Wow for an artist like Jewel there really is little money in the music. I wonder if all the preorders on her website were counted toward the sales, wouldn't have made much difference in the end
I was thinking about this, too, while reading this post. I heard artists make like $1 an album sale (and that was in the mid 2000's IIRC). So, $32K for S&W and like $12K for PUTP.
Wow! I have a company that owes me somewhere around $12K for consulting r/n and I haven't billed them yet because I just haven't been able to get myself motivated to do all the paperwork for the invoice for that amount of money.
And, it was so weird seeing old albums from like when I was a kid (like AC/DC Back in Black) on there. I guess people just aren't really doing the whole listening to music thing any more? What the heck are all the kids listening to on those head phones that they're always wearing? Or is it all just pirated, these days?
I still buy like 5 albums a year.... which is about what I bought when I was a kid.
I just find these numbers amazing. How does anyone in music still have a job?
Right on, Code
This has been the #1 bitch about the music industry. People can't understand how Jewel went broke. The artist does get dollars on an album sale, sometimes. There is a ton of overhead when putting out a new album, even when it's self-produced. She foots the bill for everything. And yeah, most of the music kids are listening to - is pirated. Which is wwhy a lot of artists, have stopped making music. It's similar in my idustry and why Hollywood writers bitch so much about being on the bottom of the food chain.
Things like, touring, promo shoots, head shots, lawyers, producers, studio musicians, studio time, tape (or whatever media she recorded to), contributing artists - Kip Moore (he's getting the royalties for PFF), Dolly Parton, Rodney Crowell, and any venue that she may have to cover costs for upfront whether seats sell or not. Like, YWMFM - Poltz gets the royaties for it. So she may be running her ass off, doing all these different shows - she has some big ass bills to pay, just to break even. And don't forget management - which takes, at minimum 10%.
Putting out a book at the same time - just raised all those costs. It's expensive being indie. Trust me. Thing is, at the end of the day, money aside - you have more creative control and input. So, when you see things about buying music or indie/self-published authors, think about it - they're not selling out. The vision in their head is closer to what you see. There is more heart.
I'll stop ranting now. Sorry, but I do it for a living, so I get rolling.
