Many people might think that the life of a touring music performer is glamorous and also lucrative, but it's anything but. The price of touring for a rockband or whatever is actually fairly high and very few trips really make massive amounts of money, except for the very top tier of artists.
Cost of touring makes rock and roll hard living
Most groups or artists do not have enough cash to cover a tour. You imagine a tour for a musician to have a ton of cash with a lot of partying and tour busses. Unfortunately, that is not the case for all.
If you were touring, you would expect to make more than $1,500 a month in a record deal opening for some pretty large bands. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione in The Dresden Dolls. They had a record deal and never made more than that, according to a 2007 NPR interview.
That's $18,000 per year, supposing they tour each month of the year.
Granted, they also had earnings from CD sales -- royalties of $1 per CD sold -- and merchandise.
Depends on the band
Oh, Sleeper is a band that is known as "mid-level" since it has existed for a few years and has a following. Band member Shane Blay posted typical expenses related to touring. He said that groups make cash based on the amount of merchandise sold and the number of fans who arrive. The groups have to pay the venue for using the facility too. His band made about $600 per night for the venues on average due to $300 in merchandise sales and $300 in location profits.
The price of traveling is $10 per day for food and $150 in fuel between gigs. The band also has to pay 15 percent to the manager and 10 percent to the booking agent out of the $300 location cash. Of the merchandise cash, the manger gets $15 percent and the venue 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 price in half. Total per night, the band ends up with $78.75 after all the expenditures come out.
Divided six ways, that's $13.12 per night, per band member. That doesn't consist of whether or not their van breaks down or if they need to stay in a hotel or go to a doctor.
Not all costs bad
It's only the biggest acts for whom the costs of touring are worth it, as a tour may sell enough tickets to be profitable. For instance, according to the Daily Mail, when Roger Waters did a tour of "The Wall," the classic album by his previous group Pink Floyd, in 2010, the production, which is fantastically elaborate for those who haven't seen it, cost $60 million to take on tour. The tour grossed almost $90 million, according to MTV.
However, the struggling artist does struggle and likely pretty hard. NBC News, the news site formerly known as MSNBC, ran an article in 2008 about a number of groups which were an inch away from having to cancel tours and possibly quit their profession due to high gasoline costs.
Whenever you download music for free, the band ends up losing money there too.
Cost of touring makes rock and roll hard living
Most groups or artists do not have enough cash to cover a tour. You imagine a tour for a musician to have a ton of cash with a lot of partying and tour busses. Unfortunately, that is not the case for all.
If you were touring, you would expect to make more than $1,500 a month in a record deal opening for some pretty large bands. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione in The Dresden Dolls. They had a record deal and never made more than that, according to a 2007 NPR interview.
That's $18,000 per year, supposing they tour each month of the year.
Granted, they also had earnings from CD sales -- royalties of $1 per CD sold -- and merchandise.
Depends on the band
Oh, Sleeper is a band that is known as "mid-level" since it has existed for a few years and has a following. Band member Shane Blay posted typical expenses related to touring. He said that groups make cash based on the amount of merchandise sold and the number of fans who arrive. The groups have to pay the venue for using the facility too. His band made about $600 per night for the venues on average due to $300 in merchandise sales and $300 in location profits.
The price of traveling is $10 per day for food and $150 in fuel between gigs. The band also has to pay 15 percent to the manager and 10 percent to the booking agent out of the $300 location cash. Of the merchandise cash, the manger gets $15 percent and the venue 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 price in half. Total per night, the band ends up with $78.75 after all the expenditures come out.
Divided six ways, that's $13.12 per night, per band member. That doesn't consist of whether or not their van breaks down or if they need to stay in a hotel or go to a doctor.
Not all costs bad
It's only the biggest acts for whom the costs of touring are worth it, as a tour may sell enough tickets to be profitable. For instance, according to the Daily Mail, when Roger Waters did a tour of "The Wall," the classic album by his previous group Pink Floyd, in 2010, the production, which is fantastically elaborate for those who haven't seen it, cost $60 million to take on tour. The tour grossed almost $90 million, according to MTV.
However, the struggling artist does struggle and likely pretty hard. NBC News, the news site formerly known as MSNBC, ran an article in 2008 about a number of groups which were an inch away from having to cancel tours and possibly quit their profession due to high gasoline costs.
Whenever you download music for free, the band ends up losing money there too.
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