Being a musician expertly sounds like a pretty sweet idea for many individuals. Concerts, the open road and some think, a ton of cash. However, it isn't much of a living, even for bands that get a ton of interest, as the price of touring is through the roof.
Difficult to live as a rock band
Most bands or artists do not have enough cash to cover a tour. You would imagine a tour for a musician to have a lot of cash with a lot of partying and tour busses. Unfortunately, that is not the case for all.
For instance, a 2007 NPR interview with The Dresden Dolls, a Boston duo that has been playing their trade for several years, has some information that's quite revealing. The band had a record deal, toured all over the world, even opening for Nine Inch Nails on one tour. Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione, the two individuals in the group, were both making $1,500 a month from touring.
They will only be getting $18,000 a year, which is not a lot and only really takes place if they tour year round.
They were given $1 of every CD sold also, so they may make some cash on CD sales.
Slowly gets better
A mid-level group such as the band Oh, Sleeper, which is a metalcore band that has been around for a while, gets paid about $600 per night of playing, $300 for tickets and $300 for merchandise. Typically, groups only make money based on what they get paid for playing there and depending on merchandise sales. Typically they have to pay the venue still. The typical costs of tour were published by the band's member Shane Blay.
The price of traveling is $10 per day for food and $150 in gasoline between gigs. The band also has to pay 15 percent to the manager and 10 percent to the booking agent out of the $300 venue cash. Of the merchandise cash, the manger gets $15 percent and the location takes a 25 percent commission. On top of that, the band has to pay about $7.50 per t-shirt that they sell at $15, which already cuts that cost in half. Total per night, the band ends up with $78.75 after all the expenditures come out.
The band ends up getting $13.12 a night when divided six ways, which does not include extra emergency costs.
Not all costs bad
The Daily Mail explained that the very best way to make cash while touring is to be large enough that enough tickets will sell to make the additional cash. Roger Waters toured in 2010 which made about $90 million. The costs were only $60 million, which means he made a lot of extra cash.
Being an artist means you will struggle a lot. According to NBC News, the 2008 fuel price increases made it so most groups had to terminate tours since they could not pay the extra cost for gasoline.
And just in case one may be wondering, yes, it DOES hurt the band when a person downloads music for free.
Difficult to live as a rock band
Most bands or artists do not have enough cash to cover a tour. You would imagine a tour for a musician to have a lot of cash with a lot of partying and tour busses. Unfortunately, that is not the case for all.
For instance, a 2007 NPR interview with The Dresden Dolls, a Boston duo that has been playing their trade for several years, has some information that's quite revealing. The band had a record deal, toured all over the world, even opening for Nine Inch Nails on one tour. Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione, the two individuals in the group, were both making $1,500 a month from touring.
They will only be getting $18,000 a year, which is not a lot and only really takes place if they tour year round.
They were given $1 of every CD sold also, so they may make some cash on CD sales.
Slowly gets better
A mid-level group such as the band Oh, Sleeper, which is a metalcore band that has been around for a while, gets paid about $600 per night of playing, $300 for tickets and $300 for merchandise. Typically, groups only make money based on what they get paid for playing there and depending on merchandise sales. Typically they have to pay the venue still. The typical costs of tour were published by the band's member Shane Blay.
The price of traveling is $10 per day for food and $150 in gasoline between gigs. The band also has to pay 15 percent to the manager and 10 percent to the booking agent out of the $300 venue cash. Of the merchandise cash, the manger gets $15 percent and the location takes a 25 percent commission. On top of that, the band has to pay about $7.50 per t-shirt that they sell at $15, which already cuts that cost in half. Total per night, the band ends up with $78.75 after all the expenditures come out.
The band ends up getting $13.12 a night when divided six ways, which does not include extra emergency costs.
Not all costs bad
The Daily Mail explained that the very best way to make cash while touring is to be large enough that enough tickets will sell to make the additional cash. Roger Waters toured in 2010 which made about $90 million. The costs were only $60 million, which means he made a lot of extra cash.
Being an artist means you will struggle a lot. According to NBC News, the 2008 fuel price increases made it so most groups had to terminate tours since they could not pay the extra cost for gasoline.
And just in case one may be wondering, yes, it DOES hurt the band when a person downloads music for free.
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