How much does the Plain White T's make?

Cafe Society
1

In the song Hey There Delilah there’s these lyrics:

Someday I’ll pay the bills with this guitar
…
And I’ll be making history like I do
…
We’d have it all

So did he fulfill his promise? How much do they make now?

2

Too much.

3

Probably not that much. The whole band was pulling in about $20,000 a concert 3 years ago and only doing about 24 shows a year. That is less than half a million a year for concert revenues. That may sound like a lot of money if you are a college student but it isn’t much at all in business terms. Many very small businesses generate much more money than that. They have to split that money many different ways and pay expenses so you are looking at middle-class pay at best for any of them based on concerts alone (and those are the biggest sources of income by far for most successful bands)

It sounds like they have some business sense however. They have been trying to generate revenue by selling their songs to corporate advertisers and have had some success at that. An advertising gig for a very large sponsor can pay quite well for a time.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/music/2011/05/chicago_musicians_focus_on_tv.html

In short, they are one of those fairly long-lasting bands with some degree of name recognition that can probably pay the bills doing what they love but it doesn’t sound like any of them are getting rich off of it.

4

My daughter went to high school with them and is amused by whatever success they have had. Kohl’s department stores used them to promote how “urban” (honest! I think they meant “suburban”) and hip the store is, showing that the current management team is no more cool than Herb and his brother were.

5

Well, that song was a big hit 7-8 years ago. I’m guessing their peak in earnings for royalties and show income was several years ago, but they seem to still do OK.

Not sure what their guarantee is these days compared to the 20 grand figure. I just noticed they are playing a 5,000 seater in my city this summer, BUT they are the opening act. I would guess they could headline the 2,000 seater down the street (same promoters in my city run 200,300, 1000, 2000, 5000 capacity venues), but maybe I’m being generous.

Either way, I’m sure he filled the promise of “paying the bills” with the guitar after a Gold album, 2 other charting albums, and at least 3 hit singles at their peak.