Do Metal Bands Have a Day Job?

[t0ny]

I was talking to Khan about this and he said he has been able to live completely off music for about 4 years. It's not a luxurious lifestyle by any means, but he said he can live comfortably.

 

[Cellador]

A metal band'll make between 10-15% off retail cost of a CD and after packaging costs, which generally takes another 20% off or so. So essentially if your basic rate is 12% and your packaging decution is 20%, if the CD is $10 take $2 off for the packaging deduction, and then take the royalty percentage off the remaining $8. There could also be a number of other deductions based off how the album was sold. A newer band will probably see very little of these royalties at first because they generally are withheld by the label to cover recording and tour support costs.

Also the band is paid a seperate publishing royalty that goes to the composer of the songs, and cannot be withheld legally by a label. So songwriters have a bit more to look forward to. Its still a very small number per CD though.

Merchandise is pretty much the only way a band will pocket any money on the road. Much of the rest of the income from tickets is used to pay the venue and label for their tour support budgets. I've heard some roadies and techs can make quite a bit, a guy I know here was a guitar tech for the US Hammerfall/Edguy tour and he walked away with quite a bit I would certainly say for a months work. But then again, he also said the bands themselves seemed quite "secure" financially.

 

[dargormudshark]

I was talking to Khan about this and he said he has been able to live completely off music for about 4 years. It's not a luxurious lifestyle by any means, but he said he can live comfortably.

Someone told me he was an alarm salesman

 

[Petethedrummer]

Someone told me the same thing... but it was you, so I guess that doesnt really help..

 

[dr00b]

I think you need to go on multiple tours and sell a few albums until you can live off your pay.. making double or triple back from recording or tours is awesome you would think, but not everyone goes platinum after a single, I mean some do here in America.. which is ridiculous.. but until you're big enough, like Stratovarius or Blind Guardian.. then you're set, but they worked their asses off for it, I won't say they didn't, they've both come really far.

Isn't that right Timo?

Kotipelto: Yes! *with a touch of sass*

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

Here's what I've said a few times. Yeah, mostly only the biggest bands are living off of their albums/touring, or the people who have decent sales/tours and are really killer and smart in the business department. But that doesn't mean that people aren't making a living from music. A lot of the people I like have the kind of training where they're making a living from music because they get jobs playing and things. All kinds of stuff.

 

[metal71]

Sorry, but am I the only one who sees a striking resemblence (in the above photo of Kotipelto) to one Sebastian Bach?!?

HAhahahha

 

[Schizoid Man]

I understand that in Sweden, bands can receive a government styffen. I guess that's some sort of governemnt assistance. I could be wrong.

 

[Yippee38]

A average metal band only gets a very small fragment of the income from CD sales, and those sales are going down baby!!! More and more music is being downloaded for free on the internet, leaving the bands with even less money.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but at Powerfest in spring I was talking to Heather Smith from Century Media. Unless I totally misunderstood her - and she was pretty clear about it - she said that Century Media's CD sales have been going up at a pretty substatial rate. I can't remember the exact numbers she gave, but I thought she said that they saw something like a 48% increase in sales from '03 to '04. She attributed most of it to people being able to listen Century Media's band's music from the internet. I didn't ask her about legal downloads (samples from the bands website) vs. illegal downloads (kazaa, etc.), but that's pretty much a no brainer.

It's a shame that people think that just because they can do something and get away with it, that makes it alright. Personally, I have completely given up on downloading music from anywhere other than the band's, or label's site. If I like it, I buy it. If I don't, I keep it on my hard drive. More than once I've gone back to a sample I didn't like a while back, and discovered that I like it.

OTOH, I don't believe a word RIAA and MPAA say. Any time they come out with numbers showing that CD sales are down, it turns out that they are only looking at a small subset of total sales, which have always been up recently.

IIRC, most, or all of the guys in Fates Warning have day jobs.

