Here are a few of the Year 2000's Biggest Earning Stars:
Tina Turner - $80,200,00.00
'N Sync - $76,400,000.00
Dave Matthews - $68,200,000.00
Kiss - $62,700,000.00
Tim McGraw/Faith Hill - $48,800,000.00
Dixie Chicks - $47,300,000.00
Bruce Springsteen - $45,900,000.00
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - $42,100,000.00
Metallica - $42,000,000.00
Britney Spears - $40,500,000.00
Ricky Martin - $37,200,000.00
Red Hot Chili Peppers - $31,300,000.00
Sting - $28,900,000.00
Barbara Streisand - $27,000,000.00
Creed - $26,200,000.00
Santana - $26,100,000.00
Backstreet Boys - $25,800,000.00
Jimmy Buffett - $24,100,000.00
Up In Smoke Tour - $22,200,000.00
Phish $21,400,000.00;
And for 2001 ...
U2 - $109,700,000.00
'N Sync - $86,800,000.00
Backstreet Boys - $82,100,000.00
Dave Matthews Band - $60,500,000.00
Elton John and Billy Joel - $57,200,000.00
Madonna - $54,700,000.00
Aerosmith - $49,300,000.00
Janet Jackson - $42,100,000.00
Eric Clapton - $38,800,000.00
Neil Diamond - $35,400,000.00
Matchbox Twenty - $28,400,000.00
Rod Stewart - $27,200,000.00
Jimmy Buffett - $26,900,000.00
Andrea Bocelli - $26,800,000.00
Ozzfest 2001 - $26,400,000.00
Sade - $26,200,000.00
Tim McGraw - $24,900,000.00
Britney Spears - $23,700,000.00
James Taylor - $23,000,000.00
Tool - $20,400,000.00
and that is just the Concert Tour (gate) income!
And here's how they did it, and how YOU can do it too. Using a combination of FOUR WALLS (FOUR WALLS is an inside Booking Industry term meaning - DIY - pay your own bills and do your own thing!) and Concert Producer venues!
FIRST, GET RID OF THE DELUSION: the vast majority of money made in Recorded Music is earned from record sales.
IT IS NOT! - REPEAT - IT IS NOT!
THE FACT IS, RECORDS ARE NOTHING MORE THAN AUDIO BUSINESS CARDS! We just happen to be in the only business where we can SELL our business cards, and sometimes at a profit.
Second, GET INTO THE IDEA: the vast majority of the money is made in the Live Concert Venues!
One more time: THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE MONEY MADE IN RECORDED MUSIC IS EARNED IN LIVE CONCERT VENUES! In short, the bookings.
Crunch the numbers yourself: VMG mechanicals = $.086 per song X (times) 10 songs (= $.86) per album sold; X the active parties: ExP = $.86 + (plus) Artist = $.86 = $1.80 per album sold; and Songwriter(s) = $.43 (50% of Publisher's Royalties) for a whopping $2.15 per 10 song album to the ExP/Artist/Songwriter! That's a lot of money, right?
Now factor in the point: THE INDUSTRY AVERAGE IS SEVEN (7) OUT OF EIGHT (8) ALBUMS RELEASED NEVER SELL A SINGLE COMMERCIAL COPY! Not a one.
Then factor in the COST of production and promotion of those SEVEN duds before you get that Industry Average winner, IF you ever do. And factor in the Industry Average that WHEN an album DOES sell, IT SELLS AN AVERAGE OF 50,000 COMMERCIAL COPIES.
However, 50,000 X $2.15 = $107,500.00 - and while that's a lot of money, ONE properly prepared and managed Concert can gross $280,000.00 - and net about 50% or $140,000.00 - for what amounts to ONE DAY'S WORK! (And many days preparation!) So we can see in an instant that ONE Industry Average Concert can pay $32,500.00 more hard cash PROFIT in one day than an Industry Average album (that happens to be that elusive ONE out of EIGHT) does in an Industry Average TIME FRAME of about one year. That's a lot of money and a very different TIME FRAME. For the record, TIME is also MONEY, and especially in this Industry.
We need some BASE figures that apply ONLY to making the points of this process clear. They ARE NOT the actual working numbers, which are much higher.
Let's take an INDUSTRY AVERAGE figure of $16,800,000.00 per year per act! That's right, a new - beginning - Act that is doing this Best Of All Industries THE REAL WAY this Best Of All Industries is REALLY DONE - grosses an AVERAGE of $16,800,000.00 per year in LIVE CONCERT PERFORMANCES!
And that figure DOES NOT include any record (mechanical) royalties paid by the Label/General Licenser.
Nor does it include public performance (airplay) royalties (if you can blackmail your PRO out of them).
