He gets half the profits from album sales and still keeps his own touring revenues, merchandising rights and ringtones.
"Together we put a business plan in place in order to manage his current business ventures, the back-end administrative functions on invoicing and collections for his producing and songwriting."Īkon also launched his own record label Konvict Musik, which includes KonLive Distribution, a 50/50 venture with Interscope. "At the beginning of his career, like many artists, he did not have the infrastructure in place to handle everything that was coming at him," says David Bolno, a co-director at Nigro Karlin Segal & Feldstein, which Akon hired to represent him last year. He's logged more than 160 guest appearances, working with acts from Gwen Stefani to fellow cash king T-Pain.
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In addition to writing, singing, producing and rapping his own songs, Akon offers the same services to other artists-sometimes for a six-figure upfront fee, plus as much as half the royalties. "You don't see money till your second or third album because you're so busy recouping." He makes nearly half his money touring. Factor in declining record sales, and it's not hard to see why touring is such a crucial moneymaker for artists like Akon-especially because they don't have to split concert proceeds with record labels as they do on albums. According to Pollstar, he grossed $230,000 per show on average, plus merchandise sales. Akon performed a staggering 100 concerts from Antwerp to Vancouver during the past 12 months. Selling albums-Akon has moved 9 million in his young career-is just one part of the business. "The recession is really impacting everyday people, and they want to try to get away from the troubles they're dealing. "I think people lean more to music when they're going through the hard times," Akon says, lounging in a midtown Manhattan hotel the day after his Apollo appearance. His camp insists he's made even more, thanks in part to his new album Freedom, on its way to platinum status despite the slow market.
He's tied with 50 Cent for fourth place on Forbes' latest list of Hip-Hop's Cash Kings with an estimated $20 million in pretax earnings over the last 12 months, up from $12 million over the prior year. The 20 top earners in hip-hop combined to make $300 million from June 2008 to June 2009-40% less than last year's half-billion. Worse, the corporate appetite has all but dried up for "360 deals" like last year's $150 million pact between Jay-Z and concert promoter Rap record sales fell 20% in 2008, steeper than the 15% industry-wide decline. Akon is one of the only artists to increase his income in a year that's been almost as cruel to hip-hop as it's been to Wall Street. Video: Akon's Forbes Remix Exclusive In Pictures: Backstage With Akon At The Apollo "When he does that in Senegal," his publicist whispers, "they rip his clothes off." Video: Akon's Business Empire Performing the song minutes later, he sprints and hurls himself headfirst into the audience, landing the arms of his waiting entourage-and a few surprised-looking yuppies. His pick: Open with "Beautiful," a synthesizer-drenched ballad whose upbeat chords make you feel like you're falling in love at a beachside club in Dakar, where Akon grew up.
"We gotta get it poppin' from the giddyup," Akon argues.
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