€1 million For Rory Gallagher's Guitar . . . Or For Donal Gallagher's Lifestyle ?

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trajan

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Whether the state, Cork County Council ( I know, it's doubtful, boy o_O) or unnamed others choose to buy Rory Gallagher's guitar or not, I think we all need to take a look at some relevant facts.

1. It is 29 years since the great man's death. Talk of setting up a Rory Gallagher Museum in Cork ought to have begun decades ago with his original following alive and the media interested.

2. Throughout RG's career, his brother, Donal, managed his bookings, recording deals and general finances as well as his everyday arrangements.

3. After death, it appears that Donal Gallagher was not merely the trustee of the Rory Gallagher Estate (the legal entity paid intellectual property royalties earned on performing, recording or publishing work created by RG) but also the salaried manager of this entity.

4. It appears that Donal Gallagher never engaged in any significant employment outside of his employment as manager of the Rory Gallagher Band or as trustee & manager of the Rory Gallagher Estate and companies set up to handle its revenues. This is despite the fact that a largely passive role of managing an intellectual property earnings would allow full-time employment at other matters.

5. Rory Gallagher's music has reportedly sold ~ 30 million albums between 1968 and 1995.

6. Since RG's death, the proliferation of CD as the preferred media of music publishing has occurred; thereafter followed by digital publishing over the web; and in more recent times a comeback by vinyl disc. These changes in media would lead to additional publishing revenue to the RG Estate and its associated companies.

7. The sort of salaries drawn down by Donal Gallagher from his management of RGE associated companies

CAPO RECORDS LIMITED filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

CAPO RECORDS LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity
find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk


STRANGE MUSIC LIMITED filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

STRANGE MUSIC LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity
find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk


would surely allow him to have contributed the famed Stratocaster - as well as the Danelectro Coral elec sitar used for the Philby track, other stringed instruments and saxophones used by RG but sold off some years ago by Donal Gallagher - to have been freely contributed by Donal Gallagher to a museum entity created in the dead musician's memory. If nothing else, such a donation would have saved Donal Gallagher the expense of storing these items securely for years.

8. Donal Gallagher seems to have avoided the misfortunes of drug abuse and broken family that beset many in the music industry.
Public records show him to have married someone with a fine Donegal name of Logue in 1980 and their union was blest with 3 sons and one daughter.

DG-family.jpg

However, I - and many readers of AAM and Rory fans - will know many households equally presentable on incomes far lower than that enjoyed by Donal Gallagher.
A successful family life doesn't justify any means used to achieve it.

9. When the core relic of a legendary person is put up for sale by public auction with a guide price of €1 million, the question that has to be asked is how and why has it come to this ?
 
Been a big Rory Gallagher fan for many years, like alot of legendary rock acts he was actually out of fashion by the 80s when mtv was all the rage because he refused to go commercial and make music videos. His guitar riff was actually the intro to Mt USA the Irish equivalent so was widely known but the author Rory Gallagher was not. I remember he appeared in Dublin at self aid in 1986 which was televised and many of the younger audience had no idea who he was until he started into "follow me" which was also the intro to Mt USA, the crowd went mental because suddenly they realised that this guy on the stage owned the song and intro.
Everyone knew the other acts like U2, Bob geldoff, christy Moore and other 80s acts now long gone, but Gallagher wasn't as well known. But he still had a huge following on the continent I think he had to fly out straight afterwards for a concert in Germany the next night.
Of course since YouTube came along Gallagher has become more and more famous since he had a huge catalogue of music and live concerts and many were recorded in very high quality in the UK , Germany and Holland. He is more famous now than he ever was during his life .
As for Donal Gallagher I think he is right to put the guitar up for sale, it's just a guitar afterall the most important part Rory Gallagher is long dead. Also Donal Gallagher has never restricted access to Gallaghers material on YouTube like other estates of famous acts. Therefore Gallagher has now been seen by a huge audience but there is little financial gain immediately from this except to keep Rory Gallagher relevant.
As much as I like Rory Gallagher I think that probably interest in him has probably peaked as the die hard fans are in their 60s now , it's the same for all the huge acts from 60s and 70s. I also think interest in the beatles has passed its peak, the real peak was about a decade ago. Therefore he should cash in,
But I don't think the Irish government should try to pay the huge money for it, its still just a guitar, be better to spend it on new Rory Gallaghers
 
@trajan, has Donal actually done anything wrong? Why shouldn't he be the one making the money from his brothers estate?
 
