This is where I think you miss the boat Jim. McDonalds and other big companies are always looking for ways to part you from your dollar, and use incessant advertising to do so.

Music is not sold that way. Did you buy Beatles stuff because it was advertised or because it generated a widely reported buzz among your peers? Even in the days of payola, if the music was no good, listeners tuned out, and went somewhere else. Remember, payola only gave it a better chance to be heard. Sure it generated some sales, I can't believe it did not, but if it had nothing going for it, it dropped off the charts.


As far as what they "deserve", the key is that folks are willing to shell out $15 to $20 for a CD, (her 30 million units generate say $600 million in sales) $50 to $150 for concerts, and up to thousands (I have a client who has tickets to the Superbowl every year...shelss out about 10k apiece for them) for sporting events. The total take is in the billions and a lot of folks make money. Who should get the lion's share?

Say Gaga sells 500,000 concert tickets (10 filled stadiums at 50,000 each, or 50 dates a year at 10,000 each....both are easily attainable) at say $75 a ticket....for a take of 37.5 million. Who should get the lion's share?

You say someone who generates hundreds of millions and maybe a billion or so between CD sales and concerts is not worth much, or is overpaid?


If writing ever becomes work I think I'm going to have to stop