And it does NOT include any MERCHANDISING (T-Shirts, Dolls, Toys, Posters, Plaques, Photos, et ceteras) income either.
DID YOU GET THAT? . . . $16,800,000.00 for 60 DAYS WORK on the Stage!
Again, crunch some more numbers: A good working band plays an average of TEN DAYS PER MONTH - EVERY OTHER MONTH! That means SIXTY (60) DAYS PER YEAR. The average show paying the above $280,000.00 before expenses.
We'll cover the HOW TO GET THAT $16,800,000.00 - LOGISTICS AND ALL! Don't worry about that for now - when the time comes VMG will get you on the Investor's Desk for the many more millions you're going to need.
First, you need to put your BUSINESS HOUSE in order! Being in ANY business is being IN business. Businesses exist for one purpose, TO MAKE MONEY! The product/service doesn't matter. And being IN the BUSINESS of being a Recording Artist/Entertainer is no different. You need EXACTLY the same administrative organization, INVESTMENT and MANAGEMENT as any other BUSINESS operation, from the corner barber shop/beauty parlor, auto service, et ceteras, to the huge employer manufacturers, shopping malls, fast food chains, and every other SUCCESSFUL venture.
Second, you need PROVEN product. Something, anything, that will log viable COMMERCIAL radio airplay. You don't need to manufacture - and in fact should not manufacture - in order to PROVE a product in today's technology. (If you've already made the mistake of manufacturing, it can be undone, but that is another story.) It's as simple as getting your music into any of the promolibraries! Indie 'compilations' WILL NOT WORK! Even the LEGITIMATE indie comps do not have sufficient coverage to satisfy the demands of COMMERCIAL radio airplay, and especially when it comes to have sufficient PROVEN product to influence INVESTORS. The MAJOR company composites do, the indies don't.
Third, that PROVEN PRODUCT needs to be PROVEN through any of the legitimate DISTRIBUTED Labels licensed with any of the Super Six General Licensers, or one of the limited (national/international) Licensers, such as Koch in Canada. Jackass Records from over in the swamp absolutely WILL NOT qualify for the INVESTORS! Period. Nitwilly Record Productions, Sewers Cleaned, Cement Contractor & Shine Parlor regardless of where-the-hell they're 'located', can only manage to throw your record just about as far as you can, AND NOTHING ELSE!
Your own 'label' or some equally 'renown' parallel is EQUALLY WORTHLESS at achieving COMMERCIAL radio airplay and EQUALLY WORTHLESS for getting the investment MONEY to take advantage of any given release.
Fifth, YOU NEED MONEY! You need a lot of it to exploit your PROVEN PRODUCT success! And once you have PROVEN PRODUCT AND YOUR BUSINESS HOUSE IN ORDER, we can and will put you on the desk of those INVESTORS who supply such funding/financial support. They're not interested in your glory trip, THEY ARE INTERESTED IN MAKING MONEY ON THEIR MONEY and anything even remotely jackass DOES NOT QUALIFY and will get your proposal TRASH CANNED then and there!
Fourth, (NO! These numbers are NOT out of order) to be able to GET THE MONEY in point five, above, you need a QUALIFIED BUSINESS PLAN that will influence the INVESTORS and that you can LIVE WITH once it's funded! Not some jackass 'explanation' of your 'talented glory trip' DELUSIONS, but a clear and concise presentation in accordance with SOUND BUSINESS PRINCIPALS!
To Wit: HOW much money is needed? WHERE it will be invested? WHO is going to do WHAT? HOW MUCH profit is expected? HOW LONG are all these processes going to take? And that's just for starters.
But here's how that process, and its logistics, actually works:
IN SPITE OF THE FACT only one record out of eight will sell any COMMERCIAL copies at all, with the PROPER PROMOTION the best air-playing song can draw thousands of people to the Artist's Concerts! That's Right! Each and every time a broadcaster plays your record, it's the same thing as a BROADCAST COMMERCIAL for your music, your record, and your LIVE CONCERTS!
While the general public assumes (and all the fools think) the record is selling like a house afire (even though THEY aren't buying it) they'll pay top dollar to see the Artist in LIVE CONCERT! The age of everyday LIVE MUSIC clubs for the Week End Star is NOTHING compared to a few years ago, and now is not even a viable consideration.
Now BEFORE you blast-off incoherently on an "I've-already-got-that!" scenario, which you really don't with all the right devils in the right details, let's count up some money, starting from the END of the venture and working backwards.
