How much money do metal bands/musicians make in a year?

[ShadyDavey]

Lol find a film composer who now writes progressive/symphonic metal!! Gets you free stuff from Ernie Ball too Hopefully we'll find our vocalist at auditions tomorrow, the current front-runner is a classically trained soprano who's already fronted a touring metal band and also happens to be a burlesque/lingerie model You cant be called a sell-out if you start as you mean to go on

Tour near me, I could do with seeing some cracking lallies ^^

On topic:

Biff Byford from Saxon was friends with my first band's drummer so I got to meet him a few times. Bearing in mind Saxon were one of the bigger bands from the NWOBHM he's still not riding around with his own plane and touring harem.....one of the other local faces is Gizz Butt (Prodigy, More I see, English Dogs) and he had to support himself with teaching guitar for years and years. In fact as far as I know thats how he earns the majority of his income to this day.

By all means, have passion for your music, practice 24/7 and all that good stuff...but don't give up your day job.

 

[datalore]

Damn and he's been around quite awhile. But I guess if you just make enough to get by year by year, you never save anything.

My brief experience with some in the record industry was a big turn off. Many stories of how the bands get fucked, and you see so many despicable leeches. I gave up and just play for my own enjoyment.

I suppose it's harder if you want to do things on your own terms. Devin seems to have done pretty well with his producing, but he also just built himself a studio of his own, so that's a lot of overhead to cover. I really admire his approach, actually. He gets to live out on the coast of BC with his wife and child, and make whatever music he wants to his heart's content. Who could ask for more?

 

[DaveCarter]

Tour near me, I could do with seeing some cracking lallies ^^

We auditioned today and got 20 singers down to a top 3, she's in it ^^

Back on topic:

There are a lot of musicians that fall into the "starving artist" category. Then you have the bands/musicians that sell millions of records and are pretty well off. But what most people fail to recognize is that it really isn't just one of the formentioned extremes. There are plenty of musicians that live comfortably in the middle class. Yes, typically these aren't guys in bands on smaller labels and what not. But there are plenty of musicians that make a great living through guitar teaching, composing, and independent work. I think if more of these "just barely cutting it" bands were able to do other things to supliment their income then they would be much better off. Guitar teachers make good money for the most part. So do composers and individuals who are able to sell a good amount of records without the assistance of a label. they aren't paying dividends to someone who isn't necessarily helping. Take a look at musicians like- tom hess, george bellas, or the majority of the shrapnel artists for example. These are individuals who aren't selling millions upon millions of records but they live very comfortably because they have more than one source of income coming their way. I think it comes down to be resourcful enough to make a nice living.

^^ Awesome post.

As I said, Im not planning on making loads out of a band, or even a good living. But its what I wanna do more than anything else in the world!! So Ive made sure Im at a level where I can teach (which Ive been doing for the last year n a half) and do session work (15 years classical training) so even if I dont have time for a typical day job I can still earn more than just from CD sales/gigging/merch. Add to that the fact we're releasing internationally from our own label means we keep 100% of Dealer Price on every album sold, and our costs were virtually nothing since we self recorded, self produced, self distributed. Through keeping the costs down and being smart with our marketing hopefully we wont be too broke from doing what we love

 

[stuh84]

OMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM

 

[DaveCarter]

EDIT: on second thoughts, nevermind....

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

May I share my tale of woes?

Melbourne Metal Band Blood Duster is a good example of this.

Every member of that band is at least in another side project or 2 in addition to already working full time. In fact vocalist Tony works at Shock Records and uses annual leave only for band purposes. Oddly enough I saw him apply for a job at my work for driver position. But I'm glad he turned it down, UPS is too stressful.

Another Aussie Metal band Full Scale (before their US fiasco) were the darlings of Melbourne Hard rock scene, though they went through every job you can think of. (Guitarist Jimmy T, was a cop, courier, whatever before the band... and even he asked me for a job at UPS , again I'm glad he didn't get it, he ended up joining Helmet on their 2006-2007 tour). Also don't get me started on what Universal Records did to them. Long story short, they were chewed up and spat out. Shame as they were a fantastic band.

