Originally Posted by Sound Devastation

If the band are big, they will make ALL their money from their record deal. not royalties, a lump sum. Merch sold at gigs is often owned by the record label or the band have to buy copies of their own CD (for a low price obviously) to sell on tour. Whether you buy the CD or not will only affect possible deals/income in the future.

Small bands dont make money from gigs either. They usually cover petrol money and if they sell enough t-shirts they might be able to cover the cost of getting them made (t-shirts cost more/unit than CDs and are therefore slowed to cover financially). Obviously if the band get a bigger fanbase their profit per gig will go up, but that doesnt compare to the profit they'd make if every fan at that gig bought a copy of their CD.