Can someone give me break down, on how the money from an average 20 dollar cd is devided up

ie cost of CD
amount to record store
amount to artist

etc

I could be really wrong, but i had heard the artist doesn't get much from the sale of Cd's they get most of their money from touring

I'm just confused at why the price of CD's is so high

It really does vary widely from deal to deal. 50 to 75 cents per CD is the figure I see the most for how much the artists get per CD sold. Sometimes it's as high as $1.00, sometimes lower: in December 1996 Dee Snider wrote in "Ask Dee" that Twisted Sister gets 24 cents in artist royalties (remember to split that 5 ways, so Dee himself gets a nickel). Quiet Riot got totally screwed over and haven't seen a penny in royalties for their big-selling albums since 1987. And artists usually have to pay back their large up-front advances which slices deep into even that. Record companies will defend this by saying that the majority of their titles lose money, so they need to make big profits off a handful of titles to offset all the ones that never break even. Incidentally, indie queen Ani DiFranco claims that despite fewer sales, she makes more money per CD sold than artists on big labels because she doesn't have to cover a huge corporate overhead before her sales see any real returns.

The most commonly cited figure on the net for a retailer's take is $5 off a $13 CD - that works out to 38%. So the rest goes to the record label and for manufacturing/distribution.

Originally posted by Caligula
I could be really wrong, but i had heard the artist doesn't get much from the sale of Cd's they get most of their money from touring.

That does seem consistent with the way that all these '80s hair bands continue to tour and tour and tour and tour, but often go years without ever releasing any new music. It must not be very profitable for them to do so even on a small label.

This article says Sting makes 62 percent of his income from concert tickets:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/Entertainment/2020_concertgreed030314.html

Incidentally again, doesn't Miles Copeland seem like a flat-out liar in that piece? Ticket prices were already skyrocketing (ahead of the pace of inflation and sports tickets)
in the three years leading up (http://www.post-gazette.com/soundscene/pages/20010629paulsimon06.asp) to Napster's appearance in mid-1999. Pearl Jam also went after TicketMaster BEFORE Napster existed if you recall. Filesharing is the industry's excuse for everything now. :violin:

This is why the deal we signed with Now & Then Records is so sweet. Once costs are recovered from producing and distributing the CD, the profits are split 50/50 between us and the label. This is almost unheard of, but better for us because if we don't make money, neither does the label. They have to work to push the product.

It's nice to have a Universal plant here in town...and some people I know working for them. I was told that the costs for a CD album, ready to sale, varies between $2 - $5, depending on various items like number of copies, exteriors (booklet, tray, printing etc.) - royalties of the artists already included.
From this moment on, it's a long way to the now usual $17 - $19 per CD in the stores, but I've also heard (and read various articles) that the record companies and distributors are inhaling the major piece of the cake.

Recording artist Janis Ian who started out in 1967 and nominated for nine Grammy's has written articles about major record labels versus independent labels, making the CD, costs, profits, touring and internet downloading. There's some very interesting reading.

http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html

FROM THE ARTICLE (link) ABOVE:
"One other major point: in the hysteria of the moment, everyone is forgetting the main way an artist becomes successful - exposure. Without exposure, no one comes to shows, no one buys CDs, no one enables you to earn a living doing what you love. Again, from personal experience: in 37 years as a recording artist, I've created 25+ albums for major labels, and I've never once received a royalty check that didn't show I owed them money. So I make the bulk of my living from live touring, playing for 80-1500 people a night, doing my own show. I spend hours each week doing press, writing articles, making sure my website tour information is up to date. Why? Because all of that gives me exposure to an audience that might not come otherwise. So when someone writes and tells me they came to my show because they'd downloaded a song and gotten curious, I am thrilled!"

Also a must read: From The Majors To The Minors

http://www.janisian.com/index.html

Here is The Breakdown From CNN (They use $16.88, but you get the point):

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/entertainment/0101/cd.price/frameset.exclude.html

Originally posted by Pagan
This is why the deal we signed with Now & Then Records is so sweet. Once costs are recovered from producing and distributing the CD, the profits are split 50/50 between us and the label. This is almost unheard of, but better for us because if we don't make money, neither does the label. They have to work to push the product.

I am very glad to hear that Pagan--I wish it worked that way for more artists. Record labels should have to push product, that should always be part of their job.

How do you, as a person who wants to make money from a CD that you have made, feel about places that sell used CDs? I know it's good on one hand because it means that your CD is being passed on to someone who may buy more of them, but it also means that someone might have burned a copy of it and the sold it.

I often try to buy used because I believe in using fewer of our Earth's resources, and used is usually as good as new for a lot of things, but doesn't that rip you off in a way?