how much money does a musical artist make off of each individual record?

Question

lets say someone like 50 cent

Answer 1

Numbers and gross earnings can vary incredibly based upon several factors in the music industry.

Such influences such as undiscoveredness/main - streamness can play big roles in the artists' earnings as well as contract complications, corporate sponsorships, co-production and special guests entitlements and other monetary limitations. (sorry if that sounded really confusing, I have a habit of getting attorney-like)

In the case of an unknown band who is just starting off their career at a local venue they may be selling their CDs for a solid $5 a piece just to make it a stable number. Out of that $5 there is probably between $2-3 for production costs for the producer and other studio recording costs, around $0.50-1 for the record company itself and the rest is up to the band, from which the money may be divided between themselves or may be used to pay off other costs although these may be paid for from the record company if there was a third-party agreement made with the record company.

For a somewhat-known band who's headlining some small area venues they may be selling their albums for around $7-8 a piece. Let's say our small band from the previous paragraph has gotten a break in the industry. Now that they may be signed to a bigger record label they may have more costs in that and they may have used a better producer for their work making that cost go up as well. They may have addition or more expensive third-party agreements within their own agreements or through the record label so those costs go up as well. But as they sell more albums their multipling number for their sales goes up as well which, when factored in, will actually get them more money as all musical artists get as they become more and more famous.

Now let's say that our band has hit a big break and is opening for some really big bands. By now they're almost destined to have a corporate sponsorship which may get them additional money from advertising. But as the music quality goes up chances are they're using better equipment. Those numbers go up a lot as well for their costs and may off-set a large chunk of their earnings. But again their record sales have probably gone through the roof and they are still making more money than they were before.

Now let's say they've hit the big time, sold out arenas and a massive record deal. The costs go skyrocketing at this point but sales from a large marketing campaign can bring in millions for the band and also sell millions of their albums making their profit go through the roof. At this point their profits are much larger in proportion than their costs and their sales may last indefinitely seeing that they may have a smash hit album that will sell copies for decades to come.

But also remember that bands make lots and lots of their own earnings themselves on their live performances. This rule goes for all musical artists, not just Rock bands as I have been typing about. The profits from live events and public appearances greatly exceed their profits from record sales.

But if you want hard numbers I'd say that the small scale band would earn between $0.25-0.50 per album, the bigger small-scales band between $0.20-0.35, the larger band earning between $0.10-0.20 and the big time band earning less that $0.10 per each individual album. But if you look at how much money that could bring in with around 3.5 million sales then that could be a lot of money if you factor in the live performances which could possibily bring in 50 times more profit for the band than the records themselves.

Answer 2

Depends on the contract they sign. On MTV's the band " Da Band" only got like 3 cent per record.

*Edit*

50 cent- probaly not as much he would lead you to believe. Most money that the artist make come from touring and being a spokesperson.

Answer 3

It depends on the contract the artist has with the record company. It's usually a percentage of the retail price per unit sold as far as that part of it, but there are also royalties for the songwriter(s) and usually a cut for the producer(s) as well. Some artists receive as much as 50%, but they're the exception rather than the rule.

Answer 4

There really is no definite answer to your question. I think just as a singer, meaning you do nothing else but sing, it's almost nothing. If you wrote the songs then you get more. But, that also depends on how much of the song you wrote. If you wrote half of the album, you will get more than if you only wrote ten percent of the album. There are several factors involved.

Answer 5

Depends how well the record sells.

Answer 6

It depends on how popular the record or the musician is