Oh and how's this for the biggest Metal tragedy:

I'm actually in an inactive metal band called 4arm: prior to joining the band, this band had a bad publicity due to them suing Metropolis Studios for bad mixing... and won (but still a taint in the reputation). Finished first album (with myself as session member - labour of love), got some publicity, except our rhythm guitarist/vocalist broke his forearm (all pun intended on this poetic justice) and unable to tour.... needless to say, not one gig was done to promote this album. Not much was made financially of course. Even worse is the fact that the band decided to record a followup album (funded mostly from Metallica Tribute shows by the same exact band ). This time I ended up chipping in some cash under the condition that we promote and tour the album = you know, like real normal bands do. Despite this new album's immenant release... our drummer's still jaded and refuses to gig, instead they'd prefer the security of working in a pizza shop together with the singer and bassist as well as double as a Tribute band to satsify your drum thrills. While it is more financially secure to work full time, what's the point of forking out all of my hard earned cash of recording a full album of original songs? Those songs managed to get positive feedback only to go onto a damn myspace page. Honestly WTF? wallbash:some more)

I've been trying to get out of this stigma for ages now, got 2 bands on the side (both non metal) but still not enough for me to resign my secure job. But that's my depressing tale.

 

[Koshchei]

 

[GH0STrider]

^^ Awesome post.

As I said, Im not planning on making loads out of a band, or even a good living. But its what I wanna do more than anything else in the world!! So Ive made sure Im at a level where I can teach (which Ive been doing for the last year n a half) and do session work (15 years classical training) so even if I dont have time for a typical day job I can still earn more than just from CD sales/gigging/merch. Add to that the fact we're releasing internationally from our own label means we keep 100% of Dealer Price on every album sold, and our costs were virtually nothing since we self recorded, self produced, self distributed. Through keeping the costs down and being smart with our marketing hopefully we wont be too broke from doing what we love

Exactly my point dude. Glad to see you have other sources to earn income with music other than the band.

 

[Rick]

I loved Full Scale.

 

[ShadyDavey]

We auditioned today and got 20 singers down to a top 3, she's in it ^^

Back on topic:




^^ Awesome post.

As I said, Im not planning on making loads out of a band, or even a good living. But its what I wanna do more than anything else in the world!! So Ive made sure Im at a level where I can teach (which Ive been doing for the last year n a half) and do session work (15 years classical training) so even if I dont have time for a typical day job I can still earn more than just from CD sales/gigging/merch. Add to that the fact we're releasing internationally from our own label means we keep 100% of Dealer Price on every album sold, and our costs were virtually nothing since we self recorded, self produced, self distributed. Through keeping the costs down and being smart with our marketing hopefully we wont be too broke from doing what we love

Offtopic...

Goodness, she's lovely

Ontopic:

Explore those alternative routes (Teaching, sessions, pizza delivery) and educate yourself as to the business - there's a lot of rascals out there.

 

[DaveCarter]

Goodness, she's lovely

Why thankyou Like I said, mine

educate yourself as to the business - there's a lot of rascals out there

Very true. A few examples Ive heard of:

My band's last drummer was previously in a band signed to Rising Records (this in itself could be classed as an industry mistake, very dodgy label). The contract they were offered stipulated that the label would own the rights to the songs as well as the recordings, which Ive been warned of. The label was literally cut n pasting their songs, turning a 5 minute metal track in to a 3-minute radio friendly track i.e. cut the intros, cut the breakdowns and solos etc. The drummer complained that it was starting to lose them their existing fanbase and that theyd had a lot of negative feedback on the new mixes. The label's response to the rest of the band was ''find a new drummer or find a new label''. They kicked him out the band that week.

Before that they had a gig booked up north, so the promoter had agreed on a fee of £200. It cost them £150 in petrol to get there, half way through their set the promoter disappeared. They never got the money. I told him that they should have booked the gig under a contract, and he said if theyd insisted on that then they wouldnt have been booked.

