The past decade saw massive earnings for the music industry.
In anew report,Forbestallied the highest-earning artists in music for the past decade — and No. 1 on the list isDr. Dre, who saw an estimated $950 million in the 2010s. That massive paycheck puts him ahead of stars likeTaylor Swift,BeyoncéandJAY-Z.
The former N.W.A. rapper, 54, may not have released an album of his own since 2015’sCompton, but no one has forgotten about Dre. Thanks to his stake in headphone giant Beats, plus some other business-savvy ventures, the hip-hop producer made his way to the front of the pack.
Karwai Tang/WireImage; Steve Granitz/WireImage
The ranking doesn’t include earnings among the estates of deceased artists, butForbesnotes that if postmortem profits were accounted for,Michael Jacksonwould easily outdo everyone alive with a figure of $2.37 billion.
Taylor Swift.Jamie McCarthy/Getty
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Up next for Dre is a collaboration withKanye West. In November, the two announced that they are hard at work on asequelto West’s most recent album,Jesus Is King.
Details are limited, as the hip-hop titans shared the news on social media with apicture of themselvesposing in front of a recording desk, saying only that the project would be “coming soon.”
Anadvocatefor artists’ stake in their own music and the monetization of their work, Swift is oftenvocalabout ownership over her discography and unapologetic about her business smarts.
“I think [writing] is really important — also from the side of ownership over what you do and make,” said Swift who, notably, has been embroiled in an ongoing public feud with her former label Big Machine Label Group and record executiveScooter Braunover the rights to her music.
“Even if you aren’t a natural writer, you should try to involve yourself in the messages you’re sending,” she added.
source: people.com
