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It’s not news that some of today’s biggest names in music make a lot of money. Musicians like Adele, Bruno Mars, and others are known for their stacks of cash, with each of these stars making millions each year. It’s a different story on the opposite end of the spectrum, however. Many underground artists have a difficult time making even a dime solely off their music, as the days of selling records and CDs to turn a profit have passed. Why is this? Is there anything that can be done about this problem?

The United States Department of Labor lists the mean hourly wage for musicians at $34.56, which seems like a pretty decent pay to live on. However, a closer analysis of this statistic shows that this wage pertains to em-ployed musicians at performing arts organizations or schools and gives no mention to the solo artists and bands who write their own music. This is expected, as a solo musician doesn't technically

Money and the Underground

By Brandon Brorby

make a “wage” by writing or performing music. There are a few choices available for this group of musicians.

One of these options would be to sign with a record company. The artist will be able to spread their music over a wider area, thus allow-ing the music to become more known and accessible across society. On the other hand, this is an expen-sive route to take. According to Jack Phillips in an article he wrote for Pulse Radio, “For smaller labels, recording costs average US$15k per album. For large labels, the average can be $100k to $500k and up. The artist bears this debt, which is repaid from royalties.” Not only this, but the artist only keeps a small per-centage of the profit from their music, with the rest going to the label itself and the writer, if app-licable. Overall, it would take a lot of time and luck before an artist would be able to make enough money to live when signed to a record label.

Another path a musician can take is selling merchandise relating to