AT THE END OF AUGUST, classic-rock band Santana received a rare and unexpected gift from Sony Music, the group’s longtime label: a $150,000 check.
“It’s welcome money, that’s for sure — now I’ll have to figure out how to allocate that,” says Tim Jorstad, the band’s accountant, who has spent the past few weeks sorting out similar payments to his other clients like The Doobie Brothers and Journey.
Santana’s check was peanuts compared with what Peter Paterno, attorney for Metallica, Dr. Dre, Pharrell Williams and others, says some of his clients have found in their mailboxes. One of his artists received “a shocking amount of money” in early September — almost seven figures — “and it’s not anybody you would go, ‘Oh, my God, I get it.’ It wasn’t…