Ausm Rolling Stone:
26: METALLICA
Net amount earned in 2001: $17.5 million
Sources of income:
Touring: $0
Recording: $14.7 million
Publishing: $6.6 million
Endorsements: $0.5 million
Says Rolling Stone: "METALLICA have one of the best record deals in the business — essentially a profit-sharing agreement with their label, Elektra. When the band threatened to leave the label at the height of its career, Elektra gave METALLICA an astounding royalty rate that amounts to nearly four dollars per album sold. That hefty rate truly pays off for a band such as METALLICA, which had four of its records appear on the Billboard catalog charts during 2001."