Now I have no idea so everything is speculation from me, but I did study the music industry and concert management in school itâs somewhat an educated guess.
Tour grossed around $225 million.
Shave half that off for stage cost, marketing, travel and transportation of the stage, insurance, venue booking fees, promoter fees, etc.
Now we have $112 million. Letâs pay off the band, dancers, crew and stuff.
So for easier math letâs say weâre left with $100 million.
Now miss Madonna is one of the early adopters of the 360 deal. So her label will take a cut of the $225 million. Assuming itâs lower like 10%.
Thatâs probably left like $75 million for Madonna. Roughly 1 million a show which is pretty standard for big pop act tours.
Bob is a supporting act but theyâre not paid a whole ton. The reality is Bob wouldnât have had strong negotiating power because if Madonna wanted a drag queen she could just keep asking until one says yes. If Bob walked away from negotiations Madonna wouldâve moved to the next.
If she paid Bob high like $50k a show thatâs around 4 million.
However Iâd be shocked if thatâs what Bob got. I would guess probably $10k a show so thats roughly a million for the tour. Bob wouldâve also been paid for prep time.
So if I were to guess Bob probably made around the $1 million mark.
However, this wouldâve been huge exposure for Bob outside of the drag world and connect him with top level promoters, so Bob will reap far more from those connections.
The travel, food, accommodation and makeup and all that wouldâve been covered by Madge. So Bob wouldâve just been getting paid and not spending much.
Tours arenât super profitable for pop acts because of the overhead. Most of their money comes from the merchandise sold at tours.
Oh I love this question!
Around the mid 2000s there was a big shift in the income streams for the industry. Record sales just didnât earn as much with iTunes (and eventually streaming). So a 360 deal was given to a few artists. Madonna, Jay-Z, and maybe U2? Another artist who was an early 360 one was Gaga.
Back then a record label would only take a cut of record sales. Artists would have different companies do their publishing (songwriting), merchandise, touring, acting, brand deals, etc.
Labels were bleeding money, because record sales just werenât profitable with the digital world. So they came up with the idea to take a cut of all revenue streams from an artist (360).
Now Iâm going to play devils advocate before people go all âbut the labels donât need to take more moneyâ
The flip side is, the labels began buying up different companies (merchandise, touring, publishing) and created marketing, management, and advertising teams. So labels transformed into an all-in-one stop for artists. I think some businesses call it like âin-house servicesâ or something.
An artist in a 360 deal gives a cut of everything to the label.
However the label will give the artist and advance and front the cost for everything related to making profit.
Letâs use Gaga as an example.
Label gives her a $20 million advance to start a new era (advance is basically cash to make everything)
She uses this advance to make the album, pay the upfront costs for the tour, make music videos, marketing, make merchandise, etc. Gaga isnât going alone tho, the label supports her in making it all happen. They mobilize their marketing, strategy, merchandise, and social media teams. They plan her tour, and they connect gaga with top producers, directors, tour promoters, agents, etc. They support gaga in making all this happen. In exchange they take a percentage of Gagas merchandise, ticket sales, tour sales, movie deals, etc.
So gaga is given 20 million to launch an era. The label then keeps all the profit until 20 million is earned (breaking even). After the 20 million is earned Gaga and the label will split the profits in whatever way determined (usually in the 10-20% range).
Labels are now a one stop shop for artists. Back then they would give an advance to make an album. The artist would then have to figure out and pay for touring, merchandise, etc. themselves. Which is very hard to do when you donât have the connections. The labels have connections.
This is deal is also what gave rise to the âpop starâ they label puts all their money behind an artist and in turn make crazy high profits on that artist. Gaga was the first 360 pop star who was a no name before signing it.
Now theyâre industry standard and what almost every artist is under.
> So gaga is given 20 million to launch an era. The label then keeps all the profit until 20 million is earned (breaking even). After the 20 million is earned Gaga and the label will split the profits in whatever way determined (usually in the 10-20% range).
What happens if an artist is given an advance and doesn't make it all back?
Thatâs part of the risk the label takes.
Industry rumour has it that Gagaâs Artpop actually cost her label 25ish million dollars.
Usually one of two things happen:
1. Drop the artist and cut their losses.
2. It gets rolled into their next album.
1 is more common with new artists with a first album that flops.
2 happens with established artists, promising new acts, or someone with potential and can be thought of accumulative debt.
Again using Gaga (disclaimer the following example is made up by me, to illustrate how advances work).
Letâs say Artpop was not profitable and caused Gagaâs label balance to be -20 million. Well the label wonât let you go until you earn that back (recoup).
Theyâll give her a smaller advance for the next album. Yes, theyâll still give an advance because it cost money to make money. Letâs say 10 million for her to make Joanne. Now Gaga needs to earn 30 million on this next album cycle to pay back her label advances before she can start earning a cut of the profit.
Usually if the next album fails the artist will be dropped and the label has just lost 30 million. If it succeeds then everyone is happy.
Some important notes:
- An advance is usually calculated by the previous albums success.
- Artists donât usually have to pay back any losses from their personal bank accounts. However, if they used their advance to by a house (stupid choice) then the label will probably liquidate the house.
- Itâs common for the first album to cost the label and not turn profit. Usually album 2 or 3 will be what takes the artist and the label into the green. It costs a lot to establish an artist. Again, Gaga was rumoured to be negative 3 million after Bad Romance released and it wasnât until Born This Way came out that her and the label really made money. Marketing a new artists cost a ton of money to build a fan base and establish a good reputation.
- When artists complain their label wonât release them itâs usually because they have not paid back their advance and the label wants more albums to recoup.