Having joined the musicians union Ive learnt a lot of ways round this: try to book the gigs under contracts, stating that the agreed fee will be payed in cash on arrival. This ensures you dont get given any crap about 'we didnt sell enough tickets to pay you' etc. If you've agreed on an unconditional fee, there's no reason you shouldnt get it before you play. If they refuse a contract, probably best to avoid the gig, but if you do want to play then get an email from them. If its booked over the phone you have no proof that they owe you any money, but if you get them to confirm the booking in an email mentioning the agreed fee, then that actually counts as a contract. Something to do with an 'electronic signature', which means the MU have actually taken proof of those emails to court and won. Theyd probably take a cut of it but its better than getting nothing at all.

Another guy I know had a similar experience, the venue owner who'd booked them disappeared before they finished playing. At the end of the night when they were leaving it was just the bar staff left to lock up the venue and they refused to pay the band, so they loaded up their van with the house PA and lighting rig!! Then left a message for the venue owner that if he wanted his gear back, he could come collect it when he bought them their fee. The amount of gear they took was about equal to the fee and the guy never came for his gear Not a recommended approach to the music industry, but it worked!!

Same goes for session work really, whatever you do get it in writing!! Also, NEVER sign a contract unless you've had it checked over by an independant lawyer who can spell it all out for you in plain english. The MU will do this for you for free, as well as provide template contracts for gigs/sessions/producers

 

[DaveCarter]

I think when Trent Reznor quit his record company and released Ghosts I-IV by himself for $5 (there were more expensive options too, like a limited vinyl version), he made something like millions of dollars during the first week of selling it. Of course, he's well known already, but wtf? Are the record companies honestly taking that much money from the artist? That, and they're asking 4 or 5 times more per cd... crazy.

Check this out:

 

[Ze Kink]

Check this out:

Yeah, great stuff, hadn't seen that earlier That is indeed how I think things should be done these days. Trent is the greatest

 

[phantom911]

I just finished watching that video, he is pretty much a genius on how to make a living with your music

 

[Sepultorture]

i dunno if this was covered i'm too lazy to read the entire bunch of post responses

but what about death metal bands, i always look at Cannibal Corpse, and they are pretty much the highest paid death metal band and they have been around for over 20 years.

but what really do they earn.

most average death metal bands, most of them still all have day jobs, six feet under for example, dunno bout chris barnes, but the rest of the band all works when they get home

 

[Ze Kink]

thats a cool idea how he put his music on usb keys and put em in the bathrooms at shows

Yeah, but it was even more exiting than it sounds. I remember beating my f5 key after every show to see when someone would upload whatever were inside them, uncovering more pages and new songs etc.

The ARG was completely epic IMO, I spent hours with it. I really hope that they make the TV series they've been planning that's based on the ARG and hear the second Year Zero (or actually third, if you count Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D or whatever it's called as second) album of course!

 

[DaveCarter]

i dunno if this was covered i'm too lazy to read the entire bunch of post responses

but what about death metal bands, i always look at Cannibal Corpse, and they are pretty much the highest paid death metal band and they have been around for over 20 years.

but what really do they earn.

most average death metal bands, most of them still all have day jobs, six feet under for example, dunno bout chris barnes, but the rest of the band all works when they get home

I remember an interview with Chris Webster (Its on the 'tube) where they asked him if he was making any money out of Death Metal, and he jokes about how there's no mansion or Ferrari in his life, but him and his wife own there own house and he has a pick-up truck. With the time and effort he's put in to the band I think he probably deserves a hell of a lot more than that!! But there just isnt enough demand for DM. In Alex's opinion, it must be worth it

 

[Nick]

Well, i always thought that no-one who was true to their music gave a fuck about illegal downloading, but now that i know how much they earn, it kinda puts me off.

what?!?!?

Im glad you have now reconsidered this frankly laughable viewpoint.

So someone who is 'true to their music' should give it away for free?

even though they have to spend a ridiculous amount of money on gear, recording fees, practice space/time etc. Even though they dont have time to work 40 hrs a week so that they can afford to pay for that.

How are they supposed to do that if everyone takes their music for free?

 

[DaveCarter]

You could arguably make more money if you DO give it away for free...

...so long as people still have a Reason to Buy Watch the above video if you havent already, really useful

 

[Koshchei]

I vote that this thread be stickied. It contains WAY too much useful information to be allowed to sink beneath the waves.

Ninjaedit: If you do like a band's music, DO BUY IT.