Musicians may be losing out on album sales due to digital music being so accessible, but Aerosmith hasn't had that problem. Sure, album sales were where they got their start. But the group's collective $100 million net worth (not the net worths of its members) came from some surprising places.
Steven Tyler is probably the most recognizable member of Aerosmith, even though its current members also include Tom Hamilton, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, and Joey Kramer. Tyler alone is worth $150 million, and the other band members all rank at $100M+.
And as Vox explained back in 2015, the group had a certain trend to thank for most of their earnings.
In 2007, Aerosmith licensed a handful of its songs to a video game publisher. For most artists, that might involve a bit of a payday, but having their tunes playing in the background of a game probably isn't the highlight of any band's career.
For Aerosmith, though, that game turned out to be big: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was released in 2008, and the game earned $25 million in its first week alone, says Vox. Between 2008 and 2015, the game had sold more than four million copies.
The maker of the game, Activision, confirmed that the game had earned the group more cash than their album sales ever had. While some critics of the game didn't like that it centered on Aerosmith exclusively (though it did feature some tracks from bands that had opened for them), that was sort of the point, detailed Activision.
The game followed Aerosmith's career trajectory in a nearly-chronological order, and it was a huge deal for fans of the band. Hence, the insane game sales and basically, Aerosmith forging a new path in entertainment, said Joe Perry; "On a larger scale, it's cool for us to be pioneers helping to rebuild the music industry through a format like video games."
For Steven at least, celebrity has been a boon, and it seems like his kids are reaping the benefits, too. The other members of the band are less visible overall, but they might just be sitting in their mansions counting their cash.
But as Vox points out, turning away from music as income seems to be a new trend in the industry. Making music for the sake of selling albums isn't really cutting it for many artists. In contrast, turning to branding is a major source of revenue for musicians and other celebs. Vox's example is Taylor Swift; just her name slapped on a product adds value.
Plus there are endorsement deals (even if some of them are super weird) with sponsored content, which can make celebrities a ton of money just because of their notoriety. The problem, of course, is that any celeb can easily fall out of favor with fans because of personal beliefs, bad albums, or any number of other reasons.
Fortunately, Aerosmith hasn't run into that problem (yet?).