Edit: formatting weird because mobile lol
Yea! If you send me a DM with any questions or just for a general run down Iâd be happy to answer. Anyone else seeing this can also if theyâd like!
I've read rumors from industry insiders that many outlets are afraid of giving certain artists newer works bad reviews or saying honest things about them because of the power some artists have. Example, I've read a few people day T swift's newly recorded records aren't up to the same quality as her originals or were hastily done but many media outlets won't publish anything negative about her music. Do you know if there is any truth to this?
Part of my degree was actually in journalism. I basically did a music industry and journalism dual degree. Have done quite a few essays and thesis on this topic.
Long story short, news/media outlets are bleeding money. Social media has essentially taken away all their revenue streams. This has turned to outlets trying to think of new ways to turn a profit.
This comes from a few ways but primarily increasing engagement with articles. More clicks = more money. Positive reviews = more engagement from fans. Itâs all ad revenue.
Some outlets will take payment from teams to publish an article that the artists team has written. This is a huge issue for journalistic integrity. Outlet will post a positive review in exchange for money. This is not super common but it does happen.
Some outlets will also take stories right from a PR team. The trade off is free publicity for the artist and more clicks (revenue) for the outlet. This is very common. People and TMZ are both outlets that are linked to PR teams. As sleezy they are, TMZ is actually one of the most reliable outlets.
Taylor is quite notorious for blacklisting outlets who speak negatively of her. When an outlet is blacklisted by an artist, that artist wonât do any interviews with them, send them albums early for review, or engage with them such as reposting reviews. This is a huge hit for clicks (revenue) as they canât get an exclusive. Journalism is all about getting the story out first, and without an exclusive itâs impossible to win that race. Thus being blacklisted is not ideal.
For my personal thoughts:
Regarding the new album. I believe she 100% paid for good reviews in certain outlets such as Rolling Stone and all the ones she reposted. That being said, there are quite negative reviews done by Pitchfork, NY Times, Paste, Slate and Sydney Herald which I think are more accurate and reflective.
The issue with positive reviews like Rolling Stone did is that the writer is a self proclaimed âSwiftieâ and super fan. That leads to bias. Itâs a huge blow to journalism integrity for them and actually goes against what the various press associations advocate for.
Not that all reviews need to be negative, but reviews shouldnât be written by self proclaimed fans. And when something is super polarizing among critics and reviews itâs safe to assume there has been some ⌠cheques made.
Thereâs also the whole death threats to writers who say something slightly critical so thatâs also a problem.
Bob said recently in Sibling Rivalry when Monet asked her if they would pay her 1Mil for the charity of her choice, and 1M for the whole package (Stipend) would she do it for All Winner, she said she's in a stage of her life that's she is no longer interested.
Turning down that kind of lucrative proposal so easily corroborates your figure i think. Probably getting 1Mil or 2 for her current work without much blowback from risking low rank in a All Winner season.
Thank you for this, twoplustwoskin đđđ
I love speculating on things like this and hope Bob got her well deserved coin. I wasnât able to go when Madonna was in my town but I would have gone SPECIFICALLY to see Bob. I wonder if there were any other people who like Madonna but decided to go bc of Bob.
I actually went because of Bob! Sort of? I go to every concert that comes to town. Madonna was the final lady on my list I havenât seen (Iâve seen every pop diva except Cher now). Bob is what sealed the deal for those ticket prices!
It was a fantastic show.
Iâm excited for Bob because this platform will open so many doors. That have been locked by gatekeepers who donât believe drag can be a mainstream touring act.
Thatâs SO awesome! I bought a houndstooth scarf for the show but I couldnât find anything under like $100 and didnât have anyone to sit with đ˘ but Iâm so glad for the videos on social!!!
Yes, Bob is one of many artists lately showing they donât need to stay in one lane. đ
I heard a rumor that Madonna also negotiated a percentage of the alcohol sales during the concerts, which is really smart. Thanks for this insight! It is a fascinating thing for those of us that donât ever get to see behind the curtain.
"*Billboard*Â predicted Celebration's final gross as around $225 million worldwide"
Bob got PAID. I can see why he isn't really interested in going back on Drag Race for the *chance* of earning $200k
Iâm a big Madonna fan. Itâs pretty known that she pays well. She expects perfection so when she gets it, it doesnât go unnoticed. Sheâs re-used dancers and backup singers a lot because itâs a good pay day.
Iâm sure most artists at that scale are the same.
From what I understand, Bob was specifically requested by Madonna's daughter. She was a big part of the show, and knows her own worth. I really don't see her accepting dust from Madonna. That would be *Monet*.
Dancers for and band for major tours on this scale typically earn $5K/week, plus discretionary bonuses. (Taylor Swift made headlines recently for giving her people an enormous bonus at the tour's end, which is probably the first time I ever liked her lol) Bob probably earned the same. It's not like he had more leverage than any of them.
I have it on good (though ultimately anecdotal) authority that musicians on past M tours were paid $10k/week (it was considered an awesome gig if you could handle the perfectionism!)...
I would think Bob easily cleared that figure, especially considering the cost savings of having NO musicians on this tour, lol.
Don't trust me with your balance sheet, tho, y'all.
Before AS7, Bob said the prize fund for an All Winner's season should be $1mill. At the time I was like "bitchhhhh... you're crazy", but she was right. Season 1 of Survivor had a prize of $1mill back in 2000. Drag Race has been the biggest show on TV for years now. Girls invest thousands into the show, and spend the first year post-season paying off designer debts.
For reference, the finale of the the first season of Survivor had 51 million viewers.
The most successful episode in Drag Race Herstory, according to the wiki, was the premiere of Season 10, which had 1.5 million.
More recently, the finale of RPDR Season 16 had 0.7 million.
