DOCUMENT: Celebrity

Ke$ha Earns Five Times As Much As Loretta Lynn

Annual review of who makes what on summer circuit

Cash

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Summer 2011 Earnings

AUGUST 16--With the 2011 summer concert season in full swing, here’s our first accounting of who earns what touring the U.S.. In many instances, artists receive a guaranteed payment that could increase based on bonus payments tied to ticket sales.

The numbers:

Ke$ha $200,000
Melissa Etheridge $125,000
Blake Shelton $100,000
Meat Loaf $100,000
Trace Adkins $100,000
Whitesnake $85,000
Hammer $40,000
Loretta Lynn $40,000
Oak Ridge Boys $35,000
Skid Row $13,500
Tone Loc $5,000
Young MC $5,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above financial figures were found in contract documents obtained by TSG. The records also include some amusing requests found in the performers’s respective backstage riders. These include:

* Wheezy Meat Loaf, who recently has collapsed onstage, requires two tanks of oxygen along with “two (2) adult oxygen masks and one (1) additional nebulizing oxygen mask with Albuterol Neublizer.” Additionally, “Artist also requires that two (2) local EMT’s be available to administer oxygen and/or care as needed” beginning 30 minutes before a show. “THIS IS A MUST."

* Ke$ha (pictured above) needs one rigger to “hang pinata.” And, yes, each time the singer’s name appears on contract documents, the “s” appears as "$.” 

* Skid Row requires promoters to purchase its guitar picks. And the metal band demands lodging “at nothing less than a first class Hotel.” Such top-notch establishments, the band notes, would include “Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Clarion, Sleep Inn, etc.”

* Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale is very picky when it comes to his post-show chicken and vegetable wraps.

* Hammer’s ground transportation requirements consist of “2 Hummer limos."

* Along with two dozen chicken wings (“Hooter’s preferred”) with “Bleu Cheese,” Tone Loc wants his dressing room stocked with a “large bottle of Hennessey” and Hypnotiq, a pale blue concoction of “Premium French Vodka, Exotic Fruit Juices, and a Touch of Cognac.” The drink reportedly will “make any occasion more fabulous.” (5 pages)