Like many industries, it is difficult to know what your earning potential might be. If you decide to focus on getting a job at a company, then like any other employee, you may find yourself with an entry level salary and may get the chance to work your way up. With so much competition in the music business for jobs, it may be hard to find employment without some kind of experience and knowledge in the industry, whether that be through education, training or hands-on experience. There are various business models within the music business, which may be associated to specific job roles. For instance, a booking agent that books live performances for bands and artists, generally get between 10-20% of the fee that the artist will be paid. So, if you look at a ticket price and the capacity of the venue, you can get a rough idea what an agent might be getting. However, the promoter of the same show may not get a penny, unless a certain number of tickets are sold to cover costs, so that is a very different business model to the agent. Imagine being the agent for Muse at Wembley! That’s quite a lot of money!
For many years, artist managers worked from a model of taking 20% of the artists net revenue, but that has now changed, as there are new ways in which managers and artists have explored how revenue is shared between them, although the 20% model may still be part of some agreements. For music artists, music sales are an area of concern, as the streaming model, which is now the most common way in which most fans listen to music, doesn’t make that much money at all. The record labels have found ways to earn most of the revenue made from music streaming, through the various deals, but not many other people benefit from streaming music. Don’t forget, if a manager takes a % of your earnings, this will affect their earning potential too! So, there is no one way to get into the music industry and no one way to earn money, but being pro-active, passionate, and exploring all of the opportunities open to you, will be a good start!