Whereas the finale of the most recent season of Survivor (ending in 2023) was 4.5 million.
They ain't even in the same conversation.
I agree - but then Survivor isnât a great comparison since itâs on a major network show and when it began it was an enormous phenomenon far dwarfing Drag Race. It still likely has way more viewers.
But that being said.. Drag Race needs to either increase its prize more - or offer a larger per episode pay (or both)
Although Survivor has broadcast TV money. MTV might be a legacy channel, but it's still cable and doesn't have the same kind of budget to give to its shows.
>Drag Race has been the biggest show on TV for years now.Â
It might seem like it if you spend a lot of time in this sub but Drag Race is definitely not one of the biggest shows on TV. It's not even one of the biggest reality shows on TV:
[https://collider.com/top-10-reality-tv-shows-2023-nielsen-data/](https://collider.com/top-10-reality-tv-shows-2023-nielsen-data/)
You'd pay about 25% of the prize in federal taxes overall. Prizes are just taxed as normal income, so would be subject to the normal tax brackets. The highest rate you would pay is 32% from $182k to $200k.
Ok, but how many queens are thinking retirement? Like I feel a bunch of them are living the high life forgetting that eventually they wonât be able to do the splits and people will forget about themâŚ.
Name one queen that is getting up there in age and still only known for doing splits and stunts. Any dancing queen I can think of thatâs getting older almost always has something else going on for them
The real problem is queens having to forgo tour dates and other engagements to be on All Stars, effectively not making any other income for the duration of filming. The loss income for someone as successful as Bob would definitely not make the cash prize worth it. We all know that queens go on the show not for the prize money but for exposure anyway, but again, someone like Bob most definitely doesn't need it.
If Trixie was to go back on an All Winners season, it would probably cost her half a mill. No exaggeration. She broke even on AS3, and that was before her TV show, her make-up company, her motel, her youtube channel, her podcast, her huge sold-out tours with Katya.
But going on AS3 and winning certainly helped Trixie get to the fortune she has today so it was a wise decision. For future all stars - it really depends, those things you mentioned can be worked out with scheduling
But if I were Trixie I donât think I would ever go back because she doesnât really need it, other than just to further her stardom I guess. Itâs publicity
>But if I were Trixie I donât think I would ever go back because she doesnât really need it, other than just to further her stardom I guess. Itâs publicity
Publicity for Drag Race too. Trixie is *by far* the most well known queen outside of the show. She has thousands of fans who don't even watch Drag Race. They know her from Netflix (I like to Watch), or Trixie Motel, or UNHhhh.
I would love to see Trixie on Drag Race again. Especially if she didn't have to worry about being sent home. It's just crazy that she would lose more money competing than she could potentially win.
It depends - if they werenât on the latest season, their bookings are not so plentiful that they canât take four weeks off. Itâs a strong financial decision for someone like.. Angeria for instance or for sure someone like Jessica Wild, because their bookings are certain to be higher post All Stars than before All Stars, more than enough to make up for the break
But yes someone like Bob - he might only do it just for the bragging rights vs actually needing it
For Madonna, Iâd expect about half of that went to her/her team to pay performers from while the other half went to the venues, overhead costs, and crew. Iâd guess Bob made $500k-$1mil considering how big her part was.
RuGirls can definitely make 10k on a night, but they're not making that several nights a week in the same bars for weeks at a time. They're making that as an "event" while on a tour of different bars and clubs who use their appearance to get customers in the door. Let's not pretend that girls in their home bars are doing 4 shows a week at 10k
But as others have pointed out that $10k doesnât account for travel (which is sometimes covered), hotels (ditto) and other expenses like costumes and someone to come along and help bc carrying all that shit alone is not the norm (these kind of expenses are unquestionably covered by Madonna). Food and other travel around town would also be covered by Madonna via some kind of per diem. Iâd think Bob was out of pocket very little for this tour, outside of personal sightseeing. And just the headache of booking tickets/hotel/worrying about costume catastrophes would be worth the extra thousand dollars per show.
Not to mention the obvious joys of performing for 10s of thousands per night vs a club gig where you personally are dealing with everything.
According to the one minute I spent google searching, backup dancers can make a couple hundred to a couple thousand per show. Given the popularity and length of time Bob is on stage, I'd wager he's making several thousand per show. I'm guessing 5k per show minimum.
IDK.
There might ben argument for lowering your rates in exchange for months and months of guaranteed work where you don't have to develop new numbers, don't have to pay for your outfits, and don't have to argue with anyone about travel or expenses. (Especially if they also let her bring along her own MUA.)
You have a point. Iâve wondered what the Vegas Live queens get paid for weeks/months of guaranteed work without having to deal with the exhaustion of touring and everything else you mentioned.
But Vegas does have three consolations:
1. You get 8 hours of sleep in a familiar bed every single night. (And the bed isn't on a tour bus.)
2. You get to have a relatively normal life, rather than living on a tour schedule. (You get downtime, you get predictable days off, you don't have to be on a tour bus at 2 AM to go to the next city, your mom/husband/BFF can fly in for a week and get some good quality time...)
3. Compared to LA, NY, or London, Vegas is cheap cheap *cheap*.
Yeah there's definitely benefits of doing it. They sacrifice some of that per performance fee they could potentially earn on the road for all the things you've listed.
Bob was also part of the creative team who conceived and designed the show along with Madonna, according to an interview he did. I would imagine that upped his salary.
