Lance Bass says *NSYNC lived on $35 a day at height of fame

Lance Bass says *NSYNC were living on $35 a day while they were topping the charts.

The singer told The Zach Sang Show on Oct. 8 that the daily allowance, a fixed payment to cover food and day-to-day expenses on the road, was all the members received during the group’s rise, Billboard. His first proper payment, he said, was a $10,000 cheque. It arrived after years of No. 1 albums and sold-out tours.

Bass said the group had worked for free for two to three years before that payment. He said he was told to be grateful for it. He added that he hardly made money during his time in *NSYNC and still receives only small residuals, the ongoing payments artists get when their music is reused or rebroadcast.

That is hard to realise against the sales numbers. *NSYNC’s 2000 album No Strings Attached sold a then-record 2.4 million copies in its first week in the United States. It spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the US albums chart.

Its single “It’s Gonna Be Me” gave the group its only No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the US singles chart. The 2001 follow-up Celebrity also debuted at No. 1. The No Strings Attached tour grossed more than $70 million.

Bass alleged that the bulk of the money went elsewhere, to the label and to the group’s late manager, Lou Pearlman. Pearlman was convicted in 2008 of money laundering, conspiracy and bankruptcy fraud. He died in prison in 2016.

He has made the point about fame and pay before. Speaking on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show in 2023, Bass said, “We were famous, but we were not rich.” *NSYNC went on hiatus in 2002. Bass said he earned far more after that break than he did in the group.

The five last recorded together on the single “Better Place” in 2023. Details of the Oct. 8 interview travelled quickly, with the $35-a-day claim reported by Page Six on Oct. 9, Page Six. The interview itself was first noted as taking place on Oct. 8, Yahoo Entertainment.

For fans, this means a wide gap between what they saw and what the group took home. Millions watched the arena shows and bought the records. Bass says the men on stage were counting daily dollars.