Lance Bass Says *NSYNC’s Early Pay Was Just $35 a Day

Lance Bass is challenging the idea that instant pop fame meant instant wealth for the members of *NSYNC. During an October 8 appearance on The Zach Sang Show, the singer said the group’s early allowance amounted to a $35 daily per diem while the members were building an audience in Europe.

Bass also recalled that the group’s first substantial check was $10,000 per member, despite arriving after years of hit records, sold-out concerts and booming merchandise sales. His account, carried by both E! News and Page Six, presents a sharp contrast between *NSYNC’s public success and the money its young performers initially received.

The first big check came after years of work

The 47-year-old said the band had effectively worked for two or three years before that payment arrived. He described the members as being told to appreciate the check, even as the wider business around the group was generating far more revenue.

Bass joined Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick in the lineup that became one of the defining pop acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group formed in 1995 and entered an indefinite hiatus in 2002, leaving its members to build separate careers.

Bass says the old hits bring limited residual income

He added that *NSYNC’s catalog still produces residual payments, but said those checks are smaller than many fans might assume. Bass credited his post-group work with improving his financial position and said he was proud of the career he developed after the hiatus.

The singer also revisited his frustration with the adults who managed the group’s business. He singled out late manager Lou Pearlman and argued that the performers lacked adequate protection while they were young and working at an exhausting pace. Pearlman was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison in 2008 after convictions connected to conspiracy, money laundering and false statements in a bankruptcy case.

Bass’s remarks do not provide an audit of *NSYNC’s full earnings, but they add a first-person account to the long-running discussion about contracts, management and financial control in the peak boy-band era.