April 14, 2010

Infographic: How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online?

A chart attempting to show how much artists need to sell in order to earn minimum-wage through the royalty deals of various real and digital music formats.

Infographic: How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online?

Information is Beautiful via Daily Swarm

24 Responses

  1. Finally something visual and easily digestible for artists like Subtitle, DJ Shadow, Buck 65 etc and all the other entitled whiners.

    From the pie chart and bright colours I think you can clearly understand that you cannot earn any money from selling music and hopefully by extension there will be no further rants, appeals, tirades, pleas to turn record labels and artists into welfare applicants and delusions of needing to spend $20 grand on promotion for your indie rap CD.

    I don’t even think the new Busdriver album sold over 4000.

    It’s all about the love of making music these days and I think this is a good thing.

    1. Not really.. all that that attitude does is make people want to emulate the current trends in hope that they get a steady income rather than drudge away making underground hip hop geared towards a bunch of apathetic, ungrateful assholes, so yeah if you like cookie cutter, autotuned, white sunglasses wearing bullshit hip hop than by all means keep downloading away and telling these underground dudes how stupid they are for asking people to actually pay for their music every once and a while.

  2. …Asshole.
    These dudes DESERVE to live off their art.
    You deserve to work a lame job and talk shit on message boards.

  3. I bought like 40 cds last year, i have no problem buying a physical copy of something. But i will DL and listen to it before I go that far.

  4. Finally something visual and easily digestible for artists like Subtitle, DJ Shadow, Buck 65 etc and all the other entitled whiners.

    From the pie chart and bright colours I think you can clearly understand that you cannot earn any money from selling music and hopefully by extension there will be no further rants, appeals, tirades, pleas to turn record labels and artists into welfare applicants and delusions of needing to spend $20 grand on promotion for your indie rap CD.

    I don’t even think the new Busdriver album sold over 4000.

    It’s all about the love of making music these days and I think this is a good thing.

    straight up and down truth.

    my so called career has been based on putting stickers on a rock.

    1 out of 100 musicians living off making music, have a decent quality of life

    It’s all about the love of making music these days and I think this is a good thing.

    how can anyone on this message board seriously disagree with this statement?

    is that not the ONLY reason any of us still make music?

    if you`re not having fun making music for fun, eat a chocolate bar and be a promoter.

  5. I did a show with Maestro about 6 or 7 years ago, and we we`re playing an outdoor motocross festival in Indian Head Saskatchewan

    the promoter had payed us both way more than we we`re worth or brought out, in advance and suddenly it started to rain super big time.

    `maestro was like, i`m not going to play in these conditions man`

    i was so drunk and woofed on goofballs i go

    `can i rap let your backbone slide then man? i wrote my own lyrics!

    and he looked at me like a fucking mark for a second.. then started to laugh and gave me a pound, and went on stage and did the best rap show i have ever seen anyone do.

    true story, sort of.

  6. i’ve got a foot in both camps. i think the real money is in shows. i live off doing shows. i am happy if people have my album, however they can get it, cause then they come to shows. because i’m better live, haha.

  7. Chris Plus

    I guess the pie chart went over your head.

    Let me break it down for you:

    The point that the bright colours and pie charts are trying to make is that people are not paying for music anymore. That shit has come and gone. It’s over. Good or bad, it’s fucking over.

    It would therefore be prudent for all these crybaby fuckers to stop bitching and whining about something that isn’t going to change and just accept it. There is no longer any relevance to having a moral argument about this issue.

    Artists bitching about people not buying their music is fucking tired. It’s been nearly 10 years now and the trend is not going to change. Hate to break it to you, but you are not entitled to receive anything for a product you produce. Hell, you’re not even entitled to getting a job these days.

    I have no sympathy for someone who is crying because they didn’t make it to the NBA. Magic Johnson said it was important to go to school in case you didn’t make it to the big leagues. Now you find that you’re fucked because the market shifted; why is that my problem?

    Who is stupid enough to try and make underground rap their main source of income these days anyway?

    1. Who is bitching about sales besides DJ shadow… Last time I check RZA was telling his fans to download away.

  8. Not going to get into the whole downloading is positive/negative issue.

    The point is that it’s happening and there is nothing you can do about it.

    If you set up a fruit stand next to a gypsy circus and for the last 10 years you have been complaining that people are stealing your fruit and you can’t pay your rent anymore but you try to continue selling and going on and on about how it’s hard, wrong, immoral, illegal, asking for donations; you’re not a champion for the rights of fruit-sellers, you’re a fucking idiot.

    1. No, the point is that downloading music kills independent labels. Look how many have folded recently, maybe you’re not a fan of the music but when your favorite independent artists label folds and they stop making music you enjoy then maybe you’ll get it.

      Your analogy is terrible by the way.

      I don’t like it when artists complain about people downloading their albums either but to ignore the ramifications just because ‘it’s going to happen anyway’ is like the ostrich sticking it’s head in the sand.

  9. its true, not making money off music is not going to change. but that’s not what I’d argue. Music nowadays is alot like air and water, its actually good for you, but since there is so much of it, everybody tends to piss, shit and pollute it with little hesitation. fans and artists alike

    Good musicians (not delusional ones) usually enjoy others appreciation for making good music. What I find hilarious though, is that many people who download all their music (most people) find themselves too embarrassed to even offer $5, let alone props on a message board, to somebody who delights in making quality music for you, does a show in your neighborhood, even bothers to meet you, and represents your community aside from having there own personal careers. Some fans are too stone walled to offer chump change or even genuine thanks. I don’t know what kind of shell they are trapped in, but it deserves an insult or two, just from the irony of the situation.

  10. It is all about doing good shows and selling merch. That pays way more than selling cd´s and records. Physical rules. Digital sucks. Why would i pay 99 cent for each song if i can have a physical copy for a cheaper price even. 😉

  11. Aren’t downloads and CD’s just throwaways anyway? It’s all about the live shows and getting them into the clubs anyway… That’s where the real money into play!