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You can’t be a successful musician until you’ve gone bankrupt at least once

The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop
The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop

There are lots of financial obligations when you’re a solo musician or in a band.

You have to worry about getting gigs, writing music, obtaining copyright or other legal paperwork.  Then there’s the infighting, splitting appearance fees, and paying for samples in your hit song that borrowed liberally from clips you found on YouTube.

Yeah – music royalties may not pay a lot, but they do end up paying something.  But sometimes, what you get from those royalty checks isn’t enough to make ends meet.

But all is not lost if you have to file for bankruptcy.   All sorts of extremely successful and well-respected artists have had to make that financial sacrifice in order to continue their careers later.  If you end up having to file bankruptcy, at least you’d be in good company.

Here’s a list of 15 MUSICIANS WHO HAVE HAD TO FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY.  Click the link to read their individual stories of what happened and how they overcame this small road bump on their career path.

  • Meat Loaf
  • Toni Braxton
  • Ted Nugent
  • Marvin Gaye
  • David Crosby
  • MC Hammer
  • Dee Snider
  • Billy Joel
  • George Clinton
  • Leif Garrett
  • Isaac Hayes
  • Willie Nelson
  • Jerry Lee Lewis
  • Mick Fleetwood
  • Ron Isley