• Bruce Springsteen spoke about his band’s longevity at a screening of his new tour documentary.
• He has been touring and recording music with the E Street Band since the 1970s.
• “I pay them a tremendous amount of money,” Springsteen said at the event in London on Friday.

Bruce Springsteen opened up about the keys to his success and longevity following a screening of “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band” in London on Friday.

The 75-year-old musician, who is thought to be worth more than $1 billion, said that being a “pretty nice boss” and paying his band well had been crucial to his career.

“I pay them a tremendous amount of money. That greases the wheels pretty good,” he said at the event. “And then I’m a pretty nice boss. The truth is you need to cast your band well.”

He added: “If you get the art right, the music right, and the band right, you go out and play every night like it’s your last night on Earth. That was the serial philosophy of the band, and we’re sticking to it.”

Springsteen has worked with the E Street Band since the 1970s. While the lineup has changed a few times over the years, many of its members have been with Springsteen for decades.

Springsteen described the documentary, which premieres on Hulu and Disney+ in the US this Friday, as being essentially “about the rewards of a band staying together.”

“The actual arc of rock ‘n’ roll bands is to break up,” he said. “Think about it, how many bands have stayed together against how many who broke up?”

He added, “Forget about bands staying together — we can’t get two people to stay together.”

Stevie Van Zandt, an E Street Band member; Thom Zimny, the documentary’s director; and Jon Landau, Springsteen’s longtime manager, talked in the post-screening Q&A about working with Springsteen.

Van Zandt said that the band focused on the music instead of chasing success.

“It was never a commercial enterprise,” he said. “This has been an artistic adventure from the beginning.

“So anyone joining knew that was what they were getting into,” Van Zandt added. “Now luckily we found some commercial calling ground along the way, which was great.”

Best known for hits like “Born to Run,” “Thunder Road,” and “Born in the USA,” Springsteen has sold more than 140 million records worldwide and won 20 Grammy Awards.

Forbes estimates that Springsteen is worth $1.2 billion. He made about $500 million from selling his music catalog to Sony in 2021.

Read the original article on Business Insider