Open your Heart - the commercial success

daherbst · Post by **daherbst** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:01 am

It might be too early to talk about this - but it would be really interesting to know some facts about this:

- How many records have been sold?
- Is it more successful than "I found you?
- How many records must be sold for becoming No.1 @ Beatport
- Is it possible to earn more than just a few bucks (eg, compared to being booked)

Of course I won't get Axwell's calculation (if you need someone for the controlling, pls let me know

), but nevertheless - it's interesting!

ANDREA · Post by **ANDREA** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:48 am

I heard this in many radio

Dirty Sanchez · Post by **Dirty Sanchez** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:10 am

I wonder the same things daherbst... It's a shame it's not that easy to know this kind of figures in electronic music. It reminds of all those threads I've read where people wonder how much DJs get paid per gig haha

jeanp · Post by **jeanp** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:59 am

very interesting post indeed, but i guess we'll never know this sort of things. maybe there is a site on the internet wich shows the commercial success of an artist? like the billboard in the us? i guess in germany we have the mag musikmarkt, wich shows the current charts and i guess they also release how many copy's have been sold by a artist. but im not shure, have a look:

http://www.musikmarkt.de/

its more for commercial/pop music, but maybe there are some answeres.

//

Dirty Sanchez · Post by **Dirty Sanchez** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:06 pm

I guess only Beatport or Axwell can tell us about number of copies already sold for this great track

Post by **axwell** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:30 am

not that many...
for every legally downloaded track, there is about 6 illegal downloaded tracks...at least..
This is why we have to dj so much to support ourselves and being able to make music...its in a way a bad circle cause it can keep us away from the studio too much and the end result is the consumer gets less great music...not much to do about it i think, but i really really appreciate the people that support by buying! you are almost the red cross of house music!

respect
ax

daherbst · Post by **daherbst** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:26 am

1:6 is better than I thought! The basic problem is the current zeitgeist - which ends into a vicious circle. Sometimes it seems that people lost the knowledge that their action has influence on others.

Even if there would be a beatport flatrate (which I would like to have), people would still use blogs etc...

julian · Post by **julian** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:49 am

axwell wrote:not that many...
you are almost the red cross of house music!

well, about figures now. isnt it said deadmau5 is one of the only guys who sold 30,000 copies of one track?
I think i heared somewhere atists get like 50 cents for every sold beatport track or even less. so id guess deadmau5 earned about 15,000 with one track.

daherbst · Post by **daherbst** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:02 am

50 cents maybe @ Beatport - but that's only the turnover - Axwell still has def some costs for producing, mastering, artwork,studio, indirect costs, etc,etc.... and if you calculate the opportunity costs as well - it's not that much!
Of course I don't know his costs-structure - but if it is like this, producing music is "only" a (essential) part of the contribution margin.

It even might be possible that he earns @ one big gig more than with the whole sales of one track!

But this problem isn't a "House-Music-Szence" exklusive one - also in the Pop business you earn the big money with concerts... eg Madonna - and she again needs Axwell to make "Jump" worth listening!

Dirty Sanchez · Post by **Dirty Sanchez** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:01 am

Madonna sure is needin' some help lately

To her credit, she's chosen well enough in her last two albums, and of course, there's Jump...

Wow, 1:6 ratio it's real bad but like daherbst I thought it'd be even worse. We've discussed before that electronic music needs their iTunes to kind of make that ratio smaller... I mean, Beatport's trying but it's not like it's: a/famous outside of the hardcore fans and b/a great site like iTunes is. It needs a lot of work to be what we need it to be.

The whole thing is reli saddening. It makes you appreciate Ax's work because the truth is that he, just like all the producers out there, is not making music for the money but for the love of it. I'll always buy my tracks but damn... Such a sad story.

BTW on Beatport the song's still on top positions, right now No. 2 to 'Morphine' by Dahlback.