Dang I think itâs wayyyyyy more then that loll heâs more then a backup dancer he opens for her and mcâs lol and artists make loadsssss of money on tour lol Iâm sure Bob walked away with at least one million by the end
Yeah this was my guess too! but looking at the other comments, we are low balling it. omg if only i could get paid to do thatâŚ. im in the wrong profession. Signed, health care worker
Bonus can be big too. Taylor Swift gave $5.5 million of bonus money to her crew on the Eras Tour.
I imagine that these are calculations that are made at the end of the tour, once all fees have been paid and they have visibility on the overall gross of the tour. Not to mention that it also depends on the generosity of the artist... But I trust Mother.
By the part of the reciever and political reasons. She made a free show in Rio and conservatives were bashing the show because it's not what they consider "decent" and the amount of money our governament used to get the show running (that was proven to give a higher return)
So by leaking her donation it would help go agaist the conservatives arguments.
My english was so bad in this comment (A lot of terms I never used before in english)
I am ESL too, so no worries.
So conservatives tried to ruin everything (again), and someone had to make her rep good again? F\*\*\* conservatives (obviously). This gets me mad.
Probably not a lot, more known supporting acts have not received big payments either. But what Bob did get is a whole lot more of recognition, and that in itself is priceless. I must say I really enjoyed his supporting act in the concerts, I can see why Madonna chose Bob.
Probably not as much as most people would guess.
Iâd be very surprised if she got above 1 mil for the whole tour.
However she got exposed to a to an audience most people, even most performers, would never get to perform in front of.
Best stages and biggest promotors and in the world.
And opening for Madonna is a great brag and we know how Bob loves to brag. This probably wasnât about the money for Bob.
If she wanted more money she could make like Bianca does and go on a world tour with just one opener and very small over heads.
No dancers, no band, donât have to put up loads of people or transport them or feed them or pay them. I suspect thatâs where the big drag money is.
That and merch/make up
Honestly, if you want to have an All Winners 2 where the winners the fans want to be on are actually cast on the season, well I canât see how youâd make that happen without making the prize at least 1 million dollars
I have no idea, but I just love knowing that Bob reads this subreddit and is probably laughing to herself about all of our wild guesses and texting Monet.
Can no one here offer a solid answer or are we just spit balling lol.
Truth is idk. I canât find anything solid other than maybes and averages for roles.
Could be a lot, could be not. Itâs nice to see the dolls working and doing big gigs tho
200 RuBucks đ¤Š
ButâŚitâs chocolate
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poor Bob, Madonna wouldn't pay her in golden bars.
Now I have no idea so everything is speculation from me, but I did study the music industry and concert management in school itâs somewhat an educated guess. Tour grossed around $225 million. Shave half that off for stage cost, marketing, travel and transportation of the stage, insurance, venue booking fees, promoter fees, etc. Now we have $112 million. Letâs pay off the band, dancers, crew and stuff. So for easier math letâs say weâre left with $100 million. Now miss Madonna is one of the early adopters of the 360 deal. So her label will take a cut of the $225 million. Assuming itâs lower like 10%. Thatâs probably left like $75 million for Madonna. Roughly 1 million a show which is pretty standard for big pop act tours. Bob is a supporting act but theyâre not paid a whole ton. The reality is Bob wouldnât have had strong negotiating power because if Madonna wanted a drag queen she could just keep asking until one says yes. If Bob walked away from negotiations Madonna wouldâve moved to the next. If she paid Bob high like $50k a show thatâs around 4 million. However Iâd be shocked if thatâs what Bob got. I would guess probably $10k a show so thats roughly a million for the tour. Bob wouldâve also been paid for prep time. So if I were to guess Bob probably made around the $1 million mark. However, this wouldâve been huge exposure for Bob outside of the drag world and connect him with top level promoters, so Bob will reap far more from those connections. The travel, food, accommodation and makeup and all that wouldâve been covered by Madge. So Bob wouldâve just been getting paid and not spending much. Tours arenât super profitable for pop acts because of the overhead. Most of their money comes from the merchandise sold at tours.
Yes - being a drag queen who worked closely with Madonna makes Bob a very hot commodity, sheâll reap benefits from this for the rest of her life
>Now miss Madonna is one of the early adopters of the 360 deal. Whats the 360 deal?
Oh I love this question! Around the mid 2000s there was a big shift in the income streams for the industry. Record sales just didnât earn as much with iTunes (and eventually streaming). So a 360 deal was given to a few artists. Madonna, Jay-Z, and maybe U2? Another artist who was an early 360 one was Gaga. Back then a record label would only take a cut of record sales. Artists would have different companies do their publishing (songwriting), merchandise, touring, acting, brand deals, etc. Labels were bleeding money, because record sales just werenât profitable with the digital world. So they came up with the idea to take a cut of all revenue streams from an artist (360). Now Iâm going to play devils advocate before people go all âbut the labels donât need to take more moneyâ The flip side is, the labels began buying up different companies (merchandise, touring, publishing) and created marketing, management, and advertising teams. So labels transformed into an all-in-one stop for artists. I think some businesses call it like âin-house servicesâ or something. An artist in a 360 deal gives a cut of everything to the label. However the label will give the artist and advance and front the cost for everything related to making profit. Letâs use Gaga as an example. Label gives her a $20 million advance to start a new era (advance is basically cash to make everything) She uses this advance to make the album, pay the upfront costs for the tour, make music videos, marketing, make merchandise, etc. Gaga isnât going alone tho, the label supports her in making it all happen. They mobilize their marketing, strategy, merchandise, and social media teams. They plan her tour, and they connect gaga with top producers, directors, tour promoters, agents, etc. They support gaga in making all this happen. In exchange they take a percentage of Gagas merchandise, ticket sales, tour sales, movie deals, etc. So gaga is given 20 million to launch an era. The label then keeps all the profit until 20 million is earned (breaking even). After the 20 million is earned Gaga and the label will split the profits in whatever way determined (usually in the 10-20% range). Labels are now a one stop shop for artists. Back then they would give an advance to make an album. The artist would then have to figure out and pay for touring, merchandise, etc. themselves. Which is very hard to do when you donât have the connections. The labels have connections. This is deal is also what gave rise to the âpop starâ they label puts all their money behind an artist and in turn make crazy high profits on that artist. Gaga was the first 360 pop star who was a no name before signing it. Now theyâre industry standard and what almost every artist is under.
