With paltry streaming royalties and a cost-of-touring crisis, it’s harder than ever to make money as a musician. Claudia Cockerell on the household names who are taking up side hustles, and what it says about the state of the music industry
I was under the impression that while streaming was garbage for money that touring was the cash cow. Apparently it’s a loss for these artists. It makes me sad that all the profits get vacuumed up by everybody but the artist.
It’s got to be the ticketing taking too much vig, right? I hear these stories about $300 tickets, I haven’t been to a concert in years but in the 2000’s touring was where the money came from. With $45+ticketmaster tickets.
They have to be sucking all the money out at point of sale
The ticketing company owns all the venues now and they own the secondhand scalper sites so they allocate a bunch of tickets to the secondhand site and mark them way up plus they can charge whatever they want for the venue and only pay the artist what they were contracted for
It’s also probably one of the few ways for artists to have an income that their lable/manager/publisher/whoever the fuck else doesn’t take a huge cut of. Add in ticket master and company and they’re fucked.
Those contracts they sign can be fucking brutal. I’m not familiar with either of those artists but it’s a common enough problem in that industry.
Just look at ticket prices on ticketmaster for a US show and compare it to the cost of an international venue.
When I was pricing David Gilmour it was literally cheaper to buy a plane ticket and fly from NY to Rome and go to the show there than get the worst seats in Madison Square Garden.
You can still make great money if you’re packing out big venues. I don’t know who either of these people are so I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t able to sell out big amphitheaters or stadiums. Small venue shows are great but they aren’t buying you multiple houses.
Touring has always been a boondoggle. Artists could make bank if they were selling out shows, but the baseline venue prices have skyrocketed out of reach for most fans. The producers, promoters, engineers, technicians, roadies, not to mention lodging, travel, and food, a lot of people expect to be paid before the artist makes a dime.
I went with a date to see Tori Amos last year and the merch was stupidly expensive (even for concert merch) and the woman told us to order online because the venue was taking ½ of merch so everything was double
why you do this - a self documentary from car bomb on why people still make music/tour despite monetary hardship.
There are tech death musicians out there that give some classical composers a run for their money that still have day jobs, mostly in computer programming of some kind.
(side note : turns out that technical death metal appeals to the same kind of people that enjoy working on applied mathematics. who could have guessed)
I was under the impression that while streaming was garbage for money that touring was the cash cow. Apparently it’s a loss for these artists. It makes me sad that all the profits get vacuumed up by everybody but the artist.
The average worker experience
Those days are over sadly. Ticketing and venues are largely consolidated now.
It’s got to be the ticketing taking too much vig, right? I hear these stories about $300 tickets, I haven’t been to a concert in years but in the 2000’s touring was where the money came from. With $45+ticketmaster tickets.
They have to be sucking all the money out at point of sale
The ticketing company owns all the venues now and they own the secondhand scalper sites so they allocate a bunch of tickets to the secondhand site and mark them way up plus they can charge whatever they want for the venue and only pay the artist what they were contracted for
It’s also probably one of the few ways for artists to have an income that their lable/manager/publisher/whoever the fuck else doesn’t take a huge cut of. Add in ticket master and company and they’re fucked.
Those contracts they sign can be fucking brutal. I’m not familiar with either of those artists but it’s a common enough problem in that industry.
Just look at ticket prices on ticketmaster for a US show and compare it to the cost of an international venue.
When I was pricing David Gilmour it was literally cheaper to buy a plane ticket and fly from NY to Rome and go to the show there than get the worst seats in Madison Square Garden.
Because Ticketmaster and it’s venues are a monopoly. Pearl Jam tried to warn us 30 years ago.
Was ever thus, init.
The options are 1) Charge less and sell more, or 2) Charge much more and sell less, but make up more than the difference in how much more they charge.
They always, always take option 2 because they’re shitheads who feel like they have a legal duty to put the shareholders above the customers.
You can still make great money if you’re packing out big venues. I don’t know who either of these people are so I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t able to sell out big amphitheaters or stadiums. Small venue shows are great but they aren’t buying you multiple houses.
Touring has always been a boondoggle. Artists could make bank if they were selling out shows, but the baseline venue prices have skyrocketed out of reach for most fans. The producers, promoters, engineers, technicians, roadies, not to mention lodging, travel, and food, a lot of people expect to be paid before the artist makes a dime.
Ticketmaster and LiveNation (also Ticketmaster) expect to be paid most of all. The own so many venues it’s incredible.
And the scalping sites.
They’re totally a monopoly but the government won’t do anything because they only hurt normal people.
Musk needs to start a ticketing agency so somebody rich has a stake and watch congress do something.
It’s why I make it a point to buy merch when I see a band I like on tour. They probably earn more from it than the actual tour itself.
Venues are taking a cut of that as well now in some cases. It’s disgusting honestly.
I went with a date to see Tori Amos last year and the merch was stupidly expensive (even for concert merch) and the woman told us to order online because the venue was taking ½ of merch so everything was double
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJSp-yRMrsY
why you do this - a self documentary from car bomb on why people still make music/tour despite monetary hardship.
There are tech death musicians out there that give some classical composers a run for their money that still have day jobs, mostly in computer programming of some kind.
(side note : turns out that technical death metal appeals to the same kind of people that enjoy working on applied mathematics. who could have guessed)
I’ve played many shows for free after several hours driving (with gas I paid for), US’s music scene is set up to fail