Is it really so hard to make money being an EDM artist?
Hi,
There are some interesting points made by a couple of users in another thread about how hard it is for the artists who create EDM to actually make even a living from it. I’d like to open up a discussion on what issues there are to getting EDM creations “paid for” and hopefully some experienced EDM artists could chime in and give their opinion. Of course, everyone is welcome to shout out, but I am looking for reasons why the return of hard work is so poor. Is it because of music piracy? Is it because the labels take too big a cut? Is it because societies don’t do a good enough job protecting usage of the artists’ works?
So I guess my question is,
Why can’t you make good money being an EDM artist?
Because everyone and their moms have tons of shitty productions up on soundcloud and the scene is saturated to the point that you need to throw cake or fly a spaceship to get noticed?
On a more serious note, selling tracks is not how artists and songwriters make money. Putting out a track or an album isn’t where the cash lies, it’s with merchandise and ticket sales. Always has been, but has been made more so by digital single sales eating into album sales.
everyone is a DJ and likes to make as they call them “beats” 95% of myspace consists of bands… its very hard… hell 6 months after my first single was released on beatport/itunes i made 4 dollars and change.
lets just say if a major label artist signed to EMI for example sells an album for 10 bucks on itunes they get 9 cents… if an indie label artist like me for example sell an album on itunes, i get $4.5 thats before the labels expense of mastering and releasing the album., which means i have to sell a decent amount of copies before i even get paid.
piracy actually helps artists more then it hurts them… hell if it wasn’t for the internet i wouldn’t even know what edm was and who artists many European legends are…
Speaking of making a living strictly from music sales, then yes it is very difficult and most unlikely that you can. People have been conditioned since a young age to download and pirate everything they can these days it seems, and that obviously includes music as well.
Releasing music and running a label now a days is nothing more than a business card. Nic Fanciulli has said this numerous times as well. The only realistic way to make a living at this is to release music, get recognized and then get booked (even if the artist doesn’t want to play live they realize they have to, and vice versa as well).
i don’t even think it’s about “edm” or electronic music artists at all, really. i think it’s hard to make money as any sort of musician or artist, period.
people shouldn’t really get their hopes up on making a lot of money or a long term living on creating what they enjoy. it’s a very small percentage of folks that can have that kind of success in these fields.
by all means, people should go for their dreams, but many end up bitter and hating on everything when they don’t come into success as a musician. to them it’s always someone else’s fault: piracy, society, laptop djs, ipod djs, etc. these people never take a look at what they can do to improve their work or the process of getting it out there. it’s easier mentally for them to place the blame on someone or something else. some of them are self indulgent grown children who think they deserve the whole world because they have a keyboard and ableton. with that said, there are many very talented people who never made a huge name or a lot of money from music, but they still kept on truckin’ because it’s a part of them. they love it and endure. to them it’s more important to leave something notable behind then to have a bunch of money. to me, that’s the right way to look at being a musician.
it’s all about talent, luck, heart, dedication, and being at the right place at the right time.
The argument is that beatport et al. would sell hundreds of thousands of tracks a week amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars even inspite of illegal downloads, and yet the artists are receiving only a fraction of the income.
I always see my favourite artists when they tour at about $40 - $60 a show and go to around 3 festivals a year at between $170 - $240 each. I can’t see a point of buying music anymore as the ones that get the money don’t need it as they are on the world festival circuit… But that also accounts for the jump in festival tracks and decline in deeper groovin tracks which are the real gems that last through time.
One can make a living. But what type of living? Unless you’re Avicii, Deadmau5, Guetta, or (insert major touring producer) you won’t make the big bucks.
A friend of mine is in a band that is getting big around the jam band circuit. They are the most searched band on JamBase right now (FWIW). He is living comfortably but not to the point where he can retire comfortably when his flame burns out. I feel like if Skrillex (or any of those guys I mentioned) continues as this pace for 5 years he’ll have made enough to live a comfortable life without ever having to work again.
You make original tracks, original remixes and original mixes to showcase you. Those then give you access to DJ gigs where your income comes from. Note the word original, if that’s missing you won’t get many gigs, neither well-paying ones.
Let’s take the Skrillex example. He’s been touring since Scary monsters and nice sprites release in october 2010. That makes 2 years more or less.
250/300 shows per year, ok so let’s round it to 550 total.
At the beginning of his fame, he charged way less than he does now. Promoters now have to pay “couple hundred thousand” (i’m quoting the guy himelf).
Let’s say that on average, he charged $80,000 per show since he got famous in 2010.
80,000 per show, 550 times, that gives us a $44 million total give or take.
Of course, it’s an approximation that does not take into account charges (plane, hotels) but most of the time the promoter has to take care of this. And this does not take in consideration the sales of tracks.
Anyway, even if i’m 10 million away from reality, it’s sure that the “big” guys on the scene already have way enough money to quit tomorrow morning and end their lives on a beach drinking pina colada. But they keep on doing it. Greed ? Passion ? A mix of both imo.