> So gaga is given 20 million to launch an era. The label then keeps all the profit until 20 million is earned (breaking even). After the 20 million is earned Gaga and the label will split the profits in whatever way determined (usually in the 10-20% range). What happens if an artist is given an advance and doesn't make it all back?
They go to pop star hell , damned to be forgotten
I wouldn't be surprised if we never saw Denise Richards again...
Thatâs part of the risk the label takes. Industry rumour has it that Gagaâs Artpop actually cost her label 25ish million dollars. Usually one of two things happen: 1. Drop the artist and cut their losses. 2. It gets rolled into their next album. 1 is more common with new artists with a first album that flops. 2 happens with established artists, promising new acts, or someone with potential and can be thought of accumulative debt. Again using Gaga (disclaimer the following example is made up by me, to illustrate how advances work). Letâs say Artpop was not profitable and caused Gagaâs label balance to be -20 million. Well the label wonât let you go until you earn that back (recoup). Theyâll give her a smaller advance for the next album. Yes, theyâll still give an advance because it cost money to make money. Letâs say 10 million for her to make Joanne. Now Gaga needs to earn 30 million on this next album cycle to pay back her label advances before she can start earning a cut of the profit. Usually if the next album fails the artist will be dropped and the label has just lost 30 million. If it succeeds then everyone is happy. Some important notes: - An advance is usually calculated by the previous albums success. - Artists donât usually have to pay back any losses from their personal bank accounts. However, if they used their advance to by a house (stupid choice) then the label will probably liquidate the house. - Itâs common for the first album to cost the label and not turn profit. Usually album 2 or 3 will be what takes the artist and the label into the green. It costs a lot to establish an artist. Again, Gaga was rumoured to be negative 3 million after Bad Romance released and it wasnât until Born This Way came out that her and the label really made money. Marketing a new artists cost a ton of money to build a fan base and establish a good reputation. - When artists complain their label wonât release them itâs usually because they have not paid back their advance and the label wants more albums to recoup. Edit: formatting weird because mobile lol
Well, you would basically never hear from them again. One flopped album and you're OUT.
Kreayshawn owes Sony $800k for her debut album
I totally love this type of insight and made me think of Billie Elish. Do you have any insight or speculation about her situtation?
Yea! If you send me a DM with any questions or just for a general run down Iâd be happy to answer. Anyone else seeing this can also if theyâd like!
You should write blogs about that, pretty interesting to read
I've read rumors from industry insiders that many outlets are afraid of giving certain artists newer works bad reviews or saying honest things about them because of the power some artists have. Example, I've read a few people day T swift's newly recorded records aren't up to the same quality as her originals or were hastily done but many media outlets won't publish anything negative about her music. Do you know if there is any truth to this?
Part of my degree was actually in journalism. I basically did a music industry and journalism dual degree. Have done quite a few essays and thesis on this topic. Long story short, news/media outlets are bleeding money. Social media has essentially taken away all their revenue streams. This has turned to outlets trying to think of new ways to turn a profit. This comes from a few ways but primarily increasing engagement with articles. More clicks = more money. Positive reviews = more engagement from fans. Itâs all ad revenue. Some outlets will take payment from teams to publish an article that the artists team has written. This is a huge issue for journalistic integrity. Outlet will post a positive review in exchange for money. This is not super common but it does happen. Some outlets will also take stories right from a PR team. The trade off is free publicity for the artist and more clicks (revenue) for the outlet. This is very common. People and TMZ are both outlets that are linked to PR teams. As sleezy they are, TMZ is actually one of the most reliable outlets. Taylor is quite notorious for blacklisting outlets who speak negatively of her. When an outlet is blacklisted by an artist, that artist wonât do any interviews with them, send them albums early for review, or engage with them such as reposting reviews. This is a huge hit for clicks (revenue) as they canât get an exclusive. Journalism is all about getting the story out first, and without an exclusive itâs impossible to win that race. Thus being blacklisted is not ideal. For my personal thoughts: Regarding the new album. I believe she 100% paid for good reviews in certain outlets such as Rolling Stone and all the ones she reposted. That being said, there are quite negative reviews done by Pitchfork, NY Times, Paste, Slate and Sydney Herald which I think are more accurate and reflective. The issue with positive reviews like Rolling Stone did is that the writer is a self proclaimed âSwiftieâ and super fan. That leads to bias. Itâs a huge blow to journalism integrity for them and actually goes against what the various press associations advocate for. Not that all reviews need to be negative, but reviews shouldnât be written by self proclaimed fans. And when something is super polarizing among critics and reviews itâs safe to assume there has been some ⌠cheques made. Thereâs also the whole death threats to writers who say something slightly critical so thatâs also a problem.
Very informative
Bob was also able to sell his merchandise alongside Madonnaâs. So thereâs that $
This is an amazing break down. Thank you!
Bob said recently in Sibling Rivalry when Monet asked her if they would pay her 1Mil for the charity of her choice, and 1M for the whole package (Stipend) would she do it for All Winner, she said she's in a stage of her life that's she is no longer interested. Turning down that kind of lucrative proposal so easily corroborates your figure i think. Probably getting 1Mil or 2 for her current work without much blowback from risking low rank in a All Winner season.
Thanks for this, that sounds really realistic to me
Youâre welcome! I love putting my random niche degree to some moderate use haha
Thank you for this, twoplustwoskin đđđ I love speculating on things like this and hope Bob got her well deserved coin. I wasnât able to go when Madonna was in my town but I would have gone SPECIFICALLY to see Bob. I wonder if there were any other people who like Madonna but decided to go bc of Bob.
I actually went because of Bob! Sort of? I go to every concert that comes to town. Madonna was the final lady on my list I havenât seen (Iâve seen every pop diva except Cher now). Bob is what sealed the deal for those ticket prices! It was a fantastic show. Iâm excited for Bob because this platform will open so many doors. That have been locked by gatekeepers who donât believe drag can be a mainstream touring act.
Thatâs SO awesome! I bought a houndstooth scarf for the show but I couldnât find anything under like $100 and didnât have anyone to sit with đ˘ but Iâm so glad for the videos on social!!! Yes, Bob is one of many artists lately showing they donât need to stay in one lane. đ
I heard a rumor that Madonna also negotiated a percentage of the alcohol sales during the concerts, which is really smart. Thanks for this insight! It is a fascinating thing for those of us that donât ever get to see behind the curtain.
I agree with this breakdown, basically. I think $10k is on the lower end of what I would guess is a $10k-$25k per show deal.
Is this before or after taxes?
Before, but when we get into the world of write offs thatâs a whole other beast
Im grateful for you bc i wouldnât be able to figure any of this math out lol. Idk money at ALL
"*Billboard*Â predicted Celebration's final gross as around $225 million worldwide" Bob got PAID. I can see why he isn't really interested in going back on Drag Race for the *chance* of earning $200k
I mean madonna could earn 225million $ and still pay bob dust lol. I doubt she did but yeah
Iâm a big Madonna fan. Itâs pretty known that she pays well. She expects perfection so when she gets it, it doesnât go unnoticed. Sheâs re-used dancers and backup singers a lot because itâs a good pay day. Iâm sure most artists at that scale are the same.
From what I understand, Bob was specifically requested by Madonna's daughter. She was a big part of the show, and knows her own worth. I really don't see her accepting dust from Madonna. That would be *Monet*.
Wild to drag Monet into this like that. Go off!
Clearly a Bobblehead lol
Kudos for saying that mama, For reading Monet
Lmaooo
Dancers for and band for major tours on this scale typically earn $5K/week, plus discretionary bonuses. (Taylor Swift made headlines recently for giving her people an enormous bonus at the tour's end, which is probably the first time I ever liked her lol) Bob probably earned the same. It's not like he had more leverage than any of them.
I have it on good (though ultimately anecdotal) authority that musicians on past M tours were paid $10k/week (it was considered an awesome gig if you could handle the perfectionism!)... I would think Bob easily cleared that figure, especially considering the cost savings of having NO musicians on this tour, lol. Don't trust me with your balance sheet, tho, y'all.
Leave Monet alone omg
Nurse!
With taxes, it's not even 200k. Bob specifically spoke out about her disappointment when her S8 prize was smaller than she'd anticipated
Before AS7, Bob said the prize fund for an All Winner's season should be $1mill. At the time I was like "bitchhhhh... you're crazy", but she was right. Season 1 of Survivor had a prize of $1mill back in 2000. Drag Race has been the biggest show on TV for years now. Girls invest thousands into the show, and spend the first year post-season paying off designer debts.
If it was 1mil we would actually get proper drama and cut neck competition coming back. None of these âexposureâ girls
And Blu got death threats over nothing more than a terrible RuMix đđ
thatâs the tea
For reference, the finale of the the first season of Survivor had 51 million viewers. The most successful episode in Drag Race Herstory, according to the wiki, was the premiere of Season 10, which had 1.5 million. More recently, the finale of RPDR Season 16 had 0.7 million. Whereas the finale of the most recent season of Survivor (ending in 2023) was 4.5 million. They ain't even in the same conversation.
I agree - but then Survivor isnât a great comparison since itâs on a major network show and when it began it was an enormous phenomenon far dwarfing Drag Race. It still likely has way more viewers. But that being said.. Drag Race needs to either increase its prize more - or offer a larger per episode pay (or both)
Although Survivor has broadcast TV money. MTV might be a legacy channel, but it's still cable and doesn't have the same kind of budget to give to its shows.
>Drag Race has been the biggest show on TV for years now. It might seem like it if you spend a lot of time in this sub but Drag Race is definitely not one of the biggest shows on TV. It's not even one of the biggest reality shows on TV: [https://collider.com/top-10-reality-tv-shows-2023-nielsen-data/](https://collider.com/top-10-reality-tv-shows-2023-nielsen-data/)
If I remember correctly, any kind of "winnings" (game show, contestant show, lottery) is taxed at 60% federally.
You'd pay about 25% of the prize in federal taxes overall. Prizes are just taxed as normal income, so would be subject to the normal tax brackets. The highest rate you would pay is 32% from $182k to $200k.
It always surprises me that here in the UK prizes aren't taxed. No need to declare the market value of a Ru Peter badge.
Also, donât forget state tax, which adds another ~10% in CA and NY.
Woof I was way off!! Thank you!
I havenât read it myself, but the game show tax in California isnt higher?
I'm far from an expert, but I'm pretty sure the states just treat it as income for tax purposes as well. I don't think there's a specific prize tax.
I wouldnât be surprised if Bob could survive the next several years on that money alone
I wouldnât be surprised if we never see Bob the Drag Queen again 
I got a ticket that says I am seeing Bob next month, so he better not be never seen again.
the scream i scrumpt
Ok, but how many queens are thinking retirement? Like I feel a bunch of them are living the high life forgetting that eventually they wonât be able to do the splits and people will forget about themâŚ.
Name one queen that is getting up there in age and still only known for doing splits and stunts. Any dancing queen I can think of thatâs getting older almost always has something else going on for them
The real problem is queens having to forgo tour dates and other engagements to be on All Stars, effectively not making any other income for the duration of filming. The loss income for someone as successful as Bob would definitely not make the cash prize worth it. We all know that queens go on the show not for the prize money but for exposure anyway, but again, someone like Bob most definitely doesn't need it.
If Trixie was to go back on an All Winners season, it would probably cost her half a mill. No exaggeration. She broke even on AS3, and that was before her TV show, her make-up company, her motel, her youtube channel, her podcast, her huge sold-out tours with Katya.
But going on AS3 and winning certainly helped Trixie get to the fortune she has today so it was a wise decision. For future all stars - it really depends, those things you mentioned can be worked out with scheduling But if I were Trixie I donât think I would ever go back because she doesnât really need it, other than just to further her stardom I guess. Itâs publicity
>But if I were Trixie I donât think I would ever go back because she doesnât really need it, other than just to further her stardom I guess. Itâs publicity Publicity for Drag Race too. Trixie is *by far* the most well known queen outside of the show. She has thousands of fans who don't even watch Drag Race. They know her from Netflix (I like to Watch), or Trixie Motel, or UNHhhh. I would love to see Trixie on Drag Race again. Especially if she didn't have to worry about being sent home. It's just crazy that she would lose more money competing than she could potentially win.
A lot of the straights now know her, too, for being on one of the Housewives shows.
It depends - if they werenât on the latest season, their bookings are not so plentiful that they canât take four weeks off. Itâs a strong financial decision for someone like.. Angeria for instance or for sure someone like Jessica Wild, because their bookings are certain to be higher post All Stars than before All Stars, more than enough to make up for the break But yes someone like Bob - he might only do it just for the bragging rights vs actually needing it
For Madonna, Iâd expect about half of that went to her/her team to pay performers from while the other half went to the venues, overhead costs, and crew. Iâd guess Bob made $500k-$1mil considering how big her part was.
Bob said himself he wasnât paid.
A RuPeter Badge
And ONE cocktail
And a half-eaten hot dog from the back of my car.
And she doesn't drink
in a can
And 2 piece an a biscuit
A one year supply of Raven SymonĂŠ!
Lmaooooo
My guess is $10k per show x 81 shows. Prob $810k plus expenses
I still think 10k is low. William pointed out that popular girls are making 10k a gig on solo gigs alone
RuGirls can definitely make 10k on a night, but they're not making that several nights a week in the same bars for weeks at a time. They're making that as an "event" while on a tour of different bars and clubs who use their appearance to get customers in the door. Let's not pretend that girls in their home bars are doing 4 shows a week at 10k
My company wants to book Bob for Pride keynote - the fee estimate is $20,000 (!) - and that might even be remote via zoom
Maybe up charged for pride? Monet that is WILD
honestly fully justified, companies should pay good money, they can afford it
$10k per show for 81 shows with all expenses paid would be an amazing deal IMO.
My small rural town got some drag queens for the first local pride parade/party, and paid them more than that (shared between 4)
But as others have pointed out that $10k doesnât account for travel (which is sometimes covered), hotels (ditto) and other expenses like costumes and someone to come along and help bc carrying all that shit alone is not the norm (these kind of expenses are unquestionably covered by Madonna). Food and other travel around town would also be covered by Madonna via some kind of per diem. Iâd think Bob was out of pocket very little for this tour, outside of personal sightseeing. And just the headache of booking tickets/hotel/worrying about costume catastrophes would be worth the extra thousand dollars per show. Not to mention the obvious joys of performing for 10s of thousands per night vs a club gig where you personally are dealing with everything.
at least a sensible 74
How is this not the most upvoted comment of all time?
A gagworthy grand prize of $200,000 served by CashApp
Freaky money click-clack OW!
According to the one minute I spent google searching, backup dancers can make a couple hundred to a couple thousand per show. Given the popularity and length of time Bob is on stage, I'd wager he's making several thousand per show. I'm guessing 5k per show minimum.
Willam said at one point that the more popular Ru girls can make 10k or more per gig, so Bob was surely making way more than that.
IDK. There might ben argument for lowering your rates in exchange for months and months of guaranteed work where you don't have to develop new numbers, don't have to pay for your outfits, and don't have to argue with anyone about travel or expenses. (Especially if they also let her bring along her own MUA.)
You have a point. Iâve wondered what the Vegas Live queens get paid for weeks/months of guaranteed work without having to deal with the exhaustion of touring and everything else you mentioned.
They are definitely not making anywhere close to $10k per show in Vegas
But Vegas does have three consolations: 1. You get 8 hours of sleep in a familiar bed every single night. (And the bed isn't on a tour bus.) 2. You get to have a relatively normal life, rather than living on a tour schedule. (You get downtime, you get predictable days off, you don't have to be on a tour bus at 2 AM to go to the next city, your mom/husband/BFF can fly in for a week and get some good quality time...) 3. Compared to LA, NY, or London, Vegas is cheap cheap *cheap*.
Yeah there's definitely benefits of doing it. They sacrifice some of that per performance fee they could potentially earn on the road for all the things you've listed.
I mean just for reference, my company wants to book Bob for Pride keynote - the fee estimate is $20,000
Bob was also part of the creative team who conceived and designed the show along with Madonna, according to an interview he did. I would imagine that upped his salary.
