Hundreds - even thousands - depending on the act they open for. A lot of mid level acts use this to supplement tour money because the live nation monopoly and other consolidation factors have driven venue costs and other touring expenses through the roof. This has become pretty standard practice.
I hear a lot of stories of lower mid level acts just giving up on touring - which after the collapse of album sales was the only way to make money. As with everything, corporate parasites slowly extract all value leaving the actual people doing the work with less and less.
In the music industry we call this pay-to-play. It’s when an opening band pays to open for an established act, for “exposure”
I always find that term humorous in the historical context of people dying all the time of exposure. We call it hypothermia these days lol
They sometimes actually pay? I figured they might play for free, but not pay.
Hundreds - even thousands - depending on the act they open for. A lot of mid level acts use this to supplement tour money because the live nation monopoly and other consolidation factors have driven venue costs and other touring expenses through the roof. This has become pretty standard practice.
Wow, thats really fucked up that the industry ended up like that.
I hear a lot of stories of lower mid level acts just giving up on touring - which after the collapse of album sales was the only way to make money. As with everything, corporate parasites slowly extract all value leaving the actual people doing the work with less and less.