The current (2000) RAGE in Concert Venues are those AmpiTheatres built with TAX DOLLARS for the benefit of a VERY SELECT FEW private individuals. They seat an average of 8,500 people with a Park Area capable of another 3,000/5,000 people, not counting the parking lot. Check the nearest TicketMaster or Internet Concert Ticket Sales outlet and you'll find the AVERAGE PRICE IS $35.00 (USC) PER for the average Artist, and the 20 Stars mentioned above averaged a very generous $43.75 per ticket. True, the lessers don't get that, and some of the REAL Stars, like Barbara Streisand, get a whole lot more. But make no mistake, THE $35.00 FIGURE IS A VERY CONSERVATIVE AVERAGE!
A NON-sell-out of the seats alone, at 8,000 times $35.00 per is a very generous $280,000.00 gross per concert - again being VERY CONSERVATIVE. And these are the figures mentioned above.
8,000 TICKETS - (X) TIMES $35.00 EACH = $280,000.00
You should be booking TEN (10) days a month for no less than SIX (6) months a year = 60 Concerts. 60 X $280,000.00 equals a BLAZING $16,800,000.00 GROSS INCOME for those 60 days on the road scattered over that year!
60 CONCERTS - (X) TIMES $280,000.00 = $16,800,000.00
However, before you get any idiotic ideas that UNKNOWNS can book HIGH-DOLLAR VENUES, think again. Don't think so? Then answer this question: "How many never-wases have booked the AstroDome?
YOU CAN NOT GET THOSE HIGH DOLLAR VENUES WITHOUT A SOLID COMMERCIAL PRODUCT! Period. You flatly are not going to get the INVESTMENT to book the Astrodome with a Jackass Productions record from over next to the freight yard. ANYONE WHO THINKS THEY CAN IS A DAMNED FOOL, AND ANYONE WHO SAYS THEY CAN IS A DAMNED LIAR!
It takes a KNOWN somebody, and in music that requires COMMERCIALLY ACCEPTABLE and properly produced, financed, manufactured, promoted, licensed and distributed PHONOGRAPH RECORDS! Which instantly excludes any and all 'indie' product that Main Line Radio won't play and Main Line Outlets won't stock. And, NO!, mp3.jackass won't work either.
So, you need a COMMERCIALLY ACCEPTABLE record - on a COMMERCIALLY ACCEPTABLE label - licensed and distributed by a COMMERCIALLY ACCEPTABLE licenser. Get it? Anything less is pure and unvarnished POPPYCOCK!
Now THAT isn't as hard to get as you would think unless you're living under the DELIBERATELY PERPETUATED Beer Joint Baritone DELUSION that 'someone' is going to finance your pipe dream because you 'have talent'. If you're still THAT STUPID you're wasting your time reading this, or any other, legitimate information.
THE FINANCIAL FACTS ARE: once you have a PROVEN (Commercially Acceptable) PRODUCT and YOUR BUSINESS HOUSE in order, INVESTORS are willing to look at and perhaps INVEST the amount of MONEY it takes to PROMOTE such high paying Venues. But not until.
But let's break that whopping $16,800,000.00 estimate down a bit, and into the REALITIES of Business.
First, that is the ESTIMATED GROSS! There are all the EXPENSES to come out of it. So let's use a close estimate that each of those $280,000.00 Concerts actually COST you 50% ($140,000.00) to produce: rent, advertising, security, insurance, sound, lights, travel, communications, clean-up, et ceteras. Suddenly your NET begins to take on the aura of reality.
It's now down to $8,400,000.00 per that 60-SHOW YEAR - and that's still a lot of cold, hard, pleasure buying loot!
But we're not done yet. There's the little matter of the INITIAL INVESTMENT to repay. And let's venture that INITIAL INVESTMENT was $5,000,000.00 upon acceptance of your BUSINESS PLAN and funding thereof by the INVESTORS. There's going to be ACCRUED INTEREST. Everybody is in business to make money, and the ROI (Return On Investment) for the FINANCIERS is no exception. So you minus the $5,000,000.00 plus an interest of $1,000,000.00 leaving you with a tidy $2,400,000.00 before taxes.
THE FIGURES ARE EXAMPLES ONLY, and the actual numbers will be far more precise. Even so, even these numbers ask the question:
Are YOU ready to begin the process to earn that $2,400,000.00 the first year in Recorded Music?
Right here, most people, and all Beer Joint Baritones who are scared to death of a Million Dollars find every excuse under the Sun to escape. They neither want, nor can they handle, such responsibility. Nobody will blame them for walking. But then and there such actions clearly show to any and all the real value of their 'talent'.
But YOU are ready to take the plunge! First Step: PROVE THE MUSIC. - How?
It's a simple matter of MARKET TESTING your product to determine if it will LOG VIABLE COMMERCIAL RADIO AIRPLAY. If it logs VIABLE COMMERCIAL airplay, you've got the one-and-only indicator to invest more money into the product. If not, cut your losses on THAT production and try something else. Now having said that one more time, let's cut to the PROVEN PRODUCT chase - once you get it.
