Interesting article I read of a Finnish band today...about how impossible it is to make a living with records etc. these days.

Being a small country our market is small, and thus 10.000 copies is a LOT for a band here. Only the ones frequently in radio and playing all the big festivals will reach that elusive goal, while the great majority of working bands, even with a good fan base, will usually sell a few thousand and consider that very good.

Well one of such bands, who've been quite popular here for over a decade - everyone knows them and/or seen them play, and they have a dozen CD's out plus live DVD's and poetry books and whatnot...very famous anyway. Well, they usually sell about 10.000 copies of their album, and the singer in the article said that means about $3000 in royalties. He went on to say that 10k is roughly the limit where the CD actually starts making money, as it also costs circa that much to properly make and release an album.

He went on to say that in his view maybe half a percent of touring pro musicians here make a living actually out of music, and it's getting harder and harder all the time. Practically the only income comes from radio play, which is way more than they get for CD sales, and gigs. However gigging is hard in that people demand better and better audio experience etc. these days, and it is rather costly to tour too with all the gas prices and roadie fees these days, which cuts the income quite heavily.

They have also gotten roughly two million listens on Spotify by now for their latest album...grossing a whopping $50 for the band :-) so that is hardly any income either. Four million listens would buy half a day of studio time for recording the song in the first place.

I always knew this, of course...it's impossible to make any real money with music here; the only possibilities are either becoming some hit singer off Idols or a Tango singer or something - not a band, absolutely - or be one of those one in ten thousand bands that somehow manage to make it internationally, in which case it can actually yield a living.

I know a few guys from my town who play in such international bands...one is Tarot, and they've toured all over the world and do pretty OK on their tours but still the drummer for instance can't afford a decent car even.

Much better does this guy whom I know and who plays in Nightwish, and they've become quite a success internationally, topping charts even in many countries and playing for tens of thousands. He's a really nice fella and he's done pretty well, he's been able to afford a nice normal house for his family and a nice upper-middle-class living obviously. But he's also often appeared on TV for other things etc. I often see him sledding with his kids near my home. But he doesn't seem to be no millionaire either, despite the huge success.

I dunno what I'm trying to say here...likely that those rockstars of old are history more or less...it's just hit music basically these days it seems that makes any real income.