Sammy Hagar: 'I Would Agree to a Van Halen Reunion Tour for the Fans'

When Sam says, “We sold about 46 million records together…,” I have a hard time believing that. Unless he’s including the sales of Dave era records when Sammy was still in the band.

@sammyhagar: Sammy will join Dick Cavett on @tomgreenlive on Nov. 6th at 9p ET/6p PT via @AXSTV More info: http://t.co/e72N1yFQJ9 http://t.co/GaYvlN9zzE

guitard: But from fairly early on, Mike was more or less a hired (salaried) musician in the band. Dave gets royalties from copyrights (song writing) – and that’s where the real $$$ are. In other words, when you hear a VH song in the background of a tv commercial or movie, the payment for the usage of that is mostly going to Dave/Sam and Ed. In more recent years, touring revenue has become a big revenue stream for arena acts. But the income from copyrights is still where the real, long lasting income is at.

I’m not disagreeing with you at all, but in a 2005 interview with Howard Stern, Ed did say the contract from the early days was a “Motown” contract. Ed went on to say they don’t get nearly the royalties people think. I’m certain as their career went on they would have renegoiated their contracts but early on they weren’t making as much.

Gilligan: I remember reading in a 1997 or 1998 (or somewhere around there) Classic RockMagazine where Dave said the other 3 guys had renegotiated without him and that “the bass player” was making more royalties than he was.He always said “bass player” instead of Michael Anthony and couldn’t believe it since he (Dave) wrote the lyrics and melody for all the songs.Anyway, I guess Dave renegotiated AFTER everyone else.According to Dave in this particular article anyway….

There was a lawsuit involved that was eventually dropped. I don’t blame Dave one bit for going after those sneaky bastards. He was just as responsible for those tunes as Ed was but somehow was cut out of the new deal negotiated by sam’s people. Shocker, I know.

http://www.recordnet.com/article/20030613/A_LIFE/306139992/0/SEARCH

Posted Jun. 13, 2003 @ 12:01 am

About the only way to get Roth to cut his engines is to bring up his former group. Roth spent the better part of a decade in Van Halen, serving as singer, mouthpiece and ringmaster in its rise from Southern California bar band to arguably the world’s most popular act. He left amid acrimony in 1985, and the band’s popularity is such that the occasional reunion rumor still makes headlines.

On that front, the news these days is not terribly encouraging. Roth recently filed suit against Michael Anthony and Eddie and Alex Van Halen, charging the band shafted him when they renegotiated their contract with Warner Bros.

“About eight years ago, they got a (new deal,” Roth said. “I didn’t find out about it until a few months ago.”

According to Roth, the band negotiated a hefty increase in royalties from Warner Bros. Because Roth was not let in on the negotiations, his royalties continue to accrue at the original, lower rate. His suit demands that all royalties from his years in Van Halen be divided equally.

In discussing the action, however, Roth made it clear he considers himself first among Van Halen’s equals. He noted that he wrote and sang Van Halen’s lyrics, helped produce and design the albums, and conceived and directed many of the band’s videos.

“That makes me worth 25 percent,” Roth said with something approximating modesty. “They disagree. We’re at odds.”