How Much Money Is There To Be Made As A Rock Star These Days

[blackjack]

I'm curious: Suppose you have a favorite band and that band suddenly loses their guitarist - maybe he quit or maybe he got in a car accident or who knows what. So this band that isn't necessarily extremely popular today but in their prime years they had some platinum albums and used to play to sold out 20,000 seat arenas with nothing but an opening band holds auditions for a new guitarist. Even now they play to three to five thousand people a night when they're on tour and you decide to send them a demo tape that will hopefully impress them enough so that they will invite you to audition. They like your demo tape although it's actually a demo CD, and they have you audition You arrive and you're there with 7 other guitarists who were also invited to audition. They all play good but you play the best you've ever played in your life. Must be the adrenaline from all the excitement of playing for your heroes. And your lifelong dream comes true! You get the gig! Your story is similar to Richie Faulkner's story - the man who replaced K.K Downing in Judas Priest, or the story of Zakk Wylde when he replaced Jake E. lee in Ozzy Osbourne's band. You'd be the guitar equivalent of Todd La Torre who just a couple years ago replaced Geoff Tate in Queensryche!

So here's my question: If your situation is similar to Todd's or Richie's or Zakk's (when he first joined Ozzy's band) how much money do you suppose you would make per year (in U.S. dollars)? Would you make enough that you'd become a millionaire over the next 5 years (meaning you would average at lest $200,000 a year after taxes for 5 years in a row)? Or would you make considerably less? How much less? And where does most of your money come from: The royalties from the albums you play on with this band, or would most of your money come from what you get paid each night on tour?

I find this subject fascinating! So If there's anybody here who has some information about the music business so that they could do more than just make a wild guess, I'd be very interested in knowing just how much money there is to be made as a rock star these days!

[jacoby3mnk]

I would think that the money part would depend on the agreement the individual made with the band. I can't see where a member that's replacing someone would earn money from songs they did not help create unless it was through playing those songs on tour. With the numbers of people that prefer to download music instead of buying it I would think the royalties are much lower now. This may be why we are seeing musicians have so many projects they are in. The guys in The Winery Dogs, Miles Kennedy are a few that come to mind here. These are my thoughts on the issue.

[blackjack]

Nov 27, 2015 7:19:22 GMT -6 jacoby3mnk said:

I would think that the money part would depend on the agreement the individual made with the band. I can't see where a member that's replacing someone would earn money from songs they did not help create unless it was through playing those songs on tour. With the numbers of people that prefer to download music instead of buying it I would think the royalties are much lower now. This may be why we are seeing musicians have so many projects they are in. The guys in The Winery Dogs, Miles Kennedy are a few that come to mind here. These are my thoughts on the issue.

I have since been told by someone that Todd La Torre only makes on average about $500 a week with Queensryche. This was by someone in the business I trust. $500 a week? That's not a rock star! Musicians playing at weddings can make that at least!

As for downloading music, downloading music has destroyed the music industry! We have no major music industry anymore. It's dead. The record companies can't afford artist development anymore. Artist development is a thing of the past. The only people making any good money playing music are people who already got established while artist development still existed and before downloading killed the industry. Metallica debuted in 1983 and 32 years later they're the biggest drawing band on tour in all of metal. 32 years after their debut! That's like if in 1983 the biggest touring band had been a band that made its debut in 1951! That long ago. That long. Since before Elvis. Last year was the first year nobody, not even a pop act had a platinum selling album in the history of platinum albums ever since they were invented. Legalizing the MP3 was the death of the music business. The record companies weren't vigilant about protecting their business, they didn't do anything to try to block the MP3 from going to market and this is what they got in return. If you are not vigilant about protecting your business one day you will no longer have a business.

[Michael Angelo Batio]

Unfortunately, many times people earn money from songs they did not write or create. Artists today are either making a really good to a great income or are broke! There doesn't seem to be much of a "middle class" when it comes to how much an Artist earns today. The great thing about todays music environment is that there are so many ways to make money. The bad thing is that CD and song sales are not a good way anymore to earn an income and that means the record companies do not have as much money to spend on Artists as they once had. The bottom line is that successful Artists are still doing well. Tribute bands make a lot of money per show, but they have to be mainstream tribute acts, meaning, for example, a Beatles tribute band that not only sounds like The Beatles, but looks like them as well. I really don't want to give exact numbers, but I can tell you that I have done extremely well by doing what I believe in, making my own way, making start business decisions, discussing business with close friends and business associates to get their input and ridding myself of people and / or companies that I feel are not "win, win." Thanks.

[Deleted]

Hi Blackjack. This is a really interesting topic. I have been reading Bob Daisley's autobiography over Christmas called "For facts Sake" and it's absolute brilliant book to read. It's cover's his whole career up to present day. I was shocked to learn how ruthless people can be in the music business. It's a shame that some greedy people think they can take what isn't theirs and feed off the talent of others. I purchased mine off Amazon but I think he sells signed copies on his website. It's full of great photos of all the musicians he has worked with and some unseen Randy Rhoads pictures from his private collection.