The current best-bang-for-the-buck are promolibraries. Promolibraries don't solve all the problems, but they're the quickest and lowest-cost quality test available in today's market.
Second, is to get the BEST song out of the promolibrary results into one of the MAJOR LABEL composites. Most Majors won't even consider anything they don't own lock, stock and tadpoles, but VMG does! More about that later.
Or (and this is YOUR choice) once you get satisfactory results from the promolibraries to indicate your product will LOG SUFFICIENT COMMERCIAL RADIO AIRPLAY, you might want to consider going directly for an album. If promolibrary results are deemed sufficient to justify the expense/investment.
PROOF, is Proof, is proof, and you're still going to need a hard product BEFORE you can even consider getting on the desk of the INVESTORS! So, now that we have A PROVEN SOMETHING:
We take TEN (10) songs, no more, all RADIO FRIENDLY, and release an album. NOT through Jackass Productions, Manure Hauling and Goat Currying, but via the General Licenser you uploaded your promolibrary product through! And we release it World Wide. Now, WIN, LOSE or DRAW, we have the PROVEN product to go to step three.
Three, WITH YOUR PROVEN PRODUCT AND YOUR BUSINESS HOUSE IN ORDER, we can put you on the desk of those INVESTORS who can shell out the $5 to $10+Million long-green you'll need to BUY the services and logistics to get those HUGE Venues we spoke of just a few paragraphs above.
You'll have to meet a few logistical standards, beside your Business House being in order, but the average investment loan is ONE (1) TO TEN (10) MILLION DOLLARS! And not one penny of it released to party! Every penny is already dedicated. Every cent is allocated to the facilities, equipment, salaries, insurances and administrative logistics you're going to need to deliver those performances. And to get it you also need a SOUND BUSINESS PLAN. What you're going to do with the money, how long it's going to take to do it, how much ROI (Return On Investment) the INVESTORS are going to be repaid, et ceteras, as mentioned above. However, for this explanation we'll split the average and base our figures on a $5,000,000.00 investment.
So, you've got a Business House in Order, sufficient PROVEN product, and FIVE MILLION DOLLARS that will be spent properly and in exact accordance with your Business Plan, and you are about this business in no un-certain terms.
$5-Million Bucks. Owed to the Investors/Lenders. BUT THAT IS PEANUTS!
IF - REPEAT - IF you are about the BUSINESS OF THE BUSINESS you're going to book that 60 Concerts - make that $16.8+Million - PAY BACK THOSE INVESTORS - and BE IN THIS BUSINESS right up-with and along-side everybody else who is any body else, you need to know the START UP COSTS.
INITIAL START UP INVESTMENTS = promolibrary uploads are $600.00 per song at VMG. Other companies charge their own prices, which includes those independent promolibrary operations now coming alive on the net. Some of those operations will do a full service for about $450.00 - and some even less - so you'll have to seek them out. If you have a question as to their legitimacy, ask us.
How many songs will it take before you have a solid air-logger? Nobody knows. FOUR (4) out of FIVE (5) songs released never log one split second of COMMERCIAL Radio Airplay!
And that's why you DO NOT - REPEAT - DO NOT blow your wad on an album at the get-go! Only an INDUSTRY IGNORANT does that. They've documented their own INDUSTRY IGNORANCE by releasing a product that doesn't have any Market Test on it and therefore NO MARKET FOR IT! And it's done everyday by those who buy-into the WHAT-NEVER-DID-WORK myths and delusions of the Beer Joint Baritone community.
And WHERE can you get your product into the promoliobraries?
You have several choices. First, there are Independent PromoLibraries (some on the internet), and they'll have the best prices. Some Independents upload through one or more of the General Licensers, while others just trade out (like they all do). The Major Labels offer the service (if they'll take your product), and their prices are usually higher than Independents, but IT PUTS THAT LABEL IN YOUR POCKET should you produce any viable success. And last, are the Super Six General Licensers direct, only at a huge increase in cost over the Labels and way-above the Independents, IF - REPEAT - IF you can get them to accept your product to begin with.
The few Major Labels and Independents will upload anything and everything, but NOT because of the money! Those Majors and Independents WILL NOT SIT IN JUDGMENT as to whether your product will air or not - but the Major Labels might not want product out of their dedicated line. Nobody really knows whether your product will succeed or not, so the Independents upload it and find out. In either instance, success is success is success and EVERYBODY WANTS IN ON IT ONCE YOU HAVE IT!
Do you want THAT kind of a deal and opportunity?
Well, THAT and ONLY THAT is what VMG reaches for every time.
Contact any VMG VP/Rep. Just don't spam the company. We TRASH spammers at the outset. |