Musicians Are Now Making More Money Through Tours, and You Would Not Believe How Much Ed Sheeran Has Made!

Business LoungeJuly 25, 2019

There was a time when musicians would make fortunes by selling their CDs around the world, however that time is in the past thanks to advancements in technology. Now, the world has moved past the CD era and prefers to listen to music online through the many available streaming options, some of which are completely free of cost such as YouTube.

So, one wonders, how do these artists make any money if the world is listening to their music without paying a single penny? Well, there is still one medium where people need to buy tickets to hear their favorite singers: a concert. According to Zach Bellas, who founded the music label called SBM Records, the major portion of an artist’s total income comes from touring as well as live performances.

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Artists are now earning much more through their live shows than through online music sales

Not All Concerts Are Equal

Of course, not all kind of music is suitable for the concert medium. For example, people prefer to listen to slow music when they are alone, so they are unlikely to come to a concert and do the same. However, as far as rock music is concerned, people prefer to dance to it, and that is why they make sure to grab the opportunity of attending a rock concert.

According to a report published by the Wall Street Journal, even though the genre of rock is not as popular a genre as hip-hop or even pop, the artists who make rock music are able to generate more amount of money through their concerts, on average, compared to artists singing other genres of music.

Garth Brooks Made Millions On His World Tour

When it comes to the record for the most number of concerts done as part of a single music tour, singer Garth Brooks has broken it. The artist remained on tour for over three years in between 2014 and 2017, and, along with Trisha Yearwood, who is his wife, managed to sing in front of an estimated 6 million people. This figure is just for the shows he did in the US and Canada. The total cumulative earnings from this tour were approximately $364 million.

Garth Brooks surely made a huge name for himself in the music industry

But there are stars who have made much more than this. According to reported figures, Madonna managed to generate around $408 million from her tour called Sticky & Sweet which she performed during the period of 2008 and 2009. She is also the only female singer to have earned a spot in the top ten list of artists with the highest grossing tours.

Other High Grossing Tours

The tour called Head Full Of Dreams by the band Coldplay, which had started in the year 2016, and concluded within a year, managed to garner a staggering $523 million, most of which came from their performances in France as well as London.

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A Coldplay concert is always fun, and that’s why thousands of people show up to enjoy it

But the highest grossing tour on the list has to be Ed Sheeran’s Divide tour, which the singer embarked upon in the year 2017. He sang the songs from his newest album. The tour earned him an impressive $750 million, making it one of the highest grossing tours in history.