How much money to one hit wonders make

The Knack. Soft Cell. Dexys Midnight Runners. Any of those bands sound familiar? Just one. Would you be financially set for life? The answer, I discovered, is that it depends. They mixed it in just 15 minutes as well, after recording the majority of the song — including lead mnoey — in a single. The Music Gods seemed to have made up their minds back in The Knack would have a massive hit, but only one. That was Berton Averre sounding pretty chipper about his financial situation in an interview back in

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She was the biggest joke on the internet for weeks, her song ‘Friday’ mocked mercilessly online and in person at her high school — but after millions of song downloads on YouTube and iTunes, year-old Rebecca Black now has enough money for her college education. Black’s haul prompts a question about the nature of the record industry — can you make a living off just one hit? Fenton is a lawyer now, but he is well-qualified to talk about the «one-hit wonder»: he sang the hit ‘Turning Japanese’ while in his band The Vapors. Was he able to retire on its chart success? Hence the day job,» Fenton told ninemsn. There’s also dispute as to what constitutes a one-hit wonder. Despite a long and commercially successful career, Radiohead’s debut single ‘Creep’ is the band’s only single to become a hit in the US. The Flaming Lips and Beck have also had just one chart hit ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’ and ‘Loser’, respectively , but have gone onto long and successful careers. Other artists can be considered one-hit wonders in one country but achieve broader success in others. The staying power of some hits but not others often means that artists are often incorrectly remembered as being one-hit wonders. The Knack could never match the success of debut single ‘My Sharona’, but they never needed to.

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Averre has been able to live comfortably from radio and television royalties from the song. While many artists scorn the idea of allowing their songs to be used in advertisements, Averre said he has made a substantial amount of money from commercial use. Unlike many one hit wonders, ‘My Sharona’ has benefitted from remarkable staying power, keeping royalties relatively constant. But Rebecca Black’s chances for a life of idle luxury are slimmer.

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Forgot your password? I was listening to Nina Hagen’s 99 Red Balloons the other day and wondered to myself: «Can someone earn enough off of a song like that to live off of for a long time. It is possible, but not probable. There are a number of variables to consider. Who owns the publishing, who owns the recording, who holds the copyright

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Hugh gets annoyed every Christmas because he can’t avoid hearing the song everywhere he goes on the radio, at bars, supermarkets… While the holidays may be slightly annoying for Hugh’s character, he’s still able to live a completely care-free retired life with a fancy apartment, expensive sports car and luxury vacations all kne a single hit song. Is this dream scenario really possible? Can you write one hit song and retire off the royalties? As we are about wondeds demonstrate, writing one hit song can make you extremely rich for life. A few years back we interviewed Gary Portnoythe guy who wrote and sang the theme song for the television show Cheers.

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One of the most interesting facts we learned from Gary is that writing a hit TV theme song is a great way to make residual income for life. Gary told us that he made enough money off «Where Everybody Knows Your Name» to give him a very comfortable life without ever having to work. The vast majority of hit songs have a very short window of popularity. Gary is lucky because his song is permanently attached to one of the most popular and highly syndicated televisions shows of all time.