rahman make at their peak?

How about singers? TMS, SPB, Seergazhi etc.?

How about lyricists? Kavingnar,Vali,Vairamuthu?

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Responses:

• From: eden (@ 202.54.71.156) on: Mon Mar 6 06:57:39 EST 2000
  
  According to sathyavageeswaran (in Dr R Balaji's site), IR was paid Rs 4 Mn for thaLapathi, which was the highest till then. Wonder whether he'll be getting half as much as that now...:-(
  
  It's also not clear whether this is `all inclusive'; Once a tamil mag (Kumudam or AV) has written that the MD has to pay all the fees related to musicians, technicians, recording expenses etc. which will mean further depletion of his personal pay-check..:-(
  
  How much and how long they'll get royalty for the music albums is another interesting question.
  
  
• From: Pathmanathan (@ 139.57.113.112) on: Mon Mar 6 12:26:46 EST 2000
  
  Hi guys I would like to throw in my two cents opinion on this topic.
  
  Harini was here (Toronto, Canada) during the summer of 1999 for a stage show and when a friend of mine was talking to her about music, musicians, MD's and all the rest - he was told by her (and these are not my world, rather those of my friend) that she gets paid 6000 Indian rupees for a song. It is worth noting that she didn't sing much at that time and now everyone know how much she is being used by the MD's.
  Can anyone verify this or state the values of others in this field.
  
  Thanks in advanced and hoping to read more of your comments.
  
  Pathmanathan
  
  
• From: Nanda (@ lep.cis.mcmaster.ca) on: Wed Mar 8 19:04:24 EST 2000
  
  cant verify source, heard that ARR got only about 50,000rs for his roja score, from mani. can anyone verify this>
  
  
• From: sk (@ harvest.ucar.edu) on: Wed Mar 8 21:59:02 EST 2000
  
  Ganesh (of Shankar Ganesh fame) mentioned in the
  SUN TV interview of a few days ago that in their
  initial period as MDs they were paid about Rs. 3000
  per movie. This was around 1970. My guess is that
  IR was the first MD to start making some 'big'
  money. I don't know about MSV, but other MDs
  don't seem to have made big money. KVM certainly
  was not smart enough to make money. It is well known
  that producers cheated V Kumar and he was in
  bad shape financially.
  
  
• From: aruvi (@ scotty02.slip.yorku.ca) on: Wed Mar 8 23:11:39 EST 2000
  
  Well just for the sake of it all.
  
  ARR: Was payed RS.25000 for Roja. Although he charged more as he grew more popular, he did work for Manirathnam at a relatively low pay. RS.25000 was what he used to earn in 3 days doing jingles. Right now, his price is phenomenal, I don't think any other composer comes near it. He earned something like 15 crores last year. In any case, he was one of the top earning entertainers last year, I believe he came in 4th place.
  
  Hariharan: He gets payed a reported RS.30000 per song. And his travel tickets to Chennai from Mumbai are all payed by producers. Of course, this was 2 years ago so his price has probably escalated now.
  
  SP Balu: He was getting payed RS.10000(15000) per song according to sources 2 years ago. He did not have the benefits that Hariharan got or gets.
  
  Source for all above: Various Kumudham magazines over the years.
  
  I don't know anything about how much any female singers get payed. Of course, it's probably a lot less than for male singers. Except maybe Latha Mangeshkar.
  
  
• From: eden (@ 202.54.71.129) on: Thu Mar 9 00:18:24 EST 2000
  
  IT department people indha thread'ai padippAngaLA?:-)
  
  
• From: Bhoori (@ c660409-a.frmt1.sfba.home.com) on: Sat Mar 11 14:06:39 EST 2000
  
  L. Subramaniam gave an interview to Kumudam about why he didnt work on Hey Ram. He said that he was offered 10 lakhs for it and he felt it was too low. When he protested to Kamal, he was told the even IR gets only 10 lakhs per movie.
  
  
• From: Bhoori (@ c660409-a.frmt1.sfba.home.com) on: Sat Mar 11 14:09:40 EST 2000
  
  Some of you may remember a lyricist called Chidambaranathan. He was a Tamil teacher in my school, (St. Joesephs, Chengalpattu) and he was trying to make it in the Tamil filmdom in the late seventies-early eighties. His most famous song was "Erikkarai Poongaatthe" in Thooral Ninnu Pocchu. He used to say that he got approx 500 bucks per song in those days.
  
  
• From: karthi (@ dialup-63.208.81.132.stamford1.level3.net) on: Sat Mar 11 23:13:54 EST 2000
  
  I remember hearing from certain sources (in relation to SPB) that artistes are sometimes paid on a per project ie., movie basis. I think this happens when they sign contracts with big banners. Not very sure about this though!
  
  The highest paid singers at any time could only have been Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar, who are said to have commanded an awesome amount of Rs.25,000 per song - since the news mentioned both Lata and Kishore, I think this must have been sometime during the early seventies.
  
  

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