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The Dresden Dolls Make Almost “No Money” From Their Albums
Written by: Chris Castiglione
The Dresden Doll’s latest album debut at #42 on the Billboard charts, but they seem to make less than they would working at Taco Bell.
A NPR interview from earlier this year with the Dresden Dolls documents just how hard it is for musicians to make ends meet. Singer Amanda Palmer explains that the bulk of their income is from merchandise sales and explains, “We make almost no money off our recordings”.
Here are a few alternatives they have explored:
- Merchandise: The Dresden Dolls can take in more than $1,000 a night selling merchandise, which makes the “merch table” a major source of income when they’re on the road.
- Music Licensing: They earned about $40,000 from licensing their song “Coin-Operated Boy” for a TV ad in
Austria . - Books: They brought in extra revenue from their book Dresden Dolls Companion. The book contains lyrics, sheet music and personal notes about their songs.
Bands can’t survive without exploring alternatives to album sales.
4 Comments so far
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Great article. Thanks for brining it to my attention. I’ll have to try and spend more cash at the merchbooth.
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I have a suggestion as to why music used to be shared and why it still should be so.
I am a recording artist who believes firstly music is about art and sharing not money. From experience I believe musical creativity is an energy anyone who was the musical skill can share at any given moment. Each person responds to it differently, but near musically perfect improvisations with two or more musicians who’ve never met are common. Music does follow certain patterns which are pleasing to the ear or sound “right”, and which players can follow to create a logical melody and rhythm but often a musical tangent can be pursued with very similar results.
This is something I’ve experienced many times and forms the basis of my somewhat ridiculous theory.
With regard to this I think music and sound reproductions should be free, as it belongs to no one and musicians are but a vehicle for the aforementioned energy’s reproduction into sound.
Medium and distribution can be costly and are expenses the listener has to bear, but if these expenses were gone, all listeners will benefit from a much greater selection of sounds with which to enhance their lives.
Sounds nuts right? Indeed. Musicians have to eat. Luckily people are likely to continue to want something tangible with their purchases. A t-shirt? Or physical form of sound reproduction along with professional artwork? Merchandise in whatever form coupled with donations from fans may provide a means for more musicians to enjoy a reasonable living than currently do.
@peterjohnston - I agree with you when you say that music is about sharing ideas. And I know that musicians will survive without the petty wallet change that they used to get from album sales.