How much did the Woodstock 1969 artists get paid for their concerts? This is what we know


    The Woodstock festival has been fluttering through the imaginary of musical culture for more than half a century. The shadow of the mythical concerts offered on that farm in the state of New York by legends like Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez or Carlos Santana is very long. And let’s not talk about its impact on the festival industry: every summer, the abusive price of water bottles and many other questionable practices that are deployed in the great events of live music bring to mind, even for contrast, the idealized memory of that historical event. But there are still details of the festival, originally held between August 15 and 18, 1969 on the estate of a certain Max Yasgur, that are not entirely clear. For example, how much did each artist charge for his concert?

    Woodstock: the cache of Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Joan Baez, The Who, Joe Cocker…

    Although many people believe it, the music stars responsible for putting on the soundtrack of Woodstock (which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019 with a most eclectic lineup) they didn’t do it for free. The spirit sixties of the festival — hippies, nudity, drugs — should not be misleading: some of the artists who performed at that Woodstock Music and Art Fair were already, by then, leading figures of the rock worldwide and claimed a cache according to their fame and the size of the event, which almost quintupled the official capacity, estimated at 100,000 people. The exact figures have been circulating on the Internet for years, attributed to an alleged report published in an old issue of the print version of Variety. This is the photo that contains the data:

    Woodstock ’69 artist cache table, attributed to Variety.

    History Daily

    If we trust that information, we can see that the performers most iconic of that hectic time received acceptably well for their concerts in the New York farm. In the worst paid part of the table, on the other hand, other artists appear who, although they would later enter the hall of fame of popular music, had not yet consecrated themselves to the general public. In fact, having performed in the incomparable setting of Woodstock would be what would later lead many of them to stardom.

    In the highest position is Jimi Hendrix, one of the most dazzling rock stars of the moment. The Seattle guitarist was paid $18,000 to headline Woodstock ’69, which would be equivalent to about $150,000 in 2022. Even adjusting prices, the Hendrix concert — and its musicians and technicians — came out to the organization relatively cheaply, at compared to the caches charged by some of today’s most renowned artists.

    Continuing with the list, the band of jazz-rock Blood, Sweat & Tears, founded just two years before the festival, would have charged $15,000, which would be equivalent to about $120,000 today. Behind them would be the singer-songwriter Joan Baez and the legendary Credence Clearwater Revival, who would have pocketed more than 80,000 dollars each, adjusting the prices. In exchange, Janis Joplin and the Jefferson Airplane psychedelics would have received $62,000; Sly and the Family Stone, just under 60,000, and The Who would have pocketed about 51,000. Arlo Guthrie, the folk icon son of Woody Guthrie, would have charged $41,000 for his concert, according to the data; and the same for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

    Interestingly, three of the most fondly remembered Woodstock performances were some of the lowest paid of the festival’s entire lineup of performers: According to these figures, The Grateful Dead earned just over $20,000, adjusting for inflation. 2022; the recently deceased Joe Cocker would have pocketed about 11,000 and Carlos Santana, who would publish his debut album just two weeks after the festival, would have charged just 6,200 current dollars for his concert.

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How much did the Woodstock 1969 artists get paid for their concerts? This is what we know