Death on Two Legs: A Financial Perspective

Bumped again.

Royalties to the artist(s) are usually 5%-10% of the album sale price. Top notch artists, Queen at its peak, can count up to 15%. At least that was an industry standard back in the 1980s-2000s. Maybe things have changed since. Concerts were the most lucrative bang for the buck. Creative accounting standards were used to show a loss/break even, so there was more money for the promoters, artists, the studio. That's why in one of the interviews, I believe it was Freddie, mentioned that they only made money with the Magic Tour.

Someone asked really early on about merchandise income - my opinion is that there would have been very little - we know there were programs, and badges/patches, but it wasn't the range of t-shirts that you'd see at a concert these days - and someone has had to have those items made, so again the band are having to share the profit with those who made the investment. We also know that the fan club (a potential income stream) was actually set up by Trident, so again, little/nothing going to the band.