Big tech accountability? Read how we got here in The Closing of the Net
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