It’s a “special effect,” but a huge one: Because he emulated many of his colleagues and peddled the rights to his songs to Sony for $550 million in December, Bruce Springsteen is allowed to According to the specialist magazine “Rolling Stone” happy about being the top earner in the music business in the past year.
Springsteen’s total earnings are estimated at $590 million, which secures him the top spot. The “money” came in through performances on Broadway, but also through a Spotify podcast “Renegades: Born in the USA” and a book of the same name, both sponsored by ex-President Barack Obama.
Musicians sell champagne, fashion and albums
Rapper Jay-Z earned $470 million, reportedly not just from his music, but also through the sale of half of his champagne brand “Armand de Brignac” to the luxury manufacturer LVMH (Moët Hennessy). On top of that, he made money with the marketing of a streaming service, which secured him second place. Well behind in third place: the legendary songwriter Paul Simon (“The Sound of Silence”). He also sold his “music catalog” to Sony and, according to “Rolling Stone”, was able to look forward to total revenues of over 260 million dollars.
“Scandal noodle” Kanye West, who just renamed himself “Ye”, keeps his war of roses with ex Kim Kardashian running and is present on the market with a fashion label, comes in “ungrateful” fourth place and is estimated at 250 million dollars. One Republic frontman Ryan Tedder, who also wrote hits for U2 and Adele, also made plenty of money selling copyright rights, which was good for $200 million and tied for fifth place. Behind them are “Red Hot Chili Peppers” (145 million), Lindsey Buckingham (100 million) and Mötley Crüe (95 million) – they all also sold rights to financial investors or major labels. Blake Shelton is ninth with 83 million.
Music Rights: Taylor Swift chose Alternative
The only woman who could reasonably keep up with the top earnings is Taylor Swift, who couldn’t sell her “catalogue” because it had long been in other hands. Instead, she just re-recorded old albums, which was enough for $80 million and number 10. With “Red” and “Fearless” she took the top spots on the album charts.
–