Interesting topic - some initial thoughts:

1. Rory Gallagher (like Phil Lynott) is a universally loved, respected and admired figure in Irish Music History - albeit for a certain generation. But, as has been suggested above, he had probably peaked by the end of the 70s and though he continued to be a popular live draw his appeal was limited. (He still made decent albums right through his career.)

2. I only saw him live twice - at the 1983 Lisdoonvarna Festival (didn't really enjoy that) and at College Green, Dublin during the Guinness Temple Bar Blues Festival around 1993/1994 (much better performance I thought.)

3. Unlike say Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Peter Gabriel and other figures from the late '60s/early '70s he never really evolved with the times staying more or less stuck in that gritty, sweaty blues groove for his entire career. Die-hard fans would probably say that's a good thing but commercially he had hit a dead end and seemed to be on a bit of a treadmill. (He was mentioned as a possible replacement for Mick Taylor in the Stones around 1975 but Ronnie Wood was chosen - and arguably was a more obvious choice.)

4. I've met Donal Gallagher (and have been in his London home - a long, long time ago.) Really nice guy and seemed to be doing a great job at looking after Rory's legacy by licensing albums for re-release in various formats etc. I think his son was involved in remastering/remixing some of the archive.

5. I don't think the State (i.e - the taxpayer) should be forking out to purchase this guitar - especially if the mooted figure of €1m is even close. If it's so important to the Gallagher family to see this guitar remain in Ireland in some kind of museum, then I'm sure they'll be happy to donate it with the usual guarantees that it'll be displayed publicly etc. On the other hand if they want to sell it to the highest bidder whoever that may be then they have the right to do that too.

6. Strangely, my favourite Gallagher album is Taste's On The Boards but I rarely listen to him these days.
 
I think that my post is clear enough, Purple.

Let's not get into some legalistic argument that's irrelevant to the moral - or, to some, purely sentimental - point that was raised.
 
Howth Head said:
I think his son was involved in remastering/remixing some of the archive.
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Yes, Donal's son https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-gallagher-900b7a8b/ (Daniel) was involved in both the musical and commercial sides of Capo Records/Strange Music Ltd. Which says something about the type of decision-making being done by Donal Gallagher in respect of a major catalogue of creative work in a city offering access to some of the best sound engineers and music producers in the globe.
 
I can see the pros and cons... if you are trying to establish a more lasting legacy for Rory Gallagher's music, a museum or whatever, the guitar would be a big draw.
€1 million is astonishing money ... seems like 'cashing out' last of the assets unless the funds are earmarked for some legacy related purpose.
 
Howth Head said:
1. Rory Gallagher (like Phil Lynott) is a universally loved, respected and admired figure in Irish Music History - albeit for a certain generation. But, as has been suggested above, he had probably peaked by the end of the 70s and though he continued to be a popular live draw his appeal was limited. (He still made decent albums right through his career.)
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But alot of the big rock acts that went on to have hugely successful tours and careers had that lull in the 80s, I listened to the drummer from Canned heat (the last surviving original member) who are touring in Europe now say that the 80s were a very difficult time for them. The music changed first to disco and then to all the "new romantics" and 80s electronica stuff so guitar bands were really out of fashion but that turned out to be temporary.
Many of the 80s acts are long gone although there is a bit of a renaissance now for those acts but not like there was for the big rock acts. I saw an interview from 1988 on youtube of Gallagher on some music program on RTE, all the audience and presenters were dressed in 80s cloths and hairstyles but gallagher just had his usual attire, the funny thing is that gallagher was the only one that looked contemporary whereas everyone else was stuck back in the 80s.
As regards him peaking in the 70s, I would say his real peak and popularity started after 2006 with the advent of youtube . in the 80s if you were not on TV you were unknown but because so much of his live performances were recorded in very good quality its all ended up on youtube.
 
On the back of this thread, I listened to a lot of Rory Gallagher this evening (mainly on Tidal Hi-Res). Played tracks at random from various albums and from various blues playlists. Enjoyed a lot of it - and it reminded of those halcyon days in The Grove in Raheny when DJ Cecil would spin 'Bullfrog Blues' to us wild teenagers (if you know -you know! ) But what struck me most of all was how poorly produced some of it was - I'm wondering if corners were cut or budgets were too slim - or if he just didn't like being in the studio. It's certainly known that he didn't like being "produced" and refused to edit songs for single release. He really needed a decent producer, someone like Ted Templeman who took the Doobie Brothers from being a rough bar-band to the heights of The Captain & Me '(Long Train Runnin', 'South City Midnight Lady' etc) which still sounds great to me fifty years later.

