20 Hardest Working Acts Of 2010: Lady Gaga, Willie Nelson & A Bunch Of Bands You’ve Never Heard Of
Income from live touring has become the cornerstone of most artist's income, but it's not money that easily earned. As these stats from live music hub Songkick make that point painfully clear. To make the top 20 – a surprising mix of genres and well known as well as lesser known artists – a band had to play 117 to194 dates and log 67,000 to 150,000 in 2010. The Charts:
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I think it’s great that Willie Nelson is still going strong. It’s inspirational to us aging musicians. Hmmm – I wonder what his secret is?
I worked with a CO musician who played around 200 gigs a year. Not touring beyond a regional area, but playing everything from solo coffeehouse gigs to lucrative full-band corporate gigs. She mixed it up so much in terms of shows, venues, and audiences, that no one ever got exactly the same show. And during her busy summer season she’d play as many as three shows a day in three different locations.
I know so many indie bands that are afraid to overbook that they maybe play one show every three months. I really think you’ve got to gear yourself up for those 200 shows a year. Either you tour all the time, or you play in multiple bands/configurations simultaneously. Of course, you can do other things besides music to make your money, but the 200-shows-a-year model is the norm for many successful performing musicians.
Interesting that so many bands from Fearless Records are on there. Mayday Parade (former), Every Avenue, Breathe Carolina, Alesana (former)
117 dates makes the list of the Top 20 Hardest Working Acts of 2010? Really? That is barely a decent year for most bands.
Would be interesting to compare music sales with number of tour dates too, or merchandise sales.
I just previewed more all the bands and artists on this list that I didn’t know… About 50% of them were over produced, kiddie rock bands that sounded like they had no influences whatsoever. There were a couple though that had their own sound and felt like they had some kind of artistic measure. Not surprising seeing big acts like Lady Gaga, Willie Nelson, and Vampire Weekend on this list. Lady Gaga HAS to pay back her financial backers SOME how, Nelson WROTE the book on touring, and Vampire Weekend (the little hipster band that could) has take advantage of their popularity for as long as it lasts!
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well i’s the same old story, when no recorded music business existed you had to play a lot of concerts, even one every day, that’s how it works in theatres, why music should be different?