What other artists make

[robcat2075]

Moaning about that long hours/low pay animation job? Or whatever you happen to be doing?

 

It's tough all over for artists. Here are a couple of articles revealing what some fairly visible musicians make after the industry gets its take.

 

Dave Lombardo, founding drummer of Slayer, the metal band, got only $67K out of $4.4 million in touring ticket sales in 2011.

 

 

Nick Thayer, successful electronic/dance recording artist, apparently doesn't make any money at all...

 

OWSLA’s Nick Thayer Answers “Do You Wanna Know Just How Much Money I Make?�

 

 

Zoe Keating, the cross-over cellist, is doing comparatively fabulous at about $75K

 

Twitter’s favourite cellist reveals how little she earns from Spotify

 

 

 

There's lots of money being made, but not by the artists.

[Roger]

That's really a shame, seems like the drummer in a major metal band would be doing better than that.

The problem here is they have too many middle-men with their hands in the pot, that's what it boils down to.

I think Louis C.K. sold one of his comedy albums direct to his fans and did very well, but you have to have a fan base big enough to do that.

 

Metal has been waning in popularity for a while now, but it is pretty shocking that he is only taking home that small a portion (I'm assuming the label is getting the rest).

I've never heard of the electronica guy, but I'm not a fan of that music so I don't know if he is on the fringe of that community or what.

 

I'd love to be able to make a living from animation but when it's all said and done I will probably end up losing money on my movie.

[Rodney]

got only $67K out of $4.4 million in touring ticket sales in 2011.

 

$4.4 million sure sounds like a lot until you realize if divided up evenly it would only pay the salaries of 65 other people at the same rate.

This is assuming no other costs associated with the tour except salary of course. No advertising. No purchasing or renting of transportation or equipment. No hotel's to partysleep in, Food, booze, etc.

Note that I assume the $4.4 million was actual sales which almost immediately can be cut in half to pay for debt incurred that was covered by investors.

 

If he's got lots to complain about imagine what the others that also made the tour happen could complain about.

How much did the roadies make (collectively)?

I think it very fair to say that they made a whole lot less than $67K.

But he's the artist, so he *should* get paid more right?

feh.

 

I'm not saying he did or didn't get his full fair share... I hardly know enough to be able to speculate.

I would guess though that his partners probably think he was already making too much for his contribution based on the fact they refused to increase his pay.

Why then did he move on? Simple enough. Because he didn't have a solid ground upon which to negotiate.

 

Unfair?

Without more information it is difficult to say.

 

There is greed in the world that takes more than its fair share without a doubt but then again there are people willing to pay him $67K to play drums on stage. (for how many gigs...9? 12? Regardless, talk about crazy)

If anyone is willing to pay me $67K for the labor of doing what I love according to a similar schedule please feel free to sign me up today.

 

I'd comment more but fear I've already painted a very large target on my chest for offering an alternative perspective to an emotionally charged issue sure to drive popular opinion.

It would be good to read a counter perspective from his fellow artists. (I assume they will have points upon which they will disagree)

[robcat2075]

Lombardo cites 90 concerts in a year which is a lot more performing but also a lot more cost to present than 12 concerts.

 

However, he notes that after hiring his own accountants to figure it our it wasn't clear that all the money was really going to real expenses and he found it suspicious that his band-mates weren't interested in investigating this.

 

It's possible that $67K was what was legitimately left after everything else was paid for but I think he found that some individuals, like a lawyer or accountant who had no role in creating this thing that fans were willing to pay $4 million for, were making more off the tour than he was.

[fae_alba]

... he found that some individuals, like a lawyer or accountant who had no role in creating this thing that fans were willing to pay $4 million for, were making more off the tour than he was.

 

By definition, lawyers and accountants, always make more than the poor blokes actually doing the work.

[Roger]

... he found that some individuals, like a lawyer or accountant who had no role in creating this thing that fans were willing to pay $4 million for, were making more off the tour than he was.

 

By definition, lawyers and accountants, always make more than the poor blokes actually doing the work.

 

That's more or less a given.

Any class-action suit, the only real winners are the lawyers.