 

[metal71]

Century Media also has great internet/mail order prices. Lots of new CD's from $10, close outs from $5, etc. Don't forget their great distribution deals with other labels....

I think this label alone is huge for promoting metal in America..

 

[sccaldwell]

Out of the bands you mentioned, based on the interviews I've done, all of those bands make a living from their music if I am not mistaken. It may be different for the Fates Warning guys maybe since they release albums too far apart these days. Iced Earth I would imagine a couple of the guys in the bands need day jobs. But Michael is right...it is few and far between these days.

This fact is one of many reasons why I believe that people who get their music by stealing it via downloading (or copying friends' CDs) should be shot, forcibly deafened, castrated, or something else equally nasty. If you're downloading just to "try before you buy," or get live/bootleg/out-of-print CDs or tracks (that *can't* be bought from the band), and you DO turn around and buy anything you actually liked, then you're exempt (in my book). If you just "listen for free," you're a thief and you suck.

It's bad enough if you're stealing music by Britney Spears or some other "mega pop star," although I don't see Britney or her over-compensated ilk starving as a result.

But if you're stealing music by Circus Maximus, Manticora, Conception, Stride or one of these other hard-working, talented bands that we love (bands who work hard to produce this great music yet still have to hold day jobs just to live or make "just enough" from music to get by), then you just don't deserve to exist. If you had enough money to attend ProgPower, enjoyed a band's performance, yet have a "copy" of one or more of their CDs (but didn't pay for it), then you should be ashamed to show your face at ProgPower. Spend the money buying that music instead.

And to paraphrase Bill Hicks.....for those of you who don't think it's stealing, you can stop your internal dialogue RIGHT NOW, because YOU'RE WRONG. It IS stealing, and you DO suck.

 

[dargormudshark]

Someone told me the same thing... but it was you, so I guess that doesnt really help..

Yeah, I know, but someone who had just spoke to Khan told me that. I'm so confused, I guess he used to be an alarm salesman

 

[PyramazeGuitar]

I'm not saying you are wrong, but at Powerfest in spring I was talking to Heather Smith from Century Media. Unless I totally misunderstood her - and she was pretty clear about it - she said that Century Media's CD sales have been going up at a pretty substatial rate. I can't remember the exact numbers she gave, but I thought she said that they saw something like a 48% increase in sales from '03 to '04. She attributed most of it to people being able to listen Century Media's band's music from the internet. I didn't ask her about legal downloads (samples from the bands website) vs. illegal downloads (kazaa, etc.), but that's pretty much a no brainer.

I'm sure you're right about Century Media. They are big enough to throw a fortune into promotion for the bands they believe in, and they have always been known to be very smart thinking about new ways to sell, and keep up with the technology. So sales might look good for those guys (and a few other major labels too) But there are THOUSANDS of metal labels out there who don't have the same capacity, and who work things the "old fashioned" style. It's mostly them and their bands who feel the illegal downloading problem. Lets face it - buying records in the stores is not as popular as it was 10 years ago. The people who don’t care about the visual artwork some bands produce for the albums, tend to just sit on their ass and download the songs (for free - or they pay a bit for one or two songs of an album - but they don't buy the entire thing) and that's where the problems start. This was not possible 10 years ago - you had to go and buy the entire thing. Century Media and a few other major labels know how to make the best out of this new situation, but that's by far not the case for all labels.

 

[adaher]

Well, any album sales mean extra money. My friend sold 5000 worldwide, and although that certainly didn't support him, it was nice to get the checks.

BTW, his album, Farrcry-Can't Bargain with God, now goes for $100 almost everywhere it sells. He wishes he was getting some of that action.

 

[General Zod]

I guess I would have thought that Nevermore is much bigger than Evergrey...did not realize they do not have to work, that is VERY cool.....

I would have thought so too. That said, I have no clue what their respective CD sale numbers look like, or what they make when the play live. When I interviewed Henrik a while back, he told me that no one in the band works. Apparently, Mike was the last to give up his day job.

Zod