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The Guardian: the shocking truth about the money bands make on tour.
- Thread starter Bermuda Ron
- Start date
Breaking news: “Musicians still starving to death” 
It's only shocking to laypersons who aren't trying to earn money playing music.
I had to explain this to a friend recently. They thought that since their favorite band was opening for a popular act, they must be making some great money. I told them that the band is probably paying for that opening slot, and they'd be lucky to break even on the tour.
I long-ago resigned myself to the fact it's a hobby that almost pays for itself. Same holds true for my wife's art studio.
Riis
If bands can't make money from touring, and nobody is buying CD's any more, and everyone is downloading their music for (almost?) free, how is musical creativity to flourish?
"Life finds a way..." Okay, it pertains more to dinosaurs but still relevant. Back in the day, struggling artists had "sponsors" to bankroll their indulgences.
Riis
The music business is what I think of as a 90-5-5 industry, similar to other art & performance industries like photography, dance, fashion, book-publishing, etc.
For me personally, when I was playing as a full-time professional, whenever I started focusing on the money-making component, the fun would vanish, which would make the music less enjoyable to the listeners, which would create a downward spiral. I realized the way to be content would be to play music for fun and do other things for money.
The good news is, if you’re not depending on the gigs to pay the bills, you can just cut loose and have fun, which creates more fun for everyone! YMMV.
- 90% of the artists lose money
- 5% break even
- 5% make so much money that they pay for the whole industry
For me personally, when I was playing as a full-time professional, whenever I started focusing on the money-making component, the fun would vanish, which would make the music less enjoyable to the listeners, which would create a downward spiral. I realized the way to be content would be to play music for fun and do other things for money.
The good news is, if you’re not depending on the gigs to pay the bills, you can just cut loose and have fun, which creates more fun for everyone! YMMV.
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Yes sir, agree 100%.
The group I'm with plays mostly in a 75 mile radius of our base city, a large town located in Central, Southern Illinois.
We often do jobs in Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis and other places that are well out of our 75 mile radius.
It certainly impresses some people when they see on our schedule listings that we're doing such long distance gigs.
Truth is, yes we make considerably more money for distance playing, but once the expenses of the long haul jobs are paid, we haven't made anymore money than if we'd just stayed in our 75 mile radius of our base town.
I read that yesterday. Checked out English Teacher - good stuff. Maybe they got an extra half penny or so by me listening through one of there albums on my drive home yesterday.
Commodified life.
Worth linked only to product.
Artists will suffer.
Worth linked only to product.
Artists will suffer.
It won't. Things are getting progressively worse. Big Corporate will continue to dominate and stranglehold creativity until the Race To Zero™ is complete.
In the end, we will either have the Rush 2112 scenario, or people will forget what music as art was, and they will settle for the banality of Taylor Swift and her ilk while enjoying the protection Big Corporate Brother offers them whilst under observation of Alexa...
See also; nepo babies and the offspring of the upper classes are the only people that can afford to be in the arts.
If you don't buy tons of basses and pedals
According to the IRS I make a few grand after expenses every year. I’ve never broken the $10K ceiling for any given year and that’s with playing as many as 4 gigs a week. Good thing I had a nice day job and now Social Security to pay the bills. Last year my expenses (mainly mileage) were 60% of my gross…ouch!
I knew I would never make enough money. Clubs only paid an average of $500.00 a night. If not for my job, and truthfully my wifes good job, it would have been impossible to own the Basses,Amps, etc: