Most musicians do two things:
Where does the bulk of their income come from? Is selling CD’s the breadwinner or is going on tour? It would seem that everytime the media mentions a tour, they say “Radiohead is touring to promote their new CD”.
from touring. Most bands make their money the way bands always have- rocking it out live.
It’s only been recently that huge mega bands have made serious amounts of money from records sold. Hence Metallica hates napster now, but most others don’t care. Lower record sales don’t impact them all that much, and free internet music primes the fanbase for touring just as well as sold records do.
Ker-PITCH! Take that, SPOOFE
jb
Just want to add that the songwriter of the band makes good money in royalties if the music is a “hit”.
You can make money off record sales if it’s negotiated into your contract. Unfortunately, most artists don’t have the kind of leverage (past successes) needed to get it.
I remember Brian May (guitarist for Queen) talking about this once. He made the point that they never made any money while on tour due to the expenses involved. Instead, they had their record deal structured so as to make that their chief source of income. Royalties, too, from publishing rights are significant income producers. As the band members were once listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the highest paid corporate officers in the world, I’d say he knew what he was talking about.
I believe they make more of royalties from airplay on the radio than on record sales.
From their day job.
ba da bump
Well, keeping the band together and not changing the name a hundred times is a good place to start.
They have to have good songs. No way around this.
The amount of money they make selling CDs really depends. Touring puts food in their mouths.
They can make money on royalties once everything else is payed off. They have to sell a lot of CDs, though, to pay that stuff off.
Here’s a somewhat tongue-in-cheek breakdown from a particular scenario given by Steve Albini (produced Nirvana, NIN, Pixies). Income is underlined.
the article is at: http://www.atlantic-satellite.com/major_la.htm
Advance: $ 250,000
^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^
Manager's cut: $ 37,500
Legal fees: $ 10,000
Recording Budget: $ 150,000
Producer s advance: $ 50,000
Studio fee: $ 52,500
Drum. Amp, Mic and Phase "Doctors": $ 3,000
Recording tape: $ 8,000
Equipment rental: $ 5,000
Cartage and Transportation: $ 5,000
Lodgings while in studio: $ 10,000
Catering: $ 3,000
Mastering: $ 10,000
Tape copies, reference CDs, shipping
tapes, misc. expenses: $ 2,000
Video budget: $ 30,000
Cameras: $ 8,000
Crew: $ 5,000
Processing and transfers: $ 3,000
Off-line: $ 2,000
On-line editing: $ 3,000
Catering: $ 1,000
Stage and construction: $ 3,000
Copies, couriers, transportation: $ 2,000
Director's fee: $ 3,000
Album Artwork: $ 5,000
Promotional photo shoot and
duplication: $ 2,000
Band fund: $ 15,000
New fancy professional drum kit: $ 5,000
New fancy professional guitars [2]: $ 3,000
New fancy professional guitar amp
rigs [2]: $ 4,000
New fancy potato-shaped bass guitar: $ 1,000
New fancy rack of lights bass amp: $ 1,000
Rehearsal space rental: $ 500
Big blowout party for their friends: $ 500
Tour expense [5 weeks]: $ 50,875
Bus: $ 25,000
Crew [3]: $ 7,500
Food and per diems: $ 7,875
Fuel: $ 3,000
Consumable supplies: $ 3,500
Wardrobe: $ 1,000
Promotion: $ 3,000
Tour gross income: $ 50,000
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Agent's cut: $ 7,500
Manager's cut: $ 7,500
Merchandising advance: $ 20,000
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Manager's cut: $ 3,000
Lawyer's fee: $ 1,000
Publishing advance: $ 20,000
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Manager's cut: $ 3,000
Lawyer's fee: $ 1,000
Record sales: 250,000 @ $12 = $3,000,000
Gross retail revenue Royalty
[13% of 90% of retail]: $ 351,000
Less advance: $ 250,000
Producer's points
[3% less $50,000 advance]: $ 40,000
Promotional budget: $ 25,000
Recoupable buyout from previous label: $ 50,000
Net royalty: $ -14,000
^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Record company income:
Record wholesale price
$6.50 x 250,000 = $1,625,000 gross income
Artist Royalties: $ 351,000
Deficit from royalties: $ 14,000
Manufacturing, packaging and
distribution @ $2.20 per record: $ 550,000
Gross profit: $ 7l0,000
The Balance Sheet: This is how much each player
got paid at the end of the game.
Record company: $ 710,000
Producer: $ 90,000
Manager: $ 51,000
Studio: $ 52,500
Previous label: $ 50,000
Agent: $ 7,500
Lawyer: $ 12,000
Band member net income each: $ 4,031.25
A proven money-maker can fiddle with the structure of their contract. Bands just getting started have a really tough road ahead of them. Alot of them break up over the first couple of recordings.
Never mind all that. How do they get their chicks for free?