John Williams' salary has, at times, reached $US2 million. Not sure if this takes into account a percentage of the box office, or soundtrack album sales however. A 'run-of-the-mill A-lister' like James Horner averages about $400,000.

Check out my soundtrack sale too, by the way...

http://search.ebay.com.au/_W0QQsassZclockleader

mjngraves, August 17, 2007; 2:30 AM

I read a few years ago that Jerry Goldsmith's fee for scoring a film was around $100,000.

kriegerg69, August 17, 2007; 3:00 AM

In Europe it depends on the budget of the film. The composer gets a percentage of the budget. If it is an expensive film, the composer gets well paid. If the budget is low, so is the budget for the composer.

s.tonkens, August 17, 2007; 5:12 AM

Now this is a really interesting question...
Let say that composers today do not receive a salary, but a budget. Composers from the Golden Age (under contract with the studios) did received a salary, but today the composer is free lance, and not only is the artist who creates the music, but also the manager of the money for his recording. So, when the composer receives an assignment, he also receives a budget to execute it. Bigger productions have bigger music budgets (400.000, 500.000, sometimes even a million), but the cheapest productions have also less money for the music. So, the composer is the man who (with the specific amount) have to pay to an orchestra to perform the music, to the recording engeneers, to the copyists, orchestrators (if he has some) and to everybody involved in this particular process. After covering all expences, he keeps for himself the money that is left.
Now here are a few examples: if you are John Williams, you will receive a big budget, you will be able to pay the finest orchestra like the London Symphony, and you will make the money that will let you live well with just doing a couple of scores a year. If you are some other guy, first probably you will not receive such a big budget (despite having to pay the same expences as all the above), second you will have to pen many scores in a single year, and third you will have to make some adjustments, like contracting a good but not so famous orchestra like the Bulgarian Symphony, or combine live instruments with samplers, etc.
Oh, and finally, as was said many times at this forum, James Horner received a regular budged for his "Titanic", but made the 2 millions because he was able to sign a clause in his contract that he will receive 0.90 for every sold album. Actually, a lot of fans still discuss if the score per se or the Celine Dion song (which was not edited in a separate album at that time) actually sold so many copies of the album, but you can make the numbers...
This makes the world of original scores so diverse, complex and exciting, don't you agree?

iordanman, August 17, 2007; 6:59 PM

Henry Mancini was able to buy his first house. A little one story place in the Hollywood Hills with his earnings from scoring "Hatari".
I don't care for big money music. Especially when it's associated with recent Hollywood crap.
When Mancini was doing his scores in the early sixties, being a successful film composer was simply the equivilent of having a damn good paying job.
Two million dollars to John Williams for scoring a film eh? He can thank the schmucks who shell out their hard earned $10.00 for a movie ticket for every cent of it.

I like the older scores of Goldsmith when he did a damn good job for a nice chunk of dough (stuff like "A Patch Of Blue", "Stagecoach" and "Freud") a hell of a lot better than the scores he created later for shit films starring people such as Arnold Schratzenhoogin.
The thing thats always bothered me about the CD for "Total Recall" is the way Scratzenhiggins name is in big letters across the top of the cover art while the name Jerry Goldsmith is at the bottom in small lettering.
Still, I bought it because it's a Goldsmith!




victoravalentine, August 17, 2007; 8:59 PM

Just read on IMDB that JW got a mere 100.000$ for scoring CLOSE ENCOUNTERS.

coma, August 18, 2007; 10:09 PM

Not so mere back in 1977!...

serifiot, August 19, 2007; 9:46 AM

Plus that was before he attained the legendary status he enjoys today, which only really evolved through the Star Wars Trilogy and the rest of the 1980s...

mjngraves, August 19, 2007; 10:19 PM

hey, Thank you all for answers :)


raminmousavi1987, August 20, 2007; 2:01 AM

It actually evolved through Jaws.

jwfan, August 23, 2007; 6:41 PM

I think it was in a documentary on 'The Omen', Richard Donner stated that Jerry Goldsmith was
paid 200,000 for his salary. Now that was in 1976. I'm sure he earned at least a million for
much of his later projects.

rollo21, December 4, 2008; 4:10 PM

$200,000 in 1976 would be +$880,000 today according to:

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

pseudodawn, July 15, 2018; 10:48 PM