Happily, I gave up my dreams of becoming a rock musician long ago.
However, I?ve always wondered how much money some of my favorite bands
actually earn. Obviously, the answer will depend on such criteria as
how often they release albums, whether they?ve had major hits, how
often they tour, the details of their recording contracts, etc, and
the amount is likely to vary widely over time. Still, envisioning a
few alternative scenarios that vary these criteria in reasonable ways,
what are some estimates of how much a moderately successful rock band
would make per year (and over time if they quit and only earn
royalties)? As examples of what I mean by ?average? moderately
successful bands, I?d list the Wedding Present (and Cinerama), a-ha,
Alphaville, The Lilac Time, Better than Ezra, Dinosaur Jr., The
Housemartins, The Beautiful South, Big Country, O.M.D., The Pet Shop
Boys, The Replacements, Squeeze, They Might Be Giants, The
Go-Betweens, Hubert Kah, and XTC. Note: One could easily consider many
of these groups ?extremely successful,? yet they clearly are not
global superstars like The Police, U2, Prince, or Bruce Springsteen.
Any estimates for more successful bands, such as The Cure, The Smiths,
and New Order would also be interesting.

I recommend posting your question to industry expert Moses Avalon:

http://www.mosesavalon.com/consult.htm

The service costs $10.  If he's able to answer you to your
satisfaction, let me know, and I'll post it as an official answer (if
you'd like to change the price of this question to $10, that would be
fine).

Thanks,

jbf777
Researcher
Google Answers

According to U.S. Dept. of Labor's Occupational Employment Survey for
2001, musicians and singers make an average yearly income of about
$45,900.

To contrast, in 2001 some of the most successful artists were
Metallica (net income of $17.5 million), Limp Bizkit (net income of
$18.4 million), and Aerosmith (net income of $24.2 million).

The top five total for 2001 were:

1. U2 - $61.9 million
2. Dr. Dre - $51.9 million
3. The Beatles - $47.9 million
4. Dave Matthews Band - $43.4 million
5. Madonna - $40.8 million

(Source: http://www.musicfanclubs.org/metallica/news_archive/2002/june/14c.htm)

Well, I am desperately holding onto my music career dream while in
school for Engineering.  I have been doing all I can to get it going,
but at is extremely difficult.  If you get a chance, check out my
site.
www.johnmaxfield.biz

[I posted my question to industry expert Moses Avalon as jbf777-ga
suggested, and here was his answer (which cost $10, and which I told
him I would be posting to this site). Note: It sounds like a music
career can be more lucrative than I would have expected!]

YOUR ANSWER: You're right. There are way too many variables to give a pat 
answer, but I can give you this.* In my book Confessions of a Record
Producer I give you all the assumptions and you can figure it out for
yourself down to the penny.* I also go into all the revenue streams in
my Workshop which meets
twice a year.

But as a simple example for today: a typical band that is midlevel success 
with only one hit, you can look forward to making about enough money to buy a 
decent home, a decent car and live well for about three years.* If
you're a solo artist you will make far more money as you don't have to
split anything.* So, make it a really great house, 2 great cars and
live well for about four to
five years. (this is generally when you see one hit wonders leaving
the scene as they run out of money or get real jobs).

If you make it past the four year mark with consistent hits you are making 
the $10,000,000 a year range and up.

I hope this was of help,

Moses