How much money does a band make on warped tour

I fielded some really interesting questions over at Reddit this thread if you missed it. Thanks to everyone who came by to add to the discussion. That is, your favorite band is likely not very rich. My first shows were all at clubs, probably to capacities.

Find out how much Vans Warped Tour, Atreyu, The Melvins, and more made on the road. | Metal Insider

You get kids in a mosh pit for an hour and the room is alive. Sweat pools along the ceiling and drips down on everyone below. The band onstage are gods among men. Off stage, they must live like the immortals they are, in a big house with a home theater and a bowling alley.

Well, let me break down the math. It used to be that when a band played a show, the club had to make back their expenses and then they split the profit with the band. As more clubs opened and things got competitive, promoters used to promise that they would get a certain number of kids through the door, and "guarantee" them a certain fee. That really spiraled out of control and all these bands and agents and managers told promoters to promise them a guarantee based on a sold out show.

Van purchases one broken transmission will likely eat the profit from an entire tour. Even without paying a manager or agent, profit margins are slim.

Meg and Dia

And most overlook the biggest cost of being on the road — days off, which burn through the same amount of expenses per day but with zero income coming in. The real profit for a band at that stage comes from merchandise sales. If you want to support your favorite band, go buy a shirt.

A ton of money. Now, in record deals, the label gets paid. When they open for another artist they may make much less than that. I would guess that once all expenses are paid, most club-level bands fall roughly into this range. The decent show money comes from playing theaters and above capacities of about 2, The majority of artists never reach this level.

In , about , albums were released by artists. Artists signed to a record label should not expect to make album royalties. So where can artists make money?

It depends on the type of artist. I generally separate bands into two camps: A very successful artist will harness both. A big song at radio generates hundreds of thousands of dollars. A huge radio hit can generate over a million dollars worldwide from what are essentially royalties paid by radio stations to play that song.

You look at where the money comes in.

Which leads to most major labels laying off their rock staff and focusing almost entirely on top 40 bands that are going to generate a lot of revenue from mass media. The upside to all this is that music consumption is higher than ever. People love music and they always will. The situation pushes artists to constantly look for new ways to generate revenue, which makes them very progressive and early adopters of new technology.

The men and women you see on stage are trying to make a decent buck just like everyone else. Mike Kaminsky has been an artist manager for over ten years. His current list of clients include 3OH3, Dia Frampton and the Summer Set, among others.

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