This is a topic I've been thinking about for sometime now. We all know THAT guy who has thousands of CDs, Vinyl's, Cassette tapes, he's been to EVERY concert imaginable, from Manowar to AntaeuS (when they played live)...and yet THAT guy is 17. Sometimes we're all a bit skeptical and thinking exactly 'WTF?!?!'. On the other hand, some people have devoted everything they have to metal.

Lately, I've had to budget what I do because there is too much going on and not enough money for all of these great things. New albums, collecting old classic albums, concerts, etc.

I now have to make plans to see what I can afford to do and what I've got to give up. I'm certain that most people of this forum can relate to this problem. My question is, what do you do to budget? Do you even budget at all, or do you spend ALL your money on CDs? (Thats what I used to do )

-One (MAYBE two) concerts a month
-Maybe one album a month if I'm lucky! The last album I remember buying was Darkthrone's new album in October! Now I see that as a kind of waste of money. There were plenty of BETTER releases.
-Keep in mind, I'm married...budget is extremely tightened.

Marriage doesn't have to mean that your budget is tight. I have laods of friends who are married but have a noraml to huge budget. I guess it all depends on the fact of the wife works as well or not.

No, she is working and I just got a job over here too (not too long ago). Its thing about family, I have a lot of pressure from them. As you may have (or not...) realized I'm from the U.S.. We want to go this summer, but we have to save a lot of money. Then you always have the exceptional shit, like a car breaking down, etc.

I probably could have worded that better. We're on this budget now because of our future trips to the states. However, I'd willing devote my paychecks to buying CDs and attending concerts

You didn't answer though Marcel! Do you set aside money for releases/conerts? Anything special?

No budget as yet. I'm soon to be moving out of home however and that's going to change things drastically. Fortunately my girlfriend is just as big a metalhead so that helps. We're conscious of trying not to buy the same thing and instead pooling our efforts to own every good metal album out there.

Oops yeah you're right I didn't answer.

Of my salary I spend 500 euro in rent 400 euro travelling to work and food, 100 euro assorted bills. Health care is paid from my salary before I receive my salary on my bank account. SO that is 1000 euros of fixed costs a month. I did away with my car three years ago because of hoow expensive maintenance and gas and insurance of a car is