[blackjack]

Jan 6, 2016 0:37:32 GMT -6 Michael Angelo Batio said:

Unfortunately, many times people earn money from songs they did not write or create. Artists today are either making a really good to a great income or are broke! There doesn't seem to be much of a "middle class" when it comes to how much an Artist earns today. The great thing about todays music environment is that there are so many ways to make money. The bad thing is that CD and song sales are not a good way anymore to earn an income and that means the record companies do not have as much money to spend on Artists as they once had. The bottom line is that successful Artists are still doing well. Tribute bands make a lot of money per show, but they have to be mainstream tribute acts, meaning, for example, a Beatles tribute band that not only sounds like The Beatles, but looks like them as well. I really don't want to give exact numbers, but I can tell you that I have done extremely well by doing what I believe in, making my own way, making start business decisions, discussing business with close friends and business associates to get their input and ridding myself of people and / or companies that I feel are not "win, win." Thanks.

Thanks for the reply Michael. The disappearance of the "middle class" is frightening. It seems to me that our whole country is headed in that direction - not just musicians! The wealth is concentrated in the hands of so few people these days. A lot of that has to do with the huge stores like Walmart running the small stores out of business so that these huge stores make more than ever but they have put so many small to medium size business owners out of work that it's awful! So the guys in the good paying positions of all these small to mid size companies are being run out of business and what we have left is fewer employers than ever and those employers are larger than ever but almost all the jobs they have to offer are very low paying jobs. There is just a small percentage of jobs with these companies that pay enough money for someone to be upper middle or even middle class. That leaves a few very wealthy people and a huge number of working class or blue collar level employees.

The music industry has been hit especially hard because of piracy, illegal downloading and people being able to listen to whatever they want to on youtube for free when you used to have to buy an album if you wanted to hear the whole album anytime you wanted! There are so many people literally stealing the music of musicians that that's why CD sales or even MP3 sales are way, way down and 2014 was the first year in history that there wasn't even one platinum selling album. Only established bands are making money and for new bands that aren't established, as you said, there is little or no money for artist development at the few record companies remaining. Bans like Queen and Pink Floyd didn't have a hit album until their 6th or 7th album but today no record company is going to stand by a band and continue to invest money in them if they take even half that long to have a hit album. So 9n today;'s business world, Queen and Pink Floyd would;t have made it; they would have lost their record deals and been forced to do something else for a living!

When the product of a man's labor is stolen from him, there goes the inventive to work as hard as he can. There is no incentive left to be a professional musician because if people like your album they will just steal it! That's why the top selling heavy metal band 25 years ago is still the top selling metal band - there is nobody coming along to become the next Metallica or the next Led Zeppelin or the next Aerosmith or the next KISS. The incentive to work as hard as those bands worked is gone! To make matters worse, because of the lack of good new bands, there are fewer rock nightclubs in business than ever before so even if a band wants to work thee are hardly any places left to play while in the 1980s there were a huge number of places where a new band could play and gain experience. That's how those bands became great!

[Michael Angelo Batio]

blackjack, the bottom line is that this is a completely different era for music and the music business than it was before YouTube. I actually think one of the biggest problems is YouTube. Unless you are Prince or Taylor Swift, it is virtually impossible to control who does what with your music. I know from experience! People can post and do whatever they want with my music and YouTube will not stop it. But, instead of being bitter, I find ways that I see are available and take the options that I have which are many. Thanks! Great topic! :-)

[blackjack]

Jan 9, 2016 0:04:43 GMT -6 Michael Angelo Batio said:

blackjack, the bottom line is that this is a completely different era for music and the music business than it was before YouTube. I actually think one of the biggest problems is YouTube. Unless you are Prince or Taylor Swift, it is virtually impossible to control who does what with your music. I know from experience! People can post and do whatever they want with my music and YouTube will not stop it. But, instead of being bitter, I find ways that I see are available and take the options that I have which are many. Thanks! Great topic! :-)

It's hard not to be bitter when the way of making a living I have dedicated my lifetime to becoming great at, to becoming the best guitarist I can possibly become, has now been all for nothing because I find myself in the situation of being highly skilled at something whose industry died in the 1990s. I kept practicing, waiting for the business to right itself, but it never did. It would be as if I spent my whole life spending thousands and thousands of hours perfecting the craft of acting in movies only to find out that movies aren't made anymore. I feel so cheated out of what I spent my lifetime working towards that I don't know how much longer I can stand to live. I get so little enjoyment out of living anymore knowing that I will never even have the opportunity to become what I spent my lifetime preparing to be - a professional heavy metal guitarist. When I think of the sacrifices I made to have enough hours a day to practice and all the things I never got to experience as a result, there's no way I can help but feel bitter. My industry has been absolutely raped and our government just turned a blind eye towards it. Doesn't the general public get the feeling something is wrong when rock music, typically a young man's industry, is now led by bands and individual musicians who are old enough to qualify as senior citizens? There is nobody coming along to take the place of The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rush, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Motely Crue, KISS and Pantera because most of the record companies were forced into bankruptcy and the remaining few don't even have the money for artist development!

How can the government allow the music industry to collapse the way it has? They wouldn't let it happen to the movie industry! Still, entertainment, including rock music, was our country's biggest export until recently. So how can a country not protect its biggest export? Why do musicians like Prince or Taylor Swift need to have to hire private individuals to prevent people from breaking the law? That's the government's job! That's what we pay taxes for! Why doesn't the government shut youtube down or at least only let them post music that the artist has given permission to youtube to air it? Why doesn't the government go after the illegal downloading sites with the same fervor with which they go after other lawbreakers?