PS: For what it's worth - a few Gary Moore tracks appeared on some of those playlists and I realised just how much more contemporary-sounding and "progressive" he had been around the '80s and '90s compared to poor Rory. (And have just checked - Moore was much bigger commercially than Rory Gallagher was in that time - his Still Got The Blues album was a platinum selling release all over Europe reaching number one in several countries.)
 
Howth Head said:
or if he just didn't like being in the studio. It's certainly known that he didn't like being "produced" and refused to edit songs for single release. He really needed a decent producer, someone like Ted Templeman who took the Doobie Brothers from being a rough bar-band to the heights of The Captain & Me '(Long Train Runnin', 'South City Midnight Lady' etc) which still sounds great to me fifty years later.
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Donal Gallagher mentioned that in an interview recently with dave fanning. He said they got the deep purple producer I think to produce an album in San Francisco around 1977, it cost alot of money but Rory wasn't happy with it and threw it all in the bin and refused to meet the record company executives. So yes he was very stubborn, like alot of very talented people they don't like listening to advice from other people and over rate their own opinions even on stuff they don't have expertise in.
It was the live performances and recordings of those that have really stood to Gallagher now though, that's why he has become more famous because YouTube can really show case him whereas that wasn't the case during his life. Back in the day successful albums and single were what was important, today its live performances. Thin lizzy would have been alot more successful commercially back then but there is not that much quality live performances on YouTube like there is for Gallagher.
If the guitar was put up for sale maybe 25 years ago it would not command the attention it is getting now because due to YouTube Gallagher is alot more famous than he was even 25 years ago
 
I was rather hoping to get a view from someone in the business side of rock music.

I thought they might be able to illuminate the operational processes of managing a back catalogue, the costs and margins involved and how easy or hard it would be for a music rights manager to avoid selling the family strings and brass. I thought they might even take a glance at the available document filings on the music management companies and offer a view.
 
trajan said:
I was rather hoping to get a view from someone in the business side of rock music.

I thought they might be able to illuminate the operational processes of managing a back catalogue, the costs and margins involved and how easy or hard it would be for a music rights manager to avoid selling the family strings and brass. I thought they might even take a glance at the available document filings on the music management companies and offer a view.
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This place is more akin to the Big Issue than Hot Press.
 
The truth is - Rory never sold that many albums overall in relative terms so his catalogue wouldn't be worth a lot. While I've no doubt the Gallagher family have offered it for sale or at least considered doing so - where would future earning come from? He had no hit singles or even big radio hits and his stuff is rarely if ever covered by big name artists (I never hear him on the radio - apart from maybe on John Creedon's show the odd time.) To my knowledge none of his songs have appeared in movies or adverts like other artists (Clapton, Van Morrison etc.)

Most of his albums were re-issued on CD as Deluxe versions about a decade or more ago but that market would be very limited now. Vinyl is very niche and the recent revival has probably peaked anyway.

Streaming is the main source of income but I can't imagine Rory's stuff being all that lucrative and probably amounts to a steady trickle rather than a cash cow.

That guitar is probably the most valuable item in the catalogue!
 
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Howth Head said:
Streaming is the main source of income but I can't imagine Rory's stuff being all that lucrative and probably amounts to a steady trickle rather than a cash cow.
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Spotify pay between 0.3 and 0.5c US per stream, probably on the lower end scale for him so his 474k monthly streams will earn ~€1,300. Most videos on the official YouTube channel (80k subscribers) are low on views, so income from there will be a lot lower.
 
A a billion views on TikTok will earn around $7,000.
A billion streams on Spotify will earn around $45,000
A billion views on YouTube will earn north of a million dollars.
 
Leo said:
Spotify pay between 0.3 and 0.5c US per stream, probably on the lower end scale for him so his 474k monthly streams will earn ~€1,300. Most videos on the official YouTube channel (80k subscribers) are low on views, so income from there will be a lot lower.
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I think there are a couple of zeros missing in those figures? Is it not 0.003c and 0.005c etc? So the income would be far less - and also that would be split between the publisher/rights-holder and artist. Most of Rory's earlier (and most popular) albums seem to be owned by Universal Music.
 
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