# Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth net-worth



## SenorDingDong (Dec 28, 2011)

To me, this is pretty big news as many metal musicians don't recieve a quarter of the recognition they deserve. 


Mikael Akerfeldt Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth


According to this, Akerfeldt is worth 3.8 million. 

I know there are big bands such as Lamb of God and Disturbed who make a ton of money, but for a death metal musician, one who also plays _progressive_ music, this is pretty crazy.


Just thought some of you out there might be interested in the fact that someone in a non-mainstream band who has _never_ been played on American radio (so far as I know) is actually making what they deserve. 

Maybe it could give you dreamers something to shoot for, as it proves that you can still make money in metal.


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## Justin Bailey (Dec 28, 2011)

It's not that crazy, Opeth is a pretty big band these days


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## ArtDecade (Dec 28, 2011)

Taking into account the average cost of living in Sweden... that leaves him exactly 17 dollars ($US) to spend on beer this weekend.


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## lava (Dec 28, 2011)

I would be interested to know what that site's methods are for determining net worth. Some of their estimates seem highly suspect. It's a great scheme though, make a site claiming to know what famous people are worth, you're sure to generate some ad revenue even if you just make the numbers up.


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## Animus (Dec 28, 2011)

I have a hard time believing those numbers too.


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## Randy (Dec 28, 2011)

It's the accent.


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## fps (Dec 28, 2011)

I don't believe that, not even a little.


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## leftyguitarjoe (Dec 28, 2011)

That might be how much he has earned since 1990 when he started the band.


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## DLG (Dec 28, 2011)

leftyguitarjoe said:


> That might be how much he has earned since 1990 when he started the band.



pretty much


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## Necris (Dec 28, 2011)

$5, take it or leave it.




















 Wait.... we aren't bidding?


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## SD83 (Dec 28, 2011)

ArtDecade said:


> Taking into account the average cost of living in Sweden... that leaves him exactly 17 dollars ($US) to spend on beer this weekend.


Which is about 2.5 pints of beer in Sweden... but if it is what he earned in the last 21 years, it's enough to make a decent living, especially if you consider that most of it was earned in the last 8 years or less. Which is great, as he's got a rather weird passion (various kinds of extreme metal & 70's rock) and can totally make a living from that.


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## Hybrid138 (Dec 28, 2011)

Don't forget his is always touring and has a wife and kid at home.


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## Demiurge (Dec 28, 2011)

Some of those numbers on that site seem hard to believe, but maybe not implausible- I can believe Bono at $900M more than Art Alexakis of Everclear at $500k (that much?!) though.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Dec 28, 2011)

This is encouraging, since making music is all about the money.


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## Severance (Dec 28, 2011)

You know anything is possible if you invest your money right.


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## themike (Dec 28, 2011)

$3.2 million is payout from his PRS signature deal, which is fairly popular world wide
$.4 million is from how much it costs for a Blood Bath appearance at a festival
$15,000 is from playing live in a progressive death metal band

.... the rest is from Roadrunner Records and is filed under a "being the only good band left on the label fee".


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## Blind Theory (Dec 28, 2011)

I find it really hard to believe. I think it was someone from Lamb of God but it was an extreme metal act and they had like...$38 million or some shit like that. Just Bullshit numbers.


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## Scruffy1012 (Dec 28, 2011)

His bout... 3 fiddy.


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## thrsher (Dec 28, 2011)

th3m1ke said:


> $3.2 million is payout from his PRS signature deal, which is fairly popular world wide
> $.4 million is from how much it costs for a Blood Bath appearance at a festival and the rest
> $15,000 is from playing live in a progressive death metal band
> 
> .... the rest is from Roadrunner Records and is filed under a "being the only good band left on the label fee".


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## beneharris (Dec 28, 2011)

leftyguitarjoe said:


> That might be how much he has earned since 1990 when he started the band.



still, even if thats the case, thats what, ~180k a year? i'd take that any day


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## LamaSabachthani (Dec 28, 2011)

it depends on what venues they are playing and who owns the rights to promote the show (a la livenation et c). What will happen most often is that the individual artist on a large tour (supposing that it is being promoted by someone/something like livenation) will agree a lump-sum at the start of the tour to be paid to the artist, with the artist then earning a small cut on incidental things like merch or whatever. If Akerfeldt has been playing big enough shows with Opeth, it is entirely possible that he has made a nice little earner out of the rights to promote/ticket those shows or tours. Unlikely that that sort of money would be made however solely off of ticket sales however, especially when one takes into account the number of outgoing expenses incurred. Same with record sales I guess. 

With that being said, the Bono estimate does seem a bit high. I know they are very popular and have been for a very long time, but unless he has been investing his money in equity markets (which doesn't sound particularly 'Bono', does it?) and unless a very competent and lucky fund manager has been producing abnormal returns on his investment, I'm not sure I can believe that Bono's net worth is near 1 Billion $. I think it unlikely that he owns capital or assets that could reach that, and I think it even less likely that he has anywhere near that sort of liquidity.


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## Mordacain (Dec 28, 2011)

beneharris said:


> still, even if thats the case, thats what, ~180k a year? i'd take that any day



That 180K doesn't go as far as you'd think, particularly not in Sweden. Its not a bad standard of living, buts its very much so middle class.

However, to have a reasonably good standard of living doing what you love certainly beats making more money doing something that isn't particularly satisfying.


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## Espaul (Dec 28, 2011)

Come on swedes! Don't you have public tax listings so we can double check this?

