Lifestyles of the insanely rich?
Nov. 5th, 2008 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarkerProbably the top story right now in Japan is not the US election -- it's Komuro. Who is that? A rock producer who apparently played fast and loose with contracts and money, and has now been arrested for a little $5 million dollar mistake (rough conversion, based on 100 yen to the dollar).
Some of it is a question of copyright, oddly enough. Did he have the copyright to sell some songs or not? If he did, then the "victim" may still owe him some $5 million (although this is where things get confused -- at one point apparently the victim claimed he only owed him another $1.5 million, based on sales?). However, since Komuro apparently didn't own the copyright, then he's apparently trying to defraud the investor.
The story has been pretty confused, but according to http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081105a1.html he apparently tried to sell some music that he didn't exactly have the rights to. Whatever the exact story, the media is having a blast digging into his lifestyle.
For example, one report is that (at least when the money was pouring in) he liked to fly first class. But his version of first class was to buy out the entire first class section, and bring along his stuffed animals in the extra seats.
Or another report covered his "recording studio" in Tokyo. Little things, like the F1 car sitting in a corner -- which he assured the reporter was a real F1 -- for decorations. And his comment about his studio in Bali, and in the US . . . and that something would cost a couple of million, but that's okay, because then it would match.
They also dug into his finances. A $70 million dollar performance here, a couple of $10 million dollar gigs, after a while you're talking real money. When I first heard the story talking about some kind of a swindle around $10 million and $5 million, I was kind of impressed. But after the news stories listing some of his other deals, it sounds like that $5 million was pretty much pocket change for him.
The fun part, to me, is how avidly people seem to be hanging on the stories of this lifestyle. Does it make us feel better to know that someone can spend money on that scale? And that he's going down in flames? Is there a feeling that he's being punished for his excesses?
I was also intrigued to realize that among all the stories, this 49-year-old music producer seems to have spent almost all of his money on himself and his business. Have to wonder if the guy even knows there is another world outside the music scene -- and that for most of us, that kind of pocket change is a lifelong ambition, not an evening gig.
Some of it is a question of copyright, oddly enough. Did he have the copyright to sell some songs or not? If he did, then the "victim" may still owe him some $5 million (although this is where things get confused -- at one point apparently the victim claimed he only owed him another $1.5 million, based on sales?). However, since Komuro apparently didn't own the copyright, then he's apparently trying to defraud the investor.
The story has been pretty confused, but according to http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081105a1.html he apparently tried to sell some music that he didn't exactly have the rights to. Whatever the exact story, the media is having a blast digging into his lifestyle.
For example, one report is that (at least when the money was pouring in) he liked to fly first class. But his version of first class was to buy out the entire first class section, and bring along his stuffed animals in the extra seats.
Or another report covered his "recording studio" in Tokyo. Little things, like the F1 car sitting in a corner -- which he assured the reporter was a real F1 -- for decorations. And his comment about his studio in Bali, and in the US . . . and that something would cost a couple of million, but that's okay, because then it would match.
They also dug into his finances. A $70 million dollar performance here, a couple of $10 million dollar gigs, after a while you're talking real money. When I first heard the story talking about some kind of a swindle around $10 million and $5 million, I was kind of impressed. But after the news stories listing some of his other deals, it sounds like that $5 million was pretty much pocket change for him.
The fun part, to me, is how avidly people seem to be hanging on the stories of this lifestyle. Does it make us feel better to know that someone can spend money on that scale? And that he's going down in flames? Is there a feeling that he's being punished for his excesses?
I was also intrigued to realize that among all the stories, this 49-year-old music producer seems to have spent almost all of his money on himself and his business. Have to wonder if the guy even knows there is another world outside the music scene -- and that for most of us, that kind of pocket change is a lifelong ambition, not an evening gig.
