The 5 Most Expensive Music Videos Of All Time

Once upon a time music video budgets were almost like TV movie budgets in that directors took advantage of the record label's largess and went for the best of everything available. Today that's all changed as music video budgets have decreased quite a but due to the ever falling fortunes of the music business, but also because the basic costs of gear has fallen so low as well.

That said, there are 5 music videos that totally stand out from the crowd as the most expensive ever created. Surprisingly, all 5 are divided between only two artists - Michael Jackson and Madonna. Here they are in decreasing order in today's dollars adjusted for inflation.

5. "Black or White" - Michael Jackson - $6.9 million. 11 minutes long and premiered on all the music channels at the same time all over the world with an estimated audience of 500 million!

4. "Bedtime Story" - Madonna - $7.7 million. Surprisingly, this was not one of her bigger hits.

3. "Die Another Day" - Madonna - $7.9 million. The James Bond inspired video was the best selling dance song of 2002-2003 and nominated for a Grammy.

2. "Express Yourself" - Madonna - $9.4 million. The most expensive video ever made up until that time (1989).

1. "Scream" - Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson - $10.7 million. It won a Grammy and 64 million people watched when it debuted on ABC's Primetime Live show.

They don't make them like that anymore, and we should all be thankful.

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The 20 Highest Paid Musicians In 2013

It's always interesting to see who are the most successful music celebrities of the moment. Frequently they're not who we think they are since the ones making the most money are necessarily the hottest at the moment. That's exactly what you'll see in this year's Forbes Highest Paid Musicians of 2013.

1. Madonna - $125 million
2. Lady Gaga - $80 million
3. Bon Jovi - $79 million
4. Toby Keith - $65 million
5. Coldplay - $64 million
6. Bruce Springsteen - $62 million
7. Justin Bieber - $58 million
8. Taylor Swift - $55 million
9. Elton John - $54 million
10. Beyonce/Kenny Chesney - $53 million (tie)
12. Diddy - $50 million
13. Paul McCartney - $47 million
14. Calvin Harris - $46 million
15. Jennifer Lopez - $45 million
16. Roger Waters - $44 million
17. Muse/Rihanna - $43 million
19. Jay-Z/One Direction - $42 million

Of course, these numbers and positions will surely change by the end of the year, but it's still fair to say that the 1% of the music business are still making a lot of money.

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The BitTorrent Bundle Gets Closer

It looks like the general release of BitTorrent Bundle is right around the corner. The new format is being spoken of in hushed terms within the industry because, on one hand, no one wants to admit to supporting BitTorrent, but on the other, everyone is intrigued by what its Bundle offers.

As I've posted in the past, the Bundle allows a creator to package a number of digital elements together in one file that can then be unlocked with a digital key that you provide to your users. That means that one file can supply audio, video, graphics and a store, and any or all of them can be unlocked using the proper key.

It's intriguing enough that even an artist like Madonna has been rumored to have signed on for an Alpha test for the release of her latest project, which is a film she's directed.

There's not much buzz about the Bundle at the moment, but it could turn out to be a game-changer when it comes to digital delivery. Watch the video below for a little more info, then check out some currently available bundles.

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Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.