No Rock And Roll Fun

PASSING THE HAT ROUND ROUND: Sugababes in desperate straits... apparently they'll have to wait until 2004 until they see any money from their - ahem - songwriting. They make a fuss about how they write their own songs, don't they? For example, Heidi told the Sun "At least we wrote the song ourselves, unlike lots of manufactured bands." 'Ourselves' might be stretching a point, as Alexis Petridis points out:"It took 12 people to write the follow-up, Round Round: that isn't songwriting so much as throwing ideas at the wall in the hope one of them will stick." You need a mess of help to stand alone, of course; it also appears you need a mess of help to put your words down on paper.
But back to the problems of the 'babes not getting any cash until 2004 (and that's probably best estimates - dividing the royalties twelve ways is going to call for long division) - um, girls - have you heard of publishing advances?