Lance Bass Claims NSYNC Earned Barely Anything, Says Label and Manager Profited

Lance Bass has claimed that he received a per diem of just $35 a day during the peak of *NSYNC's fame. In an interview on "The Zach Sang Show," Bass stated that despite years of chart-topping albums and sold-out tours, the group's first substantial check was for $10,000. He recalled being told, "You should be grateful for that. You’ve been working for free for two, three years now."

Bass, now 47, suggested that while he receives residuals, they are not substantial, and the public perception of him being "filthy rich" from his time in *NSYNC is inaccurate. He indicated that the bulk of the profits went to the record label and their manager, Lou Pearlman, who was later convicted of fraud. "I didn't make money with *NSYNC, like, hardly at all," Bass asserted.

This is not the first time Bass has spoken about his financial experiences during his time with the boy band, which formed in 1995 and went on hiatus in 2002. In a 2023 interview on SiriusXM's "The Jess Cagle Show," he described the misconception that *NSYNC members were wealthy as "the worst thing," stating, "We were famous, but we were not rich."

Bass has previously stated that he earned significantly more money in his career after the band's hiatus than he did while actively performing with them. Despite the financial struggles he described during his *NSYNC tenure, Bass acknowledged that being part of the band was life-changing and that he valued the support system provided by his bandmates, whom he referred to as "brothers."

Lou Pearlman, the manager who guided *NSYNC and other boy bands like the Backstreet Boys, was convicted of money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, and conspiracy in 2008. He died in prison in 2016.