Licenses

[Tony Hardie-Bick]

In the top 40 earning acts of 2009, income from album sales is a fraction (from 
one fifth to one twentieth) of income from ticket sales. Merchandise is excluded:

http://is.gd/aNEj0

Skipping the midrange, consider music professionals who don't make a significant 
portion of their income from music (whether or not they play live). Proportion 
of their income from sales of music recordings is also, not greater than some 
small fraction of what they earn.

Between these two extremes, there is a turbulent existence. The chances of 
economic survival are greatly improved by playing live.

In all cases, professional musicians wishing to maximise their income, are 
turning to live performance.

It may give your confidence an immense boost to make money from a track, but, 
IMO, if your music is good enough to make money, it's probably even better at 
making you friends, and this, above a certain level of artistic commitment, 
translates to an ever-increasing audience.

In prehistory, the anglo-saxon term for tribal leader meant, literally, "gift 
giver". In other words, if you are powerful enough to give gifts, others may 
respect you.

Tony (HB)