How Much Does it Cost to Produce a Recording?

An anonymous reader writes "How much does the average new album cost to produce? I have seen this cost estimated between $500,000 and $1,000,000, but some quick figuring does not support a cost this high. According to various sources (Ok, Slashdot stories...), somewhere around 27,000 albums are produced each year and 906.6 million albums are shipped. I would guess that the album retail (about $15 per album) is based on a 100% markup, so that these 906.6 million albums are sold at wholesale for about $7.50 apiece, which means that the revenue from wholesale sales is about $6.8 billion. This means that the actual production cost has to be less than $250,000 per album, otherwise the record industry is losing money. I have left out the cost of actually printing and copying the albums as I think that the average cost is probably less than $0.25 per copy."

its getting cheaper

[thedbp]

with large ATA hard drives and digital interfaces for various applications to drive real-world mixers and soundboards becoming cheaper and cheaper, the actual cost of recording, in a real sense is very minimal. A whole setup can be had for $20,000.

Then there's studio time. And paying the engineers, artists, producer, and the entourages of all the above mentioned people. Plus food, limos, champagne, jimmy hats, mini hot dogs, whipped cream, broken instruments, bail, hush money, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and there's about $980,000.

So you can see how these things add up.

Average?

[Daleks]

While your numbers may hold true for the average, it obviously takes less money for the likes of William Shatner [amazon.com] or David Hasselhoff [amazon.com] to produce an album than U2.

They forgot to mention...

[NanoGator]

... bailing the artists out of jail.

Hmm, this comment'd be funnier if we were talking about the Portland Trailblazers.

Re:its getting cheaper

[wideBlueSkies]

Don't forget the whores, and lawyers.

Or is that whores/lawyers?

Re:Depends

[wideBlueSkies]

>>but didn't Michael Jackon spend $30million?

On plasic surgery and skin bleach, or on his recording?

Re:its getting cheaper

[Anonymous Coward]

i liked the way the poster used the inner-city slang "jimmy hats" so as to suggest that either he or people with whom he worked closely were both hip and getting laid on a regular basis.

Re:Average?

[ez76]

While your numbers may hold true for the average, it obviously takes less money for the likes of William Shatner or David Hasselhoff to produce an album than U2.

... and standard deviation was born.

Re:Average?

[davinciII]

it obviously takes less money for the likes of William Shatner [amazon.com] or David Hasselhoff [amazon.com] to produce an album

Seriously? Do you know how much money it costs to make a David Hasselhoff record even remotely listenable?

Look at that math!

[The_Rippa]

Man, I almost went blind reading that.

On the other hand,

if a chicken and half lays an egg and a half every day and a half, then how long does it take a monkey with a wooden leg to kick all of the seeds out of a dill pickle?

Re:Faulty premise

[kevcol]

Please. Don't sugar coat it for nerds. The word is 'fucked'.

Re:Faulty premise

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot: News for Sensitive Nerds. Stuff That Your Mom Can Read.

ah, just what the world needs

[autopr0n]

Note that this was a no-name studio, with a no-name engineer, and self-produced.

Yeah, and it shows.

Priceless...

[yiantsbro]

Studio Time: 50K
Well Known Producer: 250K
Other Expenses: 100K
Seeing your album on KaZaA the day of release: Priceless

MP3's - there are somethings in life that you don't need money to buy - for everything else there is the RIAA

Re:Average?

[RustyTaco]

• Cheap revolver: $75
• Box of cheap ammo: $5
• Never having to hear David Hasselhoff: Priceless!

- RustyTaco

my son's high school...

[simpl3x]

has a sony 24 track digital studio! they were featured in time for a story on drugs in high school. but, since the parents in this high rent zip code subsidize the drug usage, the recordings are much cheaper to produce!

Re:its getting cheaper

[thedbp]

your way is a a qauint fad of the past. all will be electronic. all will be assimilated. you too shall reap the digital harvest and succumb to the rhythm of the hi-hat.

Re:that's easy...

[warmcat]

Parent deserves +10 insightful, and another +5 succinct

Re:100%

[c.emmertfoster]

There was this one time, at Troll camp, where I was sleeping with a really hot broad from a shitty local band. [prettyhorses.net]
Production costs at Pachederm studios were allegedly one grand per day.

Re:its getting cheaper

[Aquillion]

And i'd sure hope that any band worth their sweat weight would at least have their own instruments and drummer.

Our last one spontaneously combusted. It happens all the time -- it's just not widely reported.

Yeah, but think of the artists

[Zog The Undeniable]

All those drugs, groupies and TVs thrown into swimming pools cost money, you know!

Seriously, is Robbie Williams *really* worth 80 million UKP? I mean, what can he possibly spend it on?

Re:its getting cheaper

[breon.halling]

Or is that whores/lawyers?

Whoreyers!

It sounds right if you use a British accent. =)

Re:Just a guess

[jez9999]

As well as (ultimately) the mind that was in the most pieces.