This chart is only the beginning of the story, and for the tiny fraction of 1% of records that sell (for example) 100,000 full-price copies, the record company will make about $1,000,000 and the average musician will make about $15K.
100,000 copies at $16.98 = $1,698,000.
Record company’s share = 63% = $1,069,740 – $100,000 for recording, promotion, etc = $969,740.
Four musicians share 13% = $220,740 – (28% of $220,740 for management, lawyers, producers) = $158,932
$158,932/4 = $39,733
But then…
The band has to pay back every dime of expenses to the record company!
So that glorious $158,932 turns into $58,932, and when you split it between four musicians, that leaves each of them with…
$14,733.
This is the background of my previous diary about Obama’s plan to lock you off the internet for sharing mp3’s with your friends.
And meanwhile all those shared mp3’s attract more bodies to your favorite band’s crappy little bar venue, where the band gets to keep a relatively whopping 50% of the $5 cover, $2.50 instead of 58¢ from a selling a cd.
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And charts like this have been debunked many times.
I make all of my (meager) income from digital downloads. Even though 95% of all downloads are illegal, and I get a huge amount of hits on my site for people looking for torrents, there are still people who pay for music.
People who post this stuff are just trying to justify stealing from the artists they supposedly support.
The real facts are: no one has a label deal where the label takes 63% anymore, unless it’s a huge label (major or mini-major) , and in that case you get volume returns from that. Most don’t have a label anymore. Nor do they have lawyers, business managers, personal managers, etc. So you can toss that.
You can toss the bit about how the band splits it’s money too- depends on many factors, there’s certainly no set percentage. Same with a set percentage for a producer.
This info is from the stone-ages.
Back then, yes, I had friends who were destroyed by major label deals. I myself got ripped off really badly once on a big hit. Others I know make 150,000,000 a year–yes after every one else’s cut. Those guys may have splits somewhat like the one’s in the charts – but they’re not complaining.