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Whoever moderated these comments flamebait are facist pigs!

you want to know the economics of touring read these articles by a band that I think was/would be quite popular amoung the /. crowd. Then use your brain and do a little math and think of your favorite obscure band (think TMBG in 1988, remember these guys went years playing to venue where 20 people showed up)

look at the economics of touring. look at something like pollstarfor the concerts in a good sized city, you will find 100 or more bands playing on a weekend. In that list there is a one band that will clear 10k, Modest Mouse, and probably someone at shoreline and the greek theatre, but then we need to bring up pollstar for San Jose, Oakland and Berkeley where there are hundred more small shows. However the average place has about 3 bands playing with 1 being local. The average venue in the pollstar list holds less than 200 people. If those 200 people each pay $10, that makes a door of $2000, split between 3 bands, and 5 members a band makes a take of $133 per person. even if the split isn't even the headliners don't get all that much more, say $200/person. They also had to travel to get there, gas, maintance, maintain their gear, guitar strings, drumsticks, tubes for their amps. They need to sleep somewhere (this past weekend the floor to my apartment was used for a band that is an absolute critics darling and on a very large indie label Matador, who pay their artists well). They need to eat, and probably can't very easily cook for themselves, since they have only a cramped van. You may say $200 is a good deal for a couple of hours of work, well, they had to get to the show usually driving several hundred miles, they had to load in, and load out, practice. Also you can't tour all the time, the more you visit the same city the less money you make per show as people stop coming, as they have seen you already. All in all it's a tough life that doesn't make too many people that much money.
Man or Astroman? has a few articles from 1996 about the economics of touring you should read it before flapping your lips. I know people who do this shit for a living, touring ain't where the money is at, generally they lose money, if they are lucky they break even.

Most unknowns don't make money playing music at all they make music by having another job, sometimes it is in the music industry, but usually it's doing something like tending bar, or writing software. Playing live makes them almost nothing. Most venues will only pay about $100 for an opening band, which rarely covers expenses if they had to travel at all. However if they wrote their own songs they make at least 10 cents a song sold (for a 12 song album, thats a $1.20 an album). Most unknowns also have very good contracts, because; they don't spend that much on production, they generally pay their own production costs, and their label just does distribution. If you want to know more about the costs of playing live see this article about playing Irving Plaza in NYC and Playing All Ages Shows and the econmics of venues by Man or Astroman?.

Most unknowns don't make money playing music at all they make music by having another job, sometimes it is in the music industry, but usually it's doing something like tending bar, or writing software. Playing live makes them almost nothing. Most venues will only pay about $100 for an opening band, which rarely covers expenses if they had to travel at all. However if they wrote their own songs they make at least 10 cents a song sold (for a 12 song album, thats a $1.20 an album). Most unknowns also have very good contracts, because; they don't spend that much on production, they generally pay their own production costs, and their label just does distribution. If you want to know more about the costs of playing live see this article about playing Irving Plaza in NYC and Playing All Ages Shows and the econmics of venues by Man or Astroman?.

Plus these guys are actually in the top 10% of the bands out there, the average band is something that you see opening for these guys.

Plus these guys are actually in the top 10% of the bands out there, the average band is something that you see opening for these guys.

As for a non-fictional band, read what Coco the Electric Monkey Wizard and The Brannock Device of Man or Astroman? has to say about playing Irving Plaza.

As for writing royalties, this explains Mechical Royalties and the Harry Fox Agency.

Here is an article that mentions mechanicals and P2P by Dave Lowery of Camper Van Beethoven, and Cracker

As for a non-fictional band, read what Coco the Electric Monkey Wizard and The Brannock Device of Man or Astroman? has to say about playing Irving Plaza.

As for writing royalties, this explains Mechical Royalties and the Harry Fox Agency.

Here is an article that mentions mechanicals and P2P by Dave Lowery of Camper Van Beethoven, and Cracker

First of all 100 bands make money touring, that isn't the same 100 bands that makes bank recording. There are bands that sell very few records, but do sell out high priced shows, Super Diamond is a great example as they don't sell any records, but they sell out a whole weekend of 1000 seat venues at $25 a pop. Jam bands are another one, Widespread Panic (sold out 4 dates at the Warfield in less than a week), Ween, String Cheese, etc have a fair number of people who go to all their shows, thus really driving up the the profit. Good for them, I don't really care for these bands but many people are entertained by them. 2 good places to see a fairly popular band's touring finances are Man or Astroman?'s talks money and Steve Albini's major labels: the problem with music