2008 Top music money makers

[Angiekay]

The Top 20 earners on Billboard's 2008 Moneymakers List are:
1. Madonna: $242,176,466
2. Bon Jovi: $157,177,766
3. Bruce Springsteen: $156,327,964
4. The Police: $109,976,894
5. Celine Dion: $99,171,237
6. Kenny Chesney: $90,823,990
7. Neil Diamond: $82,174,000
8. Rascall Flatts: $63,522,160
9. Jonas Brothers: $62,638,814
10. Coldplay: $62,175,555
11. The Eagles: $61,132,213
12. Lil Wayne: $57,441,334
13. AC/DC: $56,505,296
14. Michael Buble: $50,257,364
15. Miley Cyrus: $48,920,806
16. Taylor Swift: $45,588,730
17. Journey: $44,787,328
18. Billy Joel: $44,581,010
19. Mary J. Blige: $43,472,850
20. Kanye West: $42,552,402

[jrnyjetster]

3. Bruce Springsteen: $156,327,964

11. The Eagles: $61,132,213

13. AC/DC: $56,505,296

17. Journey: $44,787,328

Not too shabby....and a special thanks goes out to WalMart.

[DrFU]

Angie, is this tour revenues?

[S2M]

I guess there is no accounting for taste....

[Arkansas]

Found in a generic search...

"You may like Madonna's music, or you may not. Whatever you're opinion, you can't deny that she's one heck of a business woman. According to the annual list compiled by Billboard magazine, she was by far the music industry's top money maker.

The Billboard list differs from the Forbes ranking we published a couple of weeks ago. That list ranked musicians based on the volume of the unit sales, with Taylor Swift, AC/DC, Lil Wayne, Coldplay and Metallica taking up the first five spots. Billboard ranks musicians based on their revenue, something that allows the tally to take into account not just album and single sales, but also tour revenue. Rob Levine, Billboard's executive editor says the top five artists were also the year's top-selling tours: People call the music business the record business, but it's not. Touring revenue drives the train here. For artists, recorded music sales have become almost extra income.

Madonna is a prime example of the power of touring. About $230-million or 95% of her US$242.2-million in revenue came from her 2008 dates for her "Sticky and Sweet" Tour (it continues into 2009). According to Billboard: Even more remarkably, the top Moneymaker -- Madonna -- only had the 50th-best-selling album in the country. She ranked 14th on the list of digital track sellers and didn't place on the ringmasters chart. Her place on Moneymakers, like her $242,176,466 income, comes from the highest-earning tour that took place in 2008. "

Also read where this is the gross. One source said, for example, that production costs can take upwards of 40%.
I think it'd be interesting to see the total breakdown...like how much Perry's cut is...???


later~

[jrnyjetster]

I think it'd be interesting to see the total breakdown...like how much Perry's cut is...???

I know I read somewhere that Perry no longer gets a cut of tour revenues...that agreement supposedly ended last year. Just the fact that they were able to do the re-records with Arnel, makes you think that Perry must have relinquished most of his "silent partnership".

[Don]

If Perry is out of the Picture, then there was probably a buyout out clause that kicked in after so many years where he was paid a lump sum based on projected future earning, Songwriting royalties won't change though and he had to be paid some kind of royalty for the re-records.
Sony/BMG owns all the good stuff in the Journey catalogue and I think Steve hasn't severed his relationship with them, judging by his work on the remasters. Herbie and Neal have both said Perry has more money than god, so whatever deal was done probably came out in Steve's favor in the end. When it comes to money, Neal doesn't seem to have the overall feel for being a good businessman, he just wants to tour. If Perry hadn't done the Houston DVD, it would probably be sitting in Sony's vault still. Remastering discs and things like that take time and Neal seems to like being on the road more. He probably agreed to any price to just to get Perry to go away. No deal with Itunes is really not working out for Revelation however. The superbowl show may have helped the original DSB on the Itunes chart but did nothing for Journey's current album. The Walmart exclusive must have sounded good in the beginning, but when it comes to longevity for an album, I think it's better to be on Itunes. Just another move made by Azoff. Neal and Jon seem to be out of the picture when it comes to the money side of things. I wonder how much money from this last tour will actually go to their pockets?