Or are you not as communistic as us here in Norway?


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## AySay (Dec 28, 2011)

This site seems like the most speculative, incorrect nonsense ever...

John Petrucci's
John Petrucci Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth

DT is THE biggest prog metal band of all time. Sold 12+ million records + Petrucci has a hugely successful sig. guitar. Yet his net worth is supposedly only 3.2 mil? Less than Akerfeldt?!?!?


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## Into Obsidian (Dec 29, 2011)

Well whatever he makes, Its got to be better then Triviums Matt Heafy!

BLABBERMOUTH.NET - TRIVIUM Frontman's 'Massive Royalty Check' Unveiled


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## DLG (Dec 29, 2011)

maybe that's the net worth of his collection of obscure ukranian prog rock records from the 70s


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## Xarn (Dec 29, 2011)

Mordacain said:


> That 180K doesn't go as far as you'd think, particularly not in Sweden. Its not a bad standard of living, buts its very much so middle class.
> 
> However, to have a reasonably good standard of living doing what you love certainly beats making more money doing something that isn't particularly satisfying.



Not sure I'm misunderstanding something here, 180K $ not much? Are you joking? That's a better yearly wage than 95% of the population in Sweden earns, not even our Prime Minister makes 180K $ on a whole year (in wages).

He could make a perfect living on 1/4 of that a year without ever having to care about taking on a normal 8-17 job.


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## MaxOfMetal (Dec 29, 2011)

Net Worth =/= Bank Account 

Also, troll site is trolling. There's no way this is accurate, like at all. It just seems like they vomited up some numbers that might seem accurate based on internet musings.


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## Harry (Dec 29, 2011)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Net Worth =/= Bank Account
> 
> Also, troll site is trolling. There's no way this is accurate, like at all. It just seems like they vomited up some numbers that might seem accurate based on internet musings.


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## dreamermind (Dec 29, 2011)

DLG said:


> maybe that's the net worth of his collection of obscure ukranian prog rock records from the 70s


please name a few 

I really dont care about his bank accounts as long as he can feed his familly and make an epic Opeth music.


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## SenorDingDong (Dec 29, 2011)

Into Obsidian said:


> Well whatever he makes, Its got to be better then Triviums Matt Heafy!
> 
> BLABBERMOUTH.NET - TRIVIUM Frontman's 'Massive Royalty Check' Unveiled


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## Konfyouzd (Dec 29, 2011)




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## USMarine75 (Dec 29, 2011)

What does Akerfeldt's wife do for a living? Maybe it's household income... maybe he was smart and married _up_.


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## JazzandMetal (Dec 29, 2011)

I love Opeth. I don't care about his net worth as long as he keeps making music and feeds his family.


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## Animus (Dec 29, 2011)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Net Worth =/= Bank Account
> 
> Also, troll site is trolling. There's no way this is accurate, like at all. It just seems like they vomited up some numbers that might seem accurate based on internet musings.




Net worth is monetary reserves, investments plus_ assets_ minus any liabilities such as loans/mortgages/liens.


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## Konfyouzd (Dec 29, 2011)

Why does every thread turn into a fucking definitions fest?


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## Murmel (Dec 29, 2011)

Mordacain said:


> That 180K doesn't go as far as you'd think, particularly not in Sweden. Its not a bad standard of living, buts its very much so middle class.
> 
> However, to have a reasonably good standard of living doing what you love certainly beats making more money doing something that isn't particularly satisfying.



Dude, $180k is about 1 250 000SEK. Earning that in one year is something you can only dream off. you'd have to make 100 000SEK a month _after tax_, and considering how high our income tax is, that is almost impossible. I don't know what our best doctors and surgeons make, but it's probably not even close.
My dad makes like 30 000SEK after tax (if even that), which isn't bad at all, we're not even close to a poor family.

I mean, I'm very lucky to be born in this country, we have one of the highest standards of living in the world and really fucking hot women. But this doesn't mean that we're all millionares, far from it. I don't think a single person in my family is, maybe my grandfather, but I doubt it.

Edit: I saw that kind of the same thing got posted earlier, I just got so upset that I had to write a response before reading the rest of the thread 



Into Obsidian said:


> Well whatever he makes, Its got to be better then Triviums Matt Heafy!
> 
> BLABBERMOUTH.NET - TRIVIUM Frontman's 'Massive Royalty Check' Unveiled



I saw this on FB, I lol'd  It's pretty insane, Trivium are, after all, pretty popular.


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## slowro (Dec 29, 2011)

LamaSabachthani said:


> With that being said, the Bono estimate does seem a bit high. I know they are very popular and have been for a very long time, but unless he has been investing his money in equity markets (which doesn't sound particularly 'Bono', does it?) and unless a very competent and lucky fund manager has been producing abnormal returns on his investment, I'm not sure I can believe that Bono's net worth is near 1 Billion $. I think it unlikely that he owns capital or assets that could reach that, and I think it even less likely that he has anywhere near that sort of liquidity.


 

There was an article in the news about stock in facebook being offered to the "elite" in private deals and Bono was named in them. I think he is quite active in investments, if he has tens of millions in cash is another matter but he is very very rich. Same deal as coldplays preaching about fair trade etc when they are sitting on huge cash machines of bands. 

Would it be possible that Michael owns "Opeth" as a company and that could be the net income from everything over a year before costs etc such as touring/wages/equipment? Same as Mr Rose owns Guns n Roses?


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