How Much Does it Cost to Produce a Recording?

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

How Much Does it Cost to Produce a Recording?

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday January 23, 2003 @02:31PM from the dollars-and-sense dept.

An anonymous reader writes "How much does the average new album cost to produce? I have seen this cost estimated between $500,000 and $1,000,000, but some quick figuring does not support a cost this high. According to various sources (Ok, Slashdot stories...), somewhere around 27,000 albums are produced each year and 906.6 million albums are shipped. I would guess that the album retail (about $15 per album) is based on a 100% markup, so that these 906.6 million albums are sold at wholesale for about $7.50 apiece, which means that the revenue from wholesale sales is about $6.8 billion. This means that the actual production cost has to be less than $250,000 per album, otherwise the record industry is losing money. I have left out the cost of actually printing and copying the albums as I think that the average cost is probably less than $0.25 per copy."

19 of 675 comments (clear)

its getting cheaper by thedbp · 2003-01-23 14:37 · Score: 5, Funny

with large ATA hard drives and digital interfaces for various applications to drive real-world mixers and soundboards becoming cheaper and cheaper, the actual cost of recording, in a real sense is very minimal. A whole setup can be had for $20,000.

Then there's studio time. And paying the engineers, artists, producer, and the entourages of all the above mentioned people. Plus food, limos, champagne, jimmy hats, mini hot dogs, whipped cream, broken instruments, bail, hush money, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and there's about $980,000.

So you can see how these things add up.
1. Re:its getting cheaper by wideBlueSkies · 2003-01-23 14:44 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Don't forget the whores, and lawyers.
  
  Or is that whores/lawyers?
  
  --
  Huh?
2. Re:its getting cheaper by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-23 14:48 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  i liked the way the poster used the inner-city slang "jimmy hats" so as to suggest that either he or people with whom he worked closely were both hip and getting laid on a regular basis.
3. Re:its getting cheaper by thedbp · 2003-01-23 16:30 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  your way is a a qauint fad of the past. all will be electronic. all will be assimilated. you too shall reap the digital harvest and succumb to the rhythm of the hi-hat.
4. Re:its getting cheaper by Aquillion · 2003-01-23 19:12 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  And i'd sure hope that any band worth their sweat weight would at least have their own instruments and drummer.
  Our last one spontaneously combusted. It happens all the time -- it's just not widely reported.
5. Re:its getting cheaper by breon.halling · 2003-01-23 20:29 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Or is that whores/lawyers?
  
  Whoreyers!
  
  It sounds right if you use a British accent. =)
  
  --
  "Yeah, well, Dracula called and he's coming over tonight for you and I said okay."
Average? by Daleks · 2003-01-23 14:37 · Score: 4, Funny

While your numbers may hold true for the average, it obviously takes less money for the likes of William Shatner or David Hasselhoff to produce an album than U2.
1. Re:Average? by ez76 · 2003-01-23 14:50 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  While your numbers may hold true for the average, it obviously takes less money for the likes of William Shatner or David Hasselhoff to produce an album than U2.
  ... and standard deviation was born.
2. Re:Average? by davinciII · 2003-01-23 14:52 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  it obviously takes less money for the likes of William Shatner [amazon.com] or David Hasselhoff [amazon.com] to produce an album
  Seriously? Do you know how much money it costs to make a David Hasselhoff record even remotely listenable?
3. Re:Average? by RustyTaco · 2003-01-23 16:12 · Score: 3, Funny
  Cheap revolver: $75
  
  Box of cheap ammo: $5
  
  Never having to hear David Hasselhoff: Priceless!
  
  - RustyTaco
They forgot to mention... by NanoGator · 2003-01-23 14:40 · Score: 2, Funny

... bailing the artists out of jail.

Hmm, this comment'd be funnier if we were talking about the Portland Trailblazers.

--
"Derp de derp."
Look at that math! by The_Rippa · 2003-01-23 14:54 · Score: 4, Funny

Man, I almost went blind reading that.

On the other hand,

if a chicken and half lays an egg and a half every day and a half, then how long does it take a monkey with a wooden leg to kick all of the seeds out of a dill pickle?
Re:Faulty premise by kevcol · 2003-01-23 15:15 · Score: 2, Funny

Please. Don't sugar coat it for nerds. The word is 'fucked'.
Re:Faulty premise by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-23 15:33 · Score: 1, Funny

Slashdot: News for Sensitive Nerds. Stuff That Your Mom Can Read.
ah, just what the world needs by autopr0n · 2003-01-23 15:59 · Score: 3, Funny

Note that this was a no-name studio, with a no-name engineer, and self-produced.

Yeah, and it shows.

--
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Priceless... by yiantsbro · 2003-01-23 16:02 · Score: 5, Funny

Studio Time: 50K
Well Known Producer: 250K
Other Expenses: 100K
Seeing your album on KaZaA the day of release: Priceless

MP3's - there are somethings in life that you don't need money to buy - for everything else there is the RIAA
my son's high school... by simpl3x · 2003-01-23 16:25 · Score: 2, Funny

has a sony 24 track digital studio! they were featured in time for a story on drugs in high school. but, since the parents in this high rent zip code subsidize the drug usage, the recordings are much cheaper to produce!
Yeah, but think of the artists by Zog+The+Undeniable · 2003-01-23 20:14 · Score: 2, Funny

All those drugs, groupies and TVs thrown into swimming pools cost money, you know!
Seriously, is Robbie Williams *really* worth 80 million UKP? I mean, what can he possibly spend it on?

--
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
Re:Just a guess by jez9999 · 2003-01-24 02:05 · Score: 2, Funny

As well as (ultimately) the mind that was in the most pieces.

--
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.