Thanks Thomas, good explanation. For clarification, I was looking for further reading, not disagreeing :)
This is very good data. Also kind of scary. I knew musicians had a hard time of it, but I've never seen the numbers crunched like that.
As a semi-relevant aside, my girlfriend works on Broadway and frequently tells me about the actors/actresses she meets. There are well-known stars who make between $10-20 thousand per contract (which may last about 6 months, commonly) despite having a leading role. I suppose it's similar to the music industry - only a privileged few ever make it to what an engineer would call "starting salary" and only a handful ever get rich (comparatively).
It's saddening that the arts are so monetarily difficult. I have a deep appreciation for music, theatre and film but the constituents really get shafted.
>There are well-known stars who make between $10-20 thousand per contract (which may last about 6 months, commonly) despite having a leading role
You might be thinking of Off Broadway - all of Broadway has to pay Equity rates, which as of last October was $1,754 per week. The minimum an actor would make on a six month Broadway contract would be ~$45k (normally slightly more, there are a number of things Equity adds on top, like Per Diems, chorus fees, etc).
This is still not a lot, and of course many actors may go months without work. Non-equity gigs are also often much lower paying.
It's simple supply and demand. Lots of people want to be a musician, or an actor, and will accept a much lower salary to do that than they'd demand for other jobs.
This is very good data. Also kind of scary. I knew musicians had a hard time of it, but I've never seen the numbers crunched like that.
As a semi-relevant aside, my girlfriend works on Broadway and frequently tells me about the actors/actresses she meets. There are well-known stars who make between $10-20 thousand per contract (which may last about 6 months, commonly) despite having a leading role. I suppose it's similar to the music industry - only a privileged few ever make it to what an engineer would call "starting salary" and only a handful ever get rich (comparatively).
It's saddening that the arts are so monetarily difficult. I have a deep appreciation for music, theatre and film but the constituents really get shafted.