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Irving Azoff on Artists as Brands

Posted on 06. Jun, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

Last week at the All Things Digital: D conference hosted by Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, music mogul and Ticketmaster Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff, talked about the status of the music industry today.

Artists (and presumably their labels, managers, etc.) no longer make money off the release of their actual music. “Recorded music is more a marketing tool than a revenue source” for acts now, said Azoff. Today,“recorded music is down to less than 6%” of major musical acts’ revenues, he claimed. Artists walk in to his office, Azoff said, “who used to make $300,000 to $500,000 a year in royalties [from selling recordings]. And now that’s diminished to less than $50,000” a year.