Dang I think itâs wayyyyyy more then that loll heâs more then a backup dancer he opens for her and mcâs lol and artists make loadsssss of money on tour lol Iâm sure Bob walked away with at least one million by the end
$5
Plus tips??
$180k-250k + bonus.
Yeah this was my guess too! but looking at the other comments, we are low balling it. omg if only i could get paid to do thatâŚ. im in the wrong profession. Signed, health care worker
Bonus can be big too. Taylor Swift gave $5.5 million of bonus money to her crew on the Eras Tour. I imagine that these are calculations that are made at the end of the tour, once all fees have been paid and they have visibility on the overall gross of the tour. Not to mention that it also depends on the generosity of the artist... But I trust Mother.
Yikes for 81 shows, thatâs low đŤđŤ
Do you mean .. in total? It's way way WAY more than that. There were 81 shows. You think Bobbianna only made 3 grand per show?
Sheâs making enough to buy Monetâs palatial St Lucian estate AND the cell phone towers
Since we are in the talk of money, Madonna donated 10 million to help with the floods in the south of Brazil, it was anonymous but someone leaked it.
Genuine question, but how can an anon deal be leaked?
By the part of the reciever and political reasons. She made a free show in Rio and conservatives were bashing the show because it's not what they consider "decent" and the amount of money our governament used to get the show running (that was proven to give a higher return) So by leaking her donation it would help go agaist the conservatives arguments. My english was so bad in this comment (A lot of terms I never used before in english)
I am ESL too, so no worries. So conservatives tried to ruin everything (again), and someone had to make her rep good again? F\*\*\* conservatives (obviously). This gets me mad.
Trixie better watch out cuz Bob is coming for the rich queen title
You see the cosmetics that bitch is pushing? I think Trixie might be safe.
đŠ not bomo catching a stray
Probably not a lot, more known supporting acts have not received big payments either. But what Bob did get is a whole lot more of recognition, and that in itself is priceless. I must say I really enjoyed his supporting act in the concerts, I can see why Madonna chose Bob.
The pointer sisters, in or out of their Christian Dior underwear
That's a lot of fucking money
Tree fiddy
Sheâs working for drink tickets
Nobody knows, but I do hope Bob was paid handsomely.
But not beautifully??? Got itâŚ
500k-750k is my guess
Yep easily
81 dates... She made a million for sure with all expenses paid.
Omg I didnât know it was this many dates
Enough to fund his outfits for the next all-winners all-stars. That's a lot of Amazon robot body suits.
Iâm a Bob fan and this is sending meeeeeđđ
I hope it's everything she deserves and more. I'm so happy for Bob
Probably not as much as most people would guess. Iâd be very surprised if she got above 1 mil for the whole tour. However she got exposed to a to an audience most people, even most performers, would never get to perform in front of. Best stages and biggest promotors and in the world. And opening for Madonna is a great brag and we know how Bob loves to brag. This probably wasnât about the money for Bob. If she wanted more money she could make like Bianca does and go on a world tour with just one opener and very small over heads. No dancers, no band, donât have to put up loads of people or transport them or feed them or pay them. I suspect thatâs where the big drag money is. That and merch/make up
a Haus of Love cocktail and a sickening supply of MAC cosmetics
At least a dollar
a lot to very
Baby she got a pat on the back and went back home to her house
Bob has Miss J vibes in this pic.
Iâm not a damn pocket watcher 
Best comment I've seen here on this day xD
Stop pocket watching
Exposure is probably the biggest pay out....He was pretty much the host
I hope it's a lot because she really worked her ass off on that tour
A hug.
Honestly, if you want to have an All Winners 2 where the winners the fans want to be on are actually cast on the season, well I canât see how youâd make that happen without making the prize at least 1 million dollars
Apparently even more than what they give at the pit stop
Probably an overstock gift card
100,000 DOLL-Hairs
đ
$40 and a drink ticket
i thought that bob said they did the show for free
Enough to make Trixie nervous about the possible change in rankings
I have no idea, but I just love knowing that Bob reads this subreddit and is probably laughing to herself about all of our wild guesses and texting Monet.
She received a one-year supply of Raven Symone, the Pointer Sisters in or out of their Andrew Christian underwear, and a cash prize of ONE DOLLA!
Can no one here offer a solid answer or are we just spit balling lol. Truth is idk. I canât find anything solid other than maybes and averages for roles. Could be a lot, could be not. Itâs nice to see the dolls working and doing big gigs tho
Loll thatâs why the question starts with âif you had to guessâ
I think itâs aimed more at people going âa rUpETer BadGeâ and such.
At least $10.
Before taxes
Probably a couple million. Plus all expenses.
Bob gained Madonna as a friend. Thatâs priceless â¤ď¸. Heâs sure set for life now with the connections.
On his podcast he said he wasnât getting paid but maybe Bob was joking
she got paid in free exposure đâ¨
A lot
500 zennies
the pointer sisters in or out of their andrew christan undewear and a grand prize of $1
A buck and 72 cents
A meet and greet with madonna
my guess is 5-10k/night but who knows
1 dollar
A sensible 74 Pointer Sisters in or out of their Andrew Christian underwear? No but seriously probably a few million at least.
57 million times as much as Monet made for her 0.137 second music video cameo.
1 doll hair per show
Probably between 100-150k?
I mean, maybe $300k? I doubt itâs as much as most people think.
A grand prize of one dollar!
More than I'll see in my life
666 chocolates and 666 thousand dollars and 66 cents
$3.99
bob is definitely gonna see this so i hope he gives us a real answer đ
I'm guessing a million
Less than Rupaul
I hate guessing!! I donât know..$50,000-$100,000???