On 23. September 1982, Vincent Cusano, AKA Vinne Vincent, was hired as new guitarist in Kiss, replacing Ace Frehley. While Frehley had left the band in June he was officially still in the band, and did the European promotional tour for “Creature of the Night” (which he didn’t play on) which ended just weeks before Vincents first gig with the band.
One day, as Vinnie was taking a bath in his place during the early part of September 1982, he received a phone call from Gene. As Vinnie sat in the tub, Gene asked him a series of questions pertaining to the band and what he would see himself doing in the band. Gene then finally asked Vinnie if he wanted to join the band for the tour that would be starting up within the next few months. Vinnie, again with Dante Bonnutto: “J tell Gene I’ll phone him back then I get out of the bath and start screaming like a lunatic. I’m running from room to room, standing in corners and banging my head against the wall. This must have gone on for 20 minutes until, finally, I manage to compose myself and call back. Gene said: ‘Take a flight to New York and we’ll rehearse. We got a tour starting.
– “BlackDiamond: the unauthorized biography of Kiss” by Dale Sherman.
To start with he was placed on a salary which afforded him $2,000 per week. His benefits included travel expense while on tour, which afforded him first class travel and a healthy per diem. He was also gifted at least three weeks paid vacation per year. Prior to joining Kiss his main claim to fame was working with Dan Hartman and appearing, sans make-up, in the video for the disco song “Instant Replay”, and had stated that he’d earned approximately $50,000 for his previous ten years as a professional musician.
It looked good, Vincent would make more than that in six months. But the contract, when you consider it, was a one-sided stacked deck. Vincent was employed as an employee-for-hire as a lead guitarist, that he would render recording services and perform on tour, and that he would participate in recording and promotional functions on behalf of and at the direction of Kiss in exchange for a weekly salary and other benefits. In return the band would provide Vincent with a character, costumes and make-up design, but that likeness, “shall remain the sole property of Kiss, together with all representations thereof including, inter alia, photographs, motion picture and television usage and material publicly disseminated or sold, free from any claim, direct or indirect, by CUSANO or his heirs or assigns.” If Vincent left the band then he could not state that he was a former member of the band, or that he was an employee of Kiss, couldn’t use the make-up and could not perform any of the music that he co-wrote while in the band. He could not perform with anyone else while in Kiss.
Upon signing the contract he handed over any rights to his own compositions, either solo or jointly. The relevant clauses stated that; “Prior Compositions” – all musical compositions (other than those musical compositions embodied on Kiss’ ‘Creatures of the Night’ album which are subject to that certain co-publishing agreement dated June 7th, 1982) written or co-written by CUSANO prior to commencement of the Employment Term.” This clause affected everything that he’d written before joining the band that hadn’t been recorded and meant that Kiss now owned it all. Upon signing the contract Vincent assigned all Right, Title and Interest to each and every prior composition to Kiss. Easy as that. If Kiss recorded the song then they’d own 100% of that song. If anyone else recorded the song by September 1983 then Vincent would own the song, but, by virtue of the contract, he wasn’t able to shop his music around. After that date, no matter what, Vincent owned 50% and Kiss owned the other 50%, no matter who recorded the song, other than, of course, Kiss, who would own 100% of the song if they recorded it.
“Term Compositions” – all musical compositions written or co-written by CUSANO during the Employment Term and/or the Production Term.” This would cover anything written while he was in the band and under that clause Kiss owned it all. If they recorded anything after September 1984 then Vincent would be allowed to have 50%, otherwise suck it up. He would be entitled to royalties, but, in a great twist, Vincent had to appoint Kiss as his, “…true and lawful attorney-in-fact to execute, verify, acknowledge and deliver any and all instruments or documents which CUSANO shall fail or refuse to execute, verify, acknowledge or deliver to effectuate the intent of this paragraph.”
“Another Artist” – a recording artist other than Kiss or CUSANO in his capacity as a solo recording artist.” This covered anything that Vincent wrote that anyone else might want to record, but before anyone could hear it he’d have to submit the demo to Kiss, who, if they decided they liked it, could claim it, not record it and there it’d sit, forever, and forever owned by Kiss. Mind you, as stated earlier, he could not work or write with anyone without the express consent of Kiss, and you can count on it that consent wouldn’t be forthcoming. Was it bad? Bet on it. It got worse. “Publisher shall have the right to use the name, photograph and likeness of Writer and biographical material concerning Writer, for advertising, purposes of trade and otherwise without restriction in connection of the Composition.” Vincent no longer owned his own life.
The royalties weren’t anything amazing. For each song published Vincent got seven cents. For each retail sale he got 5%, after taxes, tariffs, and discounts – the usual crap. That covered only the USA and Canada, for the rest of the world he got 50% of any net sums earned and received – which would be 50% of fuck all. Net means after all of the expenses have been taken out, which generally leaves a debt. If a song book was released he’d get $1.00 per song for that, provided that the publisher paid up. If not, bad luck. And, in a great clause, “Publisher shall not be required to pay royalties to Writer for public performance of the Composition. Writer shall receive royalties for public performances front the performing rights society with which Writer is or may, in the future, become affiliated.” In fact there are more paragraphs detailing how Vincent was not to be paid than there are how he would be paid, if at all. As it stood when Vincent filed for bankruptcy in the late 1980s the band offered him just over $1,500 for complete control over his Lick It Up contributions, despite being paid approximately $65,000 in royalties. To put that into perspective, Sting reportedly earns $1,000USD a day for Every Breath You Take. That’s right, $356,000USD+ per year, for one song. Vincent earned $65,000USD for album that he wrote all but one song on, for a period that covered several years. By 2009 Vincent still owed Kiss around $52,000 for his music. That’s right, he OWED them money, not the other way around. How? Because he sold his publishing rights to Kiss for a one-off payment of $50,000. He’ll still make a bit of cash from his song writing royalties, but the true money is in the publishing – just ask Michael Jackson (if you could) or Paul McCartney, both of whom made millions, if not billions, off the backs of other musicians, in Jackson’s case, it could be argued that he made more from the Beatles than both Lennon and McCartney combined.
Excerpt from http://tcarsc.blogspot.com/2011/12/288-lick-it-up.html
Contracts:
