At what price youth?

There are some interesting trends to be seen in the types of shows available to music lovers. If we discount small, local gigs and look only to touring shows available on the big ticket sellers, something notable pops up.

There’re a lot of old bands still touring.

Now we’re all aware of the aging megastars out there — looking at you, Mick! — but this isn’t just the big names. These are the lower-case A-listers of the past decades, long past their heyday, but still on the road. The towns they play are generally second tier, the venues are a little smaller, and very often the band has few original members — but they’re there, touring away. So why won’t rock stars retire?

In most cases, they can’t. They need the money.

For love or money

As we’ve explored previously, professional musicians’ peak audience drawing power hits at around 29 years old, and begins to drop off after that point. Many transition to behind the scenes roles like producing, but others just get stuck in the rut. Louis Armstrong once said “Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.” but very often they don’t retire because their lifestyle won’t allow it — stop touring, stop making a living.

In the case of legendary surf guitarist Dick Dale, this turned out to be sadly true. In 2015, the then 78 year-old was quoted by Billboard as saying “I can’t stop touring because I will die. Physically and literally, I will die.” He goes on to explain that he must tour to cover his medical expenses, and that “My only income is what comes in when I’m on the road.” When your most famous hit was written by someone else, royalty payments only come from performance.

It’s a sad state of affairs for the veterans of the industry.

Do rock stars have retirement planners?

In most cases, it seems not. The touring lifestyle can be one of excesses and expenses, with little left over when the party ends. Many of the older bands touring now have a record of problems with drugs, alcohol, and outrageous lifestyles — in fact, Francis Rossi of Status Quo reportedly spent £1.7m on cocaine in the 80s — which is an impressive way to blow money, if you’ll pardon the pun.

It may not be the most impressive waste of money by a band, however. In 1994, the K Foundation, the artistic successor to the English band The KLF went to the Isle of Jura in Scotland and burned one million pound. This “action” was an art project fittingly called The K Foundation Burn a Million Quid.

But it’s not all decadence. At its core, being an A-list stadium musician at the top of the game is expensive. A great deal of the actual touring expenses come out of the musicians’ pockets, and if they weren’t careful — or canny — in negotiating their rights, they mightn’t have that much in the way of residuals to work with. Add into the mix that the artists only get a small share of their music revenues at best, and it becomes understandable that lifestyle creep and unexpected loss of income could cripple their finances. In fact, some might argue that medium success is worse than a one-hit wonder, because it creates expectations of wealth that never quite arrive.

At least with a one-hit wonder, there’s a chance for sensible investing before the hype (and money) run out.

Nostalgia won’t pay the bills

At least not the artist’s nostalgia for the good old days. Like it or not, they’re bound to tour because that’s the job they chose. On the other hand, for the fans, nostalgia can be a powerful, powerful motivator. Never saw the Beatles? That’s OK, Sir Paul is coming to town, just 700 bucks! Cheap at the cost for (re)capturing the spirit of the British Invasion. It’s expensive, but the audience is older, wealthier, more aware of the transience of life, and far more willing to pay for “the show of a lifetime.”

However, this nostalgia has its price. Once iconic bands tour themselves to oblivion, losing members, credibility and verve with every show. Sure, seeing the Stones live is a show for the ages — but at what point is the audience just watching a really accurate cover band? With all its members pushing 80, and its last studio album turning 15, it’s hard to argue that the Stones are anything other than an efficient machine for turning nostalgia into cold, hard cash.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the aging star set, however. At Utopia Music, we’re building a new ecosystem for music, where one play means one pay, royalties are always collected and paid promptly, and all participants benefit. In the new Utopia world, artists will be compensated properly for their work, and will continue to collect all the residual royalties they’re entitled to — so they can tour for their love of the music, not their need for money to live.

Utopia Music. Where music lives.

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