Morrissey and Johnny Marr took 40% each of The Smiths' recording and performance royalties. Drummer Mike Joyce and bassist Andy Rourke got 10% each, and nobody ever put that split on paper. In 1996 a judge said Morrissey "appeared devious, truculent and unreliable." In the video below, Joyce is 40 years past the band and promoting his memoir. Asked if he would sit down for a pint with Morrissey and Marr now, he says, "No, I don't think so." The band never signed a partnership deal. Under Britain's Partnership Act of 1890, partners with nothing in writing share profits equally, so the High Court gave Joyce about £1 million in back royalties and 25% from then on. Morrissey appealed and lost in 1998. The case for Morrissey: he and Marr wrote every Smiths song, and the songwriting money was never part of the case. They ran the band, and Rourke had settled quickly in 1989 for £83,000 and his 10%. If you start something with friends and never sign who gets what, the law decides, and its default is equal shares. The person who wants the bigger cut is the one who needs the signature. So who built The Smiths' money, the 2 men who wrote the songs or the 4 who played them on every record? I post one famous deal like this every day, with who got paid, who got played, and the numbers that never made the poster.