4 ms·

Living off record sales was never an option for the vast majority of musicians either.

by 0xAFFFF 4y ago

theshrike79 4y ago
The record sales were the ad, money was in touring and merchandising. It's the exact same today.
- colmmacc 4y ago
  This isn't so for every kind of music. Folk musicians, who mainly play small venues and even house concerts, would make $100 to $300 per show from selling CDs. The merch table at a Jazz club would mostly sell CDs and depending on the size of the club could pull in $500 or more in CD sales. Small classical groups like quartets and chamber music would play salons and again, CDs would be a big factor. This income would often double or more the artist's take from door sales (if any) and make the gigs viable at all. There used to be space for these musicians to eke out a modest but sustainable living touring a circuit of these types of gigs and festivals, but streaming really has killed most of it off. They could record a CD for a few thousand dollars and print maybe 5,000 copies, knowing that would turn into $50,000 - $75,000 of revenue at $10 to $15 per CD that they would mostly keep. But the crowd just don't buy CDs at anything near the rate that they used to. Now most of those musicians make most of their living by some other means and the music has become the side. It's very unfortunate.
- OliverGuy 4y ago
  I work in the touring industry as a tech and its often the case that a production makes enough money for all the crew salaries and hotels from merch alone. And the crew on these tours are well paid. This fact is often repeated by the PM at 1am when they are loading box after box of merch onto the truck.
  - Symbiote 4y ago
    How big is the band? I saw a band recently in a 600 capacity venue. It was probably 70-80% full. Near the end the singer said the tour was losing money so please buy something. Of the metal bands I usually see, I assume the majority have other jobs.

Living off record sales was never an option for the vast majority of musicians either.

theshrike79 4y ago

The record sales were the ad, money was in touring and merchandising. It's the exact same today.

colmmacc 4y ago
This isn't so for every kind of music. Folk musicians, who mainly play small venues and even house concerts, would make $100 to $300 per show from selling CDs. The merch table at a Jazz club would mostly sell CDs and depending on the size of the club could pull in $500 or more in CD sales. Small classical groups like quartets and chamber music would play salons and again, CDs would be a big factor. This income would often double or more the artist's take from door sales (if any) and make the gigs viable at all. There used to be space for these musicians to eke out a modest but sustainable living touring a circuit of these types of gigs and festivals, but streaming really has killed most of it off. They could record a CD for a few thousand dollars and print maybe 5,000 copies, knowing that would turn into $50,000 - $75,000 of revenue at $10 to $15 per CD that they would mostly keep. But the crowd just don't buy CDs at anything near the rate that they used to. Now most of those musicians make most of their living by some other means and the music has become the side. It's very unfortunate.
OliverGuy 4y ago
I work in the touring industry as a tech and its often the case that a production makes enough money for all the crew salaries and hotels from merch alone. And the crew on these tours are well paid. This fact is often repeated by the PM at 1am when they are loading box after box of merch onto the truck.
- Symbiote 4y ago
  How big is the band? I saw a band recently in a 600 capacity venue. It was probably 70-80% full. Near the end the singer said the tour was losing money so please buy something. Of the metal bands I usually see, I assume the majority have other jobs.