PS : We took skrillex as example, what about guys like Guetta or Tiesto that have been on the scene for a decade or so ?
PS 2 : As a DJ, you’ll never be rich or famous. Produce, be good, be lucky and it’s still not guaranteed. But this is worth giving a shot.
Skrillex has not made $44 million yet. He’s worth about $3 million. That “couple hundred thousand” goes into a lot of different hands before it hits Sonny’s bank account. That’s still a ton of money, though.
First off, most people are not talented enough to make money.
By talented I don’t just mean musical talent. I mean everything to be an entertainer. The ability to see the market and see what will sell, the ability to foster a brand image, etc.
The number of people who can do that and ALSO have musical talent is a small pool indeed.
The number of people making a living from music is probably right where it should be. If you think there are lot of talented musicians out there not making money, you have terrible taste in music.
Being a competent musician and being an entertainer are two different things. One pays very well, one doesn’t.
To think that I used to pay £5 per 12" for a single track I liked out of 2 - 4 tracks on the record, and even up to £7 for a US import on something like Strictly Rhythm. This was around 18 - 20 years ago (good grief ) and now I can download just the one track from a release in wav for £1.75 on Trackitdown, or more on Beatport. I used to spend about £200 on vinyl a month and was on a few mailing lists and blagging promos. It’s much cheaper now.
I know there were the costs of mastering and pressing the vinyl, but dance music artists made money if their track did well in the clubs. Nothing major, unless it broke through commercially, but a much better return than it seems today.
I think my point is that you used to pay for a release, ie 2 - 4, or even around up to 8 tracks on a double pack vinyl (which cost more), whereas now you’re paying for a single track. The artist may have done a 4 track release, you don’t have to buy the 4 tracks, just buy the one you want. Same with albums.
Many youngsters have become quite stingy in terms of paying for music, also.
edm artist these days dont exactly make money from record sales
imo with all the piracy going on you’d just be happy your track gets out there and getting listened/played at clubs, theres not really much money there, however the more of your stuff gets played, the higher probability of you getting booked for gigs, more gigs = more money, and depending on how good your “EDM” productions are, you may either get good money or A LOT OF MONEY per gig
so, more live performances/gig = more money, the productions are just really your weapons to get your name/rep up there
This. How many artists do you think are really “making it?” It takes a lot more than sitting on a laptop producing music to do so. Bluntly, the music itself isn’t really THAT valuable - which is why 99.9% of the people that make music fail - they think all they have to do is come with with a catchy tune and they’ll make millions. Not true (with a few exceptions… lol).
But the whole package? The music, the show, the promotion, the brand, the tour, the light show, the drinks and food sold AT the tour, etc etc? Now we’re talking. Learn how to incorporate everything and THEN you will make money.
Successful artists aren’t just good at making music… They’re good business people and know how to network well.
I disagree… It shouldn’t have to be about “making it” It should be about getting your cut from your creation so you can afford to spend more time creating more and learning new skills. There are plenty of great producers who haven’t “made it” selling bulk tracks but not getting a just financial reward. Most of us pay for music, but if it goes to paying off the owner of beatports Ferrari payments or the agents summer home and not the producers studio what is the point of paying… The only reason I buy tracks is I like to think it helps support the producers.. Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be true.. I might start buying tracks directly from the labels website, atleast most of that will get to the producer…
Although I would in general agree that labels don’t give enough to their artists, do keep in mind that they are doing literally everything of value - the marketing, the production, the distribution, the networking, the event planning…
Like I said, the music production process itself is not inherently that valuable on it’s own. Without the label it’s nothing. After all, it’s just a guy or a small group that does the production - why should they take the majority of the credit for what the labels (under a network of hundreds of people doing work) do?
The money goes to where the value is - and (albeit sadly), it’s not really the music itself that is valuable in our society.
Spoken like a true business man… that is what will kill the whole bit about Dance music being independent and underground, which is kind of the foundation of why it exists.. The music is the reason the other guys put on a suit and tie and the internet should render old ways of marketing and distribution less important as you can easily market yourself if you have a couple of hours spare a week..
It’s not hard to get your choons on trackitdown you just need to make good music and send it in.. you network by playing in clubs and drop your tracks when national and international acts play, talk to them and give them your exclusives if they like your stuff. You can remix by sending producers your tracks once you have established your sound, your quality is on point and have a couple of releases out.
Necessary evil, especially outside of the EDM world where self promotion becomes a lot more restrictive.
Small to mid range DJs have always made the bulk of their cash from touring. Like lots have said make good music, sell a little bit on the strength of the music actually being decent then as a result you should get more DJ bookings and be able to charge a higher price.
Or sell your songs to adverts/TV shows. Synchronization is where all the money in music is being made these days. Big big big money.
) and now I can download just the one track from a release in wav for £1.75 on Trackitdown, or more on Beatport. I used to spend about £200 on vinyl a month and was on a few mailing lists and blagging promos. It’s much cheaper now.