Posted on 12/11/2014 2:52:29 PM PST by a fool in paradise
Fifteen years ago Dr. Dre wondered aloud whether people had forgotten about him. If there was a question then, it has certainly dissipated throughout the next steps of a career filled with highlights—most recently the sale of Beats, the company he cofounded, to Apple for $3 billion.
Dr. Dre took home $620 million this year before taxes, thanks largely to that deal, making him the world’s top-earning musician of 2014. More remarkably, that number also marks the largest single-year haul of any musician, ever.
“It’s safe to say headphones is a good business,” said DJ Khaled, one of hip-hop’s top earners.
Dr. Dre’s payday gives him the widest margin in history between the first and second spots on our top-earning musicians list—half a billion dollars separate him from the No. 2 earner, Beyoncé, who pulled in $115 million. Her most lucrative year yet comes courtesy of her Mrs. Carter Show tour, a surprise album and endorsements with the likes of Pepsi and H&M .
Only one other act reached the nine-figure mark: The Eagles, who earned $100 million on the strength of their History Of The Eagles tour. Bon Jovi ranks fourth with $82 million and Bruce Springsteen rounds out the top five with $81 million; both Jersey-born rockers grossed millions per night on successful arena tours...
...Earnings were calculated from June 2013 to June 2014 and based on data from Pollstar, the RIAA and Nielsen, and on interviews with managers, lawyers, executives and some artists themselves...
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
No disagreeing there. It’s just that Dre isn’t making all that money on his music. That was my sole point.
$600,000,000 was Dr. Dre’s cut of the $3,000,000,000 sale of Beats to Apple. I don’t think he has to split that with businesses/staff.
Yes. I forgot about that. What a sale that was. My kids bought me some beats for when I walk/jog. They are pretty good sounding headphones. I don’t listen to hip hop, but the are good for audiobooks and they don’t fall out.
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