Categories
Metallica suffering because of the bad economy
So you think your favorite underground bands are the only ones suffering from the current shitty state of the music industry? Not so! Even fancy rockstars like the dudes in Metallica can’t live off of record royalty checks alone these days. As Kirk Hammett recently told Rolling Stone:
“The cycles of taking two years off don’t exist anymore. We were able to do that because we had record royalties coming in consistently. Now you put out an album, and you have a windfall maybe once or twice but not the way it used to be — a check every three months.”
Of course, it’s a little hard to feel sorry for Hammett when –
* Most people don’t get to take two years off from work, ever.
* Metallica’s royalty checks are probably still a gajillion times greater than those of, say, pretty much any other band in metal, or any other genre, for that matter.
* The amount of money Metallica makes from touring is still staggering — for example, the World Magnetic Tour in support of (duh) Death Magnetic was the tenth highest grossing tour of 2009, raking in $89.1 million according to Pollstar — and that doesn’t include merch sales. Even when you factor in taxes and the payroll for the group’s managers, attorneys, and road crew, it’s hard not to imagine that each dude in Metallica didn’t make a killing.
* Hammett’s San Francisco home (pictured above), which he purchased for $2.56 million in 1993, sold for $8,995,000 in 2009… which, to be fair, was less than the $12.5 million he was apparently asking for it. Sniff, sniff.
So, yeah. I know times are tough for everyone in the music biz right now, but, y’know, cry me a river, Kirk. Some people have actual problems right now.
http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/05/22/poor-metallica-cant-live-off-of-album-royalties-alone-anymore/
“The cycles of taking two years off don’t exist anymore. We were able to do that because we had record royalties coming in consistently. Now you put out an album, and you have a windfall maybe once or twice but not the way it used to be — a check every three months.”
Of course, it’s a little hard to feel sorry for Hammett when –
* Most people don’t get to take two years off from work, ever.
* Metallica’s royalty checks are probably still a gajillion times greater than those of, say, pretty much any other band in metal, or any other genre, for that matter.
* The amount of money Metallica makes from touring is still staggering — for example, the World Magnetic Tour in support of (duh) Death Magnetic was the tenth highest grossing tour of 2009, raking in $89.1 million according to Pollstar — and that doesn’t include merch sales. Even when you factor in taxes and the payroll for the group’s managers, attorneys, and road crew, it’s hard not to imagine that each dude in Metallica didn’t make a killing.
* Hammett’s San Francisco home (pictured above), which he purchased for $2.56 million in 1993, sold for $8,995,000 in 2009… which, to be fair, was less than the $12.5 million he was apparently asking for it. Sniff, sniff.
So, yeah. I know times are tough for everyone in the music biz right now, but, y’know, cry me a river, Kirk. Some people have actual problems right now.
http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/05/22/poor-metallica-cant-live-off-of-album-royalties-alone-anymore/
Comments
i understand that people wanna harp on metallica suing napster 14 fuckin' years ago, but it goes too far most of the time. all kirk said is something that active musicians are having to deal with now. bfd
i wonder what the pretty boy poster's big problems are right now. mom took the mercedes back? cut off the trust fund? that whole site should kill themselves. false metal as fuck
If you can't market your product, it usually doesn't matter how good it is. Take Cormorant, a band that I think has a great product and appeal, and in the event of a label willing to market them, I think they could grow to be a top band in the metal scene today. What separates them from a band like Emmure is their lack of a label, and thus, the lack of a marketing identity.
Look at what happened to Periphery or In Flames to see what a label can do for your band. It's a lot when it's done right.