WE CALL IT THE CASH MONEY

[defrog]

ITEM: Billboard has released its list of the Top 40 moneymaking artists of 2009, with figures including the artist’s take on CD/digital track sales and concerts (but excluding merchandising and sponsorships).

It’s worth reading for the methodology alone.

At #40:

Bette Midler ($9,421,947)

At #1:

U2 ($108,601,283)

The U2 figure is notable for a few reasons:

1. Their 360º tour is only halfway done.
2. Each show costs around $750,000 a pop.
3. The #2 act – The Bruce – only raked in $57,619,037.

Anyway, it’s an interesting list, albeit with few surprises – one of them being that Leonard Cohen ranked at #39, which is almost as comforting as the fact that AC/DC made the top five (which means they not only made more money than Jonas Brothers, but they also made more money than Toby Keith, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley COMBINED ... which is good to know).

Also, it’s not often you’ll see the term “Wal-mart exclusive” mentioned that many times in a list not explicitly about Wal-mart exclusive releases.

Anyway, there’s yr dying music industry for you.

Peeling off those dollar bills,

This is dF

Comments

Digital copying is killing music...

[garbagecanmusic.livejournal.com]

Because of those two judgements alone, I hereby swear to steal every single piece of music that I listen to from now on.

Didn't Apple sell it's 10 billionth downloaded song recently? So does that equal roughly 10 billion dollars? Is there some kind of fuzzy math I'm missing here?

Re: Digital copying is killing music...

[def-fr0g-42.livejournal.com]

They did hit 10 billion downloads, but there's a few things to keep in mind:

1. Record labels only get a third of that.
2. That's spread out over the (roughly) seven years iTunes has been running.
3. Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift account for 70% of that figure.

NOTE: I may have made up the last point there. But you get the idea.

[thelastaerie.livejournal.com]

Touring has always been the number money-making element for musicians, that hasn't been changed, digital music or not. Supposedly, getting rid of the middleman should allow the musician and artists to earn more from song sales, but that hasn't happen yet.