Originally Posted by John Eppstein ➡️

To make things clear -

I generally don't believe ANYTHING financial about "celebrities" one way or the other that I read in mass market outlets........ BUT, based on the fact that I have actually known a few, coupled with the fact that I've done some arena level touring and have a good idea what kind of expenses are involved, and know a few people around the industry (including a couple of people who are/were high level artist's managers), I KNOW that the figures you see in publications like Forbes and Billboard for what "Artist X" "makes" are based on gross receipts and do not reflect what really ends up in the artist's bank account.

Because the gross receipt figures make great publicity and it's not very glamorous to admit that your top pop idol didn't quite break even on his/her most recent blockbuster tour.

And actually it's pretty obvious to anyone who isn't mathematically challenged and knows anything about the number of people who work a modern pop tour and who bothers to take a pencil and paper and sit down to do the math.

I could speculate as to what I guess the truth is in this case but I have no direct knowledge, so why bother? My gut feeling is that the reality is somewhere between the two extremes.