The opening weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival’s 25th-anniversary event has acts such as Tyler the Creator, Doja Cat, and Ice Spice performing. The festival opened April 12-14, and wraps April 19-21.
Throughout the history of the annual festival, artists from various genres have participated in the event. Artists such as Prince, Beyonce, Kanye West, Jay-Z, The Weeknd, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg have all performed at the event, which brings attendees from all over the world.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the event, which launhed in 1999, generates more than $700 million in revenue from ticket sales to food and local lodging. But how much do performers make at this event? Here’s a look at a few artists who have performed as headliners, guests, or acts at Coachella and the money they’ve earned.
Prince
Adding Prince as the headliner for the 2008 Coachella was challenging, but organizers say it was worth all the wrangling as he agreed to perform just two weeks before the show.
“I’ve never added a band at the last minute, but I really, really wanted him. I had paid him the most money to play Coachella to that date,” Paul Tollett, founder of Coachella and president of Goldenvoice Productions, told Los Angeles Times in 2019. “It didn’t really work out financially. I didn’t care. It was so good. It was so worth it. You remember those moments, how great it was.”
According to the Times, Prince earned close to $5 million for his performance, which included guests such as Morris Day, Sheila E and Jerome Benton. After performing classics such as “Purple Rain” and “Raspberry Beret,” Prince ended the set by saying, “From now on this is Prince’s house.”
Coachella or Beychella?
When Beyonce performed at Coachella in 2018, she became the first Black woman in the festival’s history to serve as the headliner. According to Billboard, Beyonce reports that she earned between $8 and $12 million for the two performances. Not to mention, Beyonce also capitalized on the performance with a special on Netflix and a live album.
The Weeknd Cashes In On Kanye’s Coachella Loss
In 2022, in the midst of the controversy surround Kanye West and anti-Semitic remarks, he did not perform as planned at Coachella. But festival organizers had secured a big-name replacement for West, who withdrew from his headlining slot. Page Six revealed that The Weeknd demanded to be paid $8.5 million, plus $500,000 for production fees, equivalent to Kanye’s offer. However, festival owner Phil Anschutz initially proposed a substantially lower figure, aiming to retain a significant portion of Kanye’s fee, Fox Business reported. Negotiations intensified after The Weeknd rejected the initial offer, with the artist even threatening to withdraw from Coachella on short notice if his terms weren’t met. Eventually, the artist performed, though the terms of his contracts were not fully revealed.
Performing At A Loss
Although Cardi B. was not a headliner, she was a performer during the 2018 festival. According to a Sirius FM interview, the hip-hop artist earned $140,000 for her contributions. However, she also shared that costs associated with participating in the festival — such as building her set — did not have her bringing home any profit.
Nevertheless, Cardi B’s performance — while pregnant with her first child — proved to naysayers that she was not a one-hit wonder, but a pop culture mainstay.
No word yet on how much the artists pulled in this year.
