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My grandfather had a single hit song over 50 years ago and he still lives comfortably off accumulated royalties and other proceeds in 2017. Those days are long
by southphillyman 9y ago
My grandfather had a single hit song over 50 years ago and he still lives comfortably off accumulated royalties and other proceeds in 2017. Those days are long gone. In this current system artists can still become millionaires via concert and show money. It's the writers and producers who are getting shafted since they depend mostly on royalities and points.
What I find intriguing are the genres where producers are arguably MORE important than the artist (think trap music). Some producers in that space are circumventing this problem by starting their own labels and signing artists under them. This is essentially what Mike Will Made It has done with Rae Sremmurd. As the music industry evolves, people participating in it have to continually think outside the box and innovate to maintain revenue streams.
- thebiglebrewski 9y ago"Santa's Super Sleigh"?
- southphillyman 9y agoNo but my user name is a big hint. Artist who grew up in South Philly 50-60 years ago and had a hit song so big he still lives off the royalties today.....
- sulam 9y agoChubby Checker?!
- culot 9y agoI don't know that Chubby Checker did so well. I saw him at a county fair 25 years ago. He was performing in a tent the size of a large restroom, with only two rows of benches, at about 2pm. There may have been only 3-4 people there altogether.
- sp821543 9y agoBobby?
- santaclaus 9y agoBoyz II Men is my guess
- soundwave106 9y agoHmm, my best guess is a member of the Silhouettes (Philly group with one huge hit - "Get a Job" - and nothing else very notable...)
- jerrytsai 9y agoIs your grandfather Bobby Rydell? Or maybe Fabian or Frankie Avalon? I love this kind of challenge.
- kelnos 9y agoI expect that your grandfather is still an outlier, even back then. It's not like that sort of thing was common 50 years ago. It's still possible today, just unlikely. Maybe more unlikely than it was 50 years ago, but I hardly see that as representative of a huge shift.