![]() There was also a clause in his contract stipulating that no one could perform after Jimi Hendrix at the festival. Hendrix was paid $18,000 for appearing at Woodstock, which is the equivalent of about $125,000 today. So it was certainly justified that Jimi Hendrix was billed as the overall headliner at Woodstock in 1969, and that he commanded the highest paycheck of all performers. 1 on Billboard in late 1968 and remained in the charts for 40 weeks. In the two years before Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix had put out three studio albums that each reached the top 5 best-seller list in the U.S.: "Are You Experienced," "Axis: Bold as Love," and "Electric Ladyland." The latter peaked at No. Here's how much performers were paid for playing at the original Woodstock festival in 1969, along with some updates on who is the richest rock star now. Some on-the-spot improvisation was also necessary for Woodstock producers: In order to get stars like Jimi Hendrix on stage, organizers reportedly convinced a local bank to open up after hours during the festival and took out an emergency loan. Leading up to the festival, top acts like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, John Lennon, and Bob Dylan all declined to perform at Woodstock. Woodstock organizers were inclined to pay top dollar to artists like Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Jefferson Airplane because they were desperate to put well-known talent on the bill. The disparity in some of the paychecks is dramatic: Woodstock headliner Jimi Hendrix was paid over 20 times higher than another guitar icon, Carlos Santana, who was mostly unknown at the time. How much did bands get paid for playing at Woodstock in 1969? The amounts varied widely, according to generally accepted reports that have surfaced over the years and trace back to an old story in Variety. That meant festival producers had even less money than expected to pay Woodstock's performers, several of whom reportedly demanded twice their usual pay rate, upfront. As a result, many fans attended without paying for admission - which was $18 for the three-day festival, the equivalent of about $125 today. In addition to basic problems like miles of traffic jams and a lack of sanitation and food for a colossal crowd estimated at over 400,000, Woodstock organizers failed to adequately fence in the concert area. But they eventually broke even years later thanks to album and movie ticket sales. ![]() ![]() Organizers behind the legendary music festival in upstate New York, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer, said they wound up $1.3 million in debt after the historic 1969 event-roughly $9 million in today's dollars. Before Woodstock was a cultural phenomenon, it was a financial fiasco.
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