Bands Not Making Money Anymore

It’s hard to believe, but is seems that even the big-names in music – the artists that actually have substantial record sales, are struggling to make ends-meat on record sales alone. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, metal- heavyweights Metallica opened up about the realities of the modern era regarding cash-flow. Guitarist Kirk Hammet stating that most of their income now comes form touring.
“The cycles of taking two years off don’t exist anymore. We were able to do that because we had record royalties coming in consistently. Now you put out an album, and you have a windfall maybe once or twice but not the way it used to be — a check every three months.”

The implications for smaller bands are obvious. Hopefully the financial restraints implicit in the modern era don’t hamper the development and emergence of new bands who would’ve otherwise contributed positively to the musical world.