What does it take to become one of the highest-paid musicians of the 2010s? A career that peaked in the '80s. Nearly half of the artists that make up this year's list of the top-earning music acts have been around long enough that they could have appeared on the soundtrack to Back To The Future.
That U2, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen and Madonna could collectively make an estimated $372 million between June 2009 and June 2010--a little more than half of the $700 million that the top 10 acts in music brought in--highlights the way that the music business has changed over the last decade. Apple's iTunes aside, few young consumers have shown that they are willing to pay for music that they can easily get for free. Album sales have plummeted by more than half since 2000, taking away a lucrative earnings stream for musicians and one of the ways that artists have traditionally broken through into the mainstream.
All of which makes the success of Lady Gaga all the more unexpected. The 24-year-old New York City native went from playing gigs on the Lower East Side to selling out Madison Square Garden within 30 months, thanks to an album that sounded like the best of early Madonna and videos that seemed to come from another dimension where wearing sunglasses made out of burning cigarettes makes perfect sense. With a worldwide tour and million-dollar endorsements with Polaroid, Virgin Mobile and Monster Cable, Lady Gaga netted an estimated $62 million over the last year, the seventh highest on the list. Madonna, meanwhile, came in below her, at No. 8 with $58 million.
Eighties super group U2 made more money than anyone else in music last year, netting an estimated $130 million on the strength of a worldwide tour that sold 1.3 million tickets at an average price of $94 a seat in North America alone. The band, which recently postponed some dates on the tour until 2011, will likely end up in one of the top spots on next year's list as well. Fellow classic rock staple AC/DC followed U2 with $114 million after finishing up a tour that grossed $2.3 million a night.
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It's funny that U2 makes so much, because they're one band that you really don't hear too much about in the mainstream media news! Oh well, I still love their music. <3
ReplyDeleteI think its funny how Lady Gaga became so famous. She passed up many well known artists on the charts. With her odd fashions and similar 80's music, she does draw in a lot of people, including me!:)
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