Bands and money

honru

I’m curious. Do bands make much money off CDs, even in the long term? I hear they would only earn the euro equivilent of 80 cents for their work if you buy them at the local HMV or wherever. Alternatively, if you buy one of their CD at shows for, say, €15, half would go to the band.

Yes, it's no real secret that bands make most of their living through gigs. Is the cut on ticket price reasonable, or do they make most of their money through merchandise?

There seems to be a perception in society that most popular bands are well off, but how true is that? I mean, do breakthrough bands like Snow Patrol live comfortable lives now that they are successful? Do most independent bands get to quit their respective day jobs?

DOLEMAN

I read a while ago about what it really means to get a "$3 million record contract."

Basically, when they'd calculated all the marketing, manufacturing costs (which all get taken out of the $3 million) and added up the amount of working hours, travelling etc., it worked out that the individual band mates would have been better off working for 3 years in McDonalds than in the band. This was calculated by comparing relative band success - costs and working hours with having a normal life.

I think it takes quite a while for a band to make money, and only very very few get to have a nice life.

Sure didn't the S Club Seven members only end up with 100k each after their years of success?

John

f®eak s&#169 wrote: »

I’m curious. Do bands make much money off CDs, even in the long term? I hear they would only earn the euro equivilent of 80 cents for their work if you buy them at the local HMV or wherever. Alternatively, if you buy one of their CD at shows for, say, €15, half would go to the band.

Bands make hardly anything from CDs. They get a downpayment of anything from $1000 (for a small label) to hundreds of thousands (for a major label funding someone who they will definitely clean up on). At the end of the day, the recording industry is out to make money for one group of people only and that's the shareholders of the major labels. They will get blood from a stone and make all the artists work like dogs. Bands will make more money from self-released stuff and by selling the CDs themselves.

Most record stores like HMV and Virgin have a 100% mark up on CDs. They buy them in at €10 and sell them for €20. A band selling them on their own site or at gigs at the same or even at a better price than a record store, they will make far more money from each CD. Unfortunately there's no way that they can cover proper distribution or mail order for their entire fanbase as that's a full time job as it is.

Yes, it's no real secret that bands make most of their living through gigs. Is the cut on ticket price reasonable, or do they make most of their money through merchandise?

The way gigs work is that the promoter will pay the band a fee. For example, Henry Rollins costs €10,000 to do a spoken word show (yes, I've priced this ) and then the promoter will work the ticket price around this. So in addition to this fee, the band can sell its merchandise with all the profit going to them (although some venues will charge a fee to the bands). This sounds great but the cost of touring is expensive so they don't end up as millionaires but at least they can live like real people for a while.

There seems to be a perception in society that most popular bands are well off, but how true is that? I mean, do breakthrough bands like Snow Patrol live comfortable lives now that they are successful? Do most independent bands get to quit their respective day jobs?

Most independent and even major label bands have day jobs. A band close to my heart, Einstuerzende Neubauten, may be able to sell tens of thousands of records but most the band has to do production work, remix work, DJing in clubs and even film work (their singer did the growls for The Mummy) when they're not touring. Peter Christopherson from Coil ended up directing videos for the likes of Hanson and when he was in Throbbing Gristle (who self-released everything in the 70s) he earned a living designing record sleeves (he did, among other things, Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy and Physical Grafitti).

pmk19

You seem to know your stuff john2.

How much do you reckon a headline act would get at oxegen for example. And is it usually the song-writer who gets the most and then the rest is divided between the other band members.

Also, do u know how royalties work. How are they calculated, like radioplay etc.? I heard the bloke who wrote two of frank sinatra's biggests hits lives on his royalty payments. Gets a cheque a few times a year and lives like a king.

Thanks for the info so far. I always how the money making music industry worked.

honru

Interesting. It's kinda sad that buying a t-shirt will help the band rather than the actual CD, financially speaking.

I read up about it. Apperantly, in the US at least, you have to sell about 250,000 records to begin making profit on CDs. Perhaps when you reach that point you can take a breather!

*Tripper*

Its a weird world innit!

DerekD Goldfish

Steve Albini wrote a very interesting article on it a few years back might post it if I can find it.
He himslef was working a day job even when Big Black were selling a modest number of albums and only gave up the non music related one when he got his own studio and started producing almost full time.
Bands make most of thier mony through gigs and songwring royalties every time a song gets played on the radio its writer recives a payment for it.
I think its about £30 a play in the Uk you take the adverage crappy pop tune being played 10 times a day which is not uncomon givin the lack of variety in radio play by hundreds of local and national radio stations you can make a mint if you make radio friendly songs. Nickelback have admited they could retire on radioplay royalties alone from how you remind me its just a pity they havent.

dalk

The Steve Albini Article about how the system works.