From 1986 to 1991, Alan Niven served as Guns N’ Roses manager. Following a declining relationship between him and Axl Rose, Niven was fired by the frontman. In a new interview with Louder Sound, Niven recalled getting the call from Rose that he was being let go.
“Did I see it coming? No. Was I surprised? No,” Niven said. “It would have been classy to have had dinner and agreed to go our separate ways, acknowledged with honor what we achieved together, but Axl is Axl. Thank God he gave himself to rock’n’roll and he’s not a despot running a country.”
He went on to say that in an attempt to avoid continuing to deal with Rose, he voluntarily gave up millions of dollars in commission rights.
“I paid millions to get Axl out of my life. And here’s how: I had a 17 per cent commission in perpetuity. That means that anything released, mastered or negotiated during the term of my contract was commissionable forever,” Niven explained.
“My original contract was renewed in ’89 for a further three or so years. It would expire in 93. At the time it was renewed I was offered a raise to 20 per cent. I turned it down. Axl fired me in ’91. That means that the sales of [Guns N’ Roses 1987 album ‘Appetite for Destruction’], [1988 album] ‘Lies’ and [1991 album] ‘Use Your Illusion’ were all commissionable – forever.
“To get Axl out of my life, I sold those rights back to the band for $3.5 million. I did not want to deal with him again. Now that’s a decent chunk of change, but Geffen had only paid royalties on about five million albums total at that time. Imagine how much I had still coming. [‘Appetite’ alone has sold 30 million copies.]
“The settlement I took is not anywhere close to what I was due and had earned. And after you pay the taxman his third, and your partners [‘the Stravinski Brothers’ credited on ‘Appetite’ were Niven and two silent partners], it’s not quite the same golden egg. But that’s how burnt out and disillusioned I was.”
