Interesting article about a Struggling Mid-Tier Band

Even mid-tier bands have trouble competing in a marketplace full of high sunk costs and a large percentage of docked pay. The Dresden Dolls are an attractive ‘indie’ band, although probably not able to sell out the super stadiums, can still hold their own in the medium sized venues. Even these guys are forced to constantly be on tour just to pay bills. The huge expenses of marketing and production means these guys require close scrutiny of every last penny just to stay afloat. Money quote:

Palmer and Viglione might be budding rock stars, but they’re still pretty broke. They have to pay their road crew three to four times what they pay themselves — which is a modest $1,500 a month. Remember, this a band that has toured with Nine Inch Nails.

“In order to go on that tour, we had to lose money,” Palmer says. “Just because we’re up on a giant stage, playing in front of 5,000 people, doesn’t mean any money in our pocket.”

That’s because the headliner band takes about half of the gross ticket sales at a big, sold-out show. The venue and the promoter take almost all the rest. Deals vary greatly, but an opening band that wants the exposure might be paid a few hundred dollars to $1,000 a night. The Dresden Dolls’ expenses are twice that: They have to pay their sound techs, manager and other support crew, and rent the bus.

As a music lover, it strikes me as crazy that bands like these guys might be struggling to survive. The more I think about the music industry logically, the more I envision a structure much like a game of poker; the top 5% are making the big dollars, while the middle 55% struggle to stay afloat. The bottom 40% are over run quickly and usually don’t make it to their first album. To make it as a top 5% band, you need a lot more then skill, you need strong appeal as dictated by the trends in music. In other words, you need to write great music, but also be lucky your music is considering ‘hip’ and ‘cool’. You think if the members of Fall Out Boy were born 10 years prior they’d be showing the same success they are now? Not a chance (in my musical opinion, of course!).