3 ms·

Those are big big big tours. U2 is #1 by revenue in the 2010s - although that is over a two year period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_

Those are big big big tours. U2 is #1 by revenue in the 2010s - although that is over a two year period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_concert_tours https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_conce... Ed Sheeran pulled in $432M in concert revenue last year alone. That is supposedly the highest for single year. I’d love to see the numbers for a “regular” band, or even broken out examples by category of “stardom” - say, The Strokes level, Bon Iver level, newer up-and-coming artists like Phoebe Bridgers, and then finally your local touring bands and last but not least the guy busking at Whole Foods. As I understand it there is decent money to be made at most of those levels above local bar bands. But it ain’t easy. There’s a lot of people who go for it that frankly don’t have “it”, though. And some of them make it for a while. Hardly anyone makes it a lifetime career, like Willie Nelson or Elton John.

Cthulhu_ 8y ago
Is that tour money added to the amount often attributed to the size of the music industry? I'm seeing a number of "only" $15 billion on wikipedia.
- vonseel 8y ago
  A quick search shows Spotify alone paid $9.8 billion in royalties to artists in 2017. I see that $15B number looks like it's coming from some IFPI reports. I don't know what that org includes but it doesn't sound even close to accurate.
dkersten 8y ago
I've been part of the production crew for small-time musicians doing once-off concerts (approx. 2000 attendees). Between artists (warm up act, main act, guest singers, dancers) and crew, there were probably about 30+ people with backstage access that didn't work for the venue. I can imagine if it was a tour, where all of these people need to travel, then the cost would quickly add up. So I can absolutely imagine that medium to big acts would be quite expensive.

Cthulhu_ 8y ago

Is that tour money added to the amount often attributed to the size of the music industry? I'm seeing a number of "only" $15 billion on wikipedia.

vonseel 8y ago
A quick search shows Spotify alone paid $9.8 billion in royalties to artists in 2017. I see that $15B number looks like it's coming from some IFPI reports. I don't know what that org includes but it doesn't sound even close to accurate.

dkersten 8y ago

I've been part of the production crew for small-time musicians doing once-off concerts (approx. 2000 attendees). Between artists (warm up act, main act, guest singers, dancers) and crew, there were probably about 30+ people with backstage access that didn't work for the venue. I can imagine if it was a tour, where all of these people need to travel, then the cost would quickly add up. So I can absolutely imagine that medium to big acts would be quite expensive.