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RE: radio friendly

ok, so maybe my numbers were off, who knows, maybe yours are off too. It
doesn't really matter. My point was, that commercial success i think is up
to the individual. I don't think there is some meter out there that
automatically dings when you have commercial success. Success for me would
be to pay a few bills, and to buy food, so long as i'm doing somthing for a
living that I love and has somthing other than a money reward.

anyway.



Chris



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-over-the-rhine at actwin_com
[mailto:owner-over-the-rhine at actwin_com]On Behalf Of Don Smith
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2001 8:25 AM
To: Over the Rhine List
Subject: re: radio friendly


Hi,

> That's $50,000, my friends.  For one MONTH!

Well, hold on there a minute.  Let's think this through: there are about six
people in the band.  They also rent office space and have at least one
employee.  They don't tour every month, so let's say they tour six months of
the year (which is a lot).  If ten shows a month is typical, that's
$300,000.
Taxes on that will be at least 10%, so take $30k off the top.  Presumably
staff
makes a living wage, but let's say $15k for the staff.  Office space would
be,
what, another $15k?  I have no idea how much it costs to rent an office in
Cincinnati, plus office equipment.  Now, you also mentioned that OtR is
covering their own transportation (plus gear).  That's at *least* $200 per
person, per flight.  Oh, and presumably someone will come along to work the
merchandise table.  So let's say something like $40k/yr for transport.
Split
six ways is back to $33,000 each.  That's livable, but hardly luxurious.
Granted, all my numbers are sheer guesswork, but I think it's a little early
to
start thinking of the band as rich.  On top of that, once people start
hitting
the big time, the pie gets sliced thinner and thinner.  They had two roadies
on
the December tour.  I don't know how much they make.  Is Virgin/Backporch
taking any part in the promotion of the tour?  What's their cut?  I've heard
lots of stories of bands getting "the big contract" and ending up flat
broke,
because the contract means that the label gives them a *loan* to make the
record, which they have to pay back, and then (if they aren't careful), the
label owns the music, so even after they pay back the loan, they might not
be getting the royalties on sales.  Obviously, I have no idea what the terms
of OtR's contract with Virgin is, but I'm sure it's not the "rich and
famous"
contract that Kermit gets at the end of the Muppet Movie!

I mean, clearly the band is making enough money to live on by making music,
which is great, I just think it's worth cautioning that $5,000 per concert
does
not translate into $5,000 in pocket at the end of the day.

That's all.
--
Don Smith                    Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment
dasmith at rotse2_physics.lsa.umich.edu        http://xte.mit.edu/~dasmith/

"The art of filmmaking is the art of regret."                 -- Ang Lee
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