Sorry if this in the wrong section, didn't know where else to put it.

 

I bring this up after reading an article from Plan B saying he's rich enough to retire - but he says he's not a millionaire. His album sold 700,000+, and I'm not sure how many singles but it's a lot. His label must have made £10m from him alone.

 

My question is, how much do artists earn from album and single sales? Anybody know?

It differs from artist to artist, but if they have a songwriting credit on their songs, then they will still get a massive share of the royalties. Which is why acts like Spice Girls are still very wealthy is the fact that they all have songwriting credits on each song, so eveytime they're played in films/TV. They recieve payment.

Artists earn a MUCH larger cut from gigs and merchandise than from album and single sales. You need to be selling millions of albums to see any sort of sizeable profit for the artist, which is why a lot of acts (who aren't signed to Syco :P) tour extensively. AC/DC have only released two albums in ten years but are one of the top earning acts of the decade due to the massive success of their latest tour.

Bands like take that for example would make huge money, massive selling albums, decent selling singles, massive tours plus they earn royalities from writing material etc in contrast a band like jls wouldnt make as much as they have no royalities from song writing simon cowell takes a huge chunk of their earnings. It all depends on much involvement an act has in their material etc and yes tours are where the biggest profit is and merchandise.

I would think artists get more money from going on tour and being paid to appear on TV shows like X Factor. I'm sure it varies a lot, but I bet some of the money people got paid for appearing on the X Factor this year would equate to tens of thousands of album sales, at least.

 

Plus, with Plan B, he'd probably be classified as an album artist, but think about singles artists such as Flo Rida and Taio Cruz!

Edited December 15, 201014 yr by Eric_Blob

i wonder were kate bush got all her money from??

 

and enya!

Edited December 15, 201014 yr by JakeWild

i wonder were kate bush got all her money from??

 

and enya!

Kate Bush? One number one and six more top ten singles (one with Peter Gabriel), three number one and five more top ten albums. All of them written and largely performed by her so she will have got a hefty proportion of the royalties. Then there were all the sales of posters to adorn the walls of teenage boys in her heyday.

Kate Bush? One number one and six more top ten singles (one with Peter Gabriel), three number one and five more top ten albums. All of them written and largely performed by her so she will have got a hefty proportion of the royalties. Then there were all the sales of posters to adorn the walls of teenage boys in her heyday.

 

 

ohh yeh the royalties. but she only ever toured once and enya hasn't ever (i think?) so royalties must pay a lot then??

I would think artists get more money from going on tour and being paid to appear on TV shows like X Factor. I'm sure it varies a lot, but I bet some of the money people got paid for appearing on the X Factor this year would equate to tens of thousands of album sales, at least.

 

Plus, with Plan B, he'd probably be classified as an album artist, but think about singles artists such as Flo Rida and Taio Cruz!

 

On the plus side to Taio Cruz though moneywise, he has broken America, something else musical artist would want to do to make big bucks, and he writes/co-writes his songs.

Yes acts like Jay Sean & Taio Cruz - big selling single acts, but not so much albums, but they co-write a lot music so that is where they get all their dollar from.

 

It just depends on the artists really. Touring and merchandise especially is where the money is made, but it just does depend on the artist. I don't think acts will get a lot for appearing on X-Factor either tbh...i'm sure their record companies will probably see it more as a bonus for them because of the increased exposure they will get for themselves.

 

Also - Plan B has never done a big tour (altho that is happening the new year) but you have got to remember he has appeared in films and the like before so he will make a lot of money from appearing in films..

Bands like take that for example would make huge money, massive selling albums, decent selling singles, massive tours plus they earn royalities from writing material etc in contrast a band like jls wouldnt make as much as they have no royalities from song writing simon cowell takes a huge chunk of their earnings. It all depends on much involvement an act has in their material etc and yes tours are where the biggest profit is and merchandise.

JLS have nothing to do with Cowell since their series of X Factor ended. They're signed to EPIC... so Simon can't take a huge chunk of their earnings. :P

so westlife must be poor. . .

I heard Rihanna has over $200m and gets paid a minimum of $400k per concert :o

My girl Alexandra is also a millionaire, around £4.5 I've heard

Alexandra is far from being a millionaire, that's just ridiculous. If anything, Leona's the one who is probably just abut a millionaire and she's the most successful X Factor winner to date.

Alexandra is far from being a millionaire, that's just ridiculous. If anything, Leona's the one who is probably just abut a millionaire and she's the most successful X Factor winner to date.

 

Not sure about Alexandra, but Leona has earned roughly 12 million, according to an article I read.

ohh yeh the royalties. but she only ever toured once and enya hasn't ever (i think?) so royalties must pay a lot then??

I'm pretty sure that a number of Enya's songs feature in many over tracks/sampled by other artists, or are used in movies and tv adverts. :D

Not sure about Alexandra, but Leona has earned roughly 12 million, according to an article I read.

 

With articles like that, I think they assume how much she's worth; ie how much she's generated through her being an artist; album sales, single sales, merchandise, tours etc. Which is a vastly different figure from how much of that she is actually putting in her own pocket. I doubt she'd have made more than 2 mil max so far.

I heard Rihanna has over $200m and gets paid a minimum of $400k per concert :o

My girl Alexandra is also a millionaire, around £4.5 I've heard

 

Rihanna has no where near $200m. But yeah concerts you get a lot, I've heard that.

 

Alexandra is far from being a millionaire, that's just ridiculous. If anything, Leona's the one who is probably just abut a millionaire and she's the most successful X Factor winner to date.

 

Alexandra is a multi-millionaire. Matt Cardle is set to make £3-5m apparently, and Burke has had a lot of single/album success. Just goes to show poor music + backing of Syco = £££.

Alexandra is far from being a millionaire, that's just ridiculous. If anything, Leona's the one who is probably just abut a millionaire and she's the most successful X Factor winner to date.

 

The X-factor acts unless they sell large numbers of singles and albums consistently will not make millions unless they have written or co-written their own material which most of them have not.There biggest earnings will come from touring and from the endorsement deals they bag.Alex has easily made a million she has endorsement deals with Nokia, Sure, Nintendo, has her own fashion line now and a modelling contract with IMG Models and will be headlining her own tour next year.I think Leona is worth about 12 million.

I heard Rihanna has over $200m and gets paid a minimum of $400k per concert :o

My girl Alexandra is also a millionaire, around £4.5 I've heard

 

2 years ago there were reports she was broke. Obviously, that's fake.

Only female artist swith 200m+ are madonna, mariah and celine, janet is also close. Obviously longevity and constans succes is needed. That's according to forbes magazine.

Rihanna is never on any of forbes' lists, not even on top 20 young money makers. You see taylor, miley... but no rihanna. So i guess she doesn't make that much money at all.

 

This is very interseting topic.

So artist gets paid for a concert and concert promoters earn from ticket sales? I guess a performer get some percantage of those sales as well?

Then there are contracts with label per each album and royalties.

I know Michael and Celine had the biggest royalties, they received 20-25% of what their music sold. So i guess if album is 10$ they'd earn around 2$.

 

Also, do artists get any royalties from radio/tv airplay?

Edited December 15, 201014 yr by ehot