The Problem With Music

  Quote

The Balance Sheet: This is how much each player got paid at the end of the game.

 

Record company: 710,000

Producer: 90,000

Manager: 51,000

Studio: 52,500

Previous label: 50,000

Agent: 7,500

Lawyer: 12,000

Band member net income each: $4,031.25

 

The band is now ¼th of the way through its contract, has made the music industry more than 3 million dollars richer, but is in the hole $14,000 on royalties. The band members have each earned about one third as much as they would working at a 7-11, but they got to ride in a tour bus for a month. The next album will be about the same, except that the record company will insist they spend more time and money on it. Since the previous one never "recouped," the band will have no leverage, and will oblige. The next tour will be about the same, except the merchandising advance will have already been paid, and the band, strangely enough, won't have earned any royalties from their T-shirts yet. Maybe the T-shirt guys have figured out how to count money like record company guys. Some of your friends are probably already this fucked.

http://www.petdance.com/actionpark/albini/...with-music.html

what is your opinion about this?

I read that a long time ago and it's why I hate the major's

this is your destination when you make a jerk out of yourself at the casting shows or dedicate you live to commercial music production

it made me see these shows at tv in a different light and shows that they loose even more when they win the record deal after making a fool of them before

Oh yah, I'm sure the American Idol type contracts are even worse than your average ones. Only the absolutely top drawing artists (who usually aren't even artists anymore anyway, just performing parrots who sing and dance to someone elses songs), will get really rich, and it's all off of merchandising, endorsements, TV appearances, etc, and not off of their actual "profession". If you are a marginal star you're most likely going to flame out and lose money. Such bullshit.

i either post my trax for free or keep them to myself

if a label is like HAY, WANT SIGN? and isn't a jerk about contracts i'd go for it... but honestly i don't harbor much hope of ever seeing a dime from my musics

asdf, nothing.