Bumskull
Well-Known Member
David Ellefson had a great video about royalties and he said the break down was like this:
$100,000 toward recording the album
$25,000 for video
$75,000 for the next tour (probably covers 1 month, all the rest comes from promoters)
So basically, as David says, a band is $200,000 in the hole before they even sell 1 record. They make about $1, 2 tops, per record, so a band has to sell 200,000 just to break even. Remember, this money is not going to the studio or stage managers it's going straight to the label. The label has to pay all of these costs before the album starts selling, which is why a lot of labels will try to get their bands to write pop hits. So they can cover their asses and make a profit.
EDIT: Also because of this it is the LABEL not the artist who own the rights to any song or album.
Being a musician sucks
I know that SX was only able to start touring after V, and to make a profit probably after Odyssey. This is why bands prefer to tour. It gives them more dough to pay of debts.
$100,000 toward recording the album
$25,000 for video
$75,000 for the next tour (probably covers 1 month, all the rest comes from promoters)
So basically, as David says, a band is $200,000 in the hole before they even sell 1 record. They make about $1, 2 tops, per record, so a band has to sell 200,000 just to break even. Remember, this money is not going to the studio or stage managers it's going straight to the label. The label has to pay all of these costs before the album starts selling, which is why a lot of labels will try to get their bands to write pop hits. So they can cover their asses and make a profit.
EDIT: Also because of this it is the LABEL not the artist who own the rights to any song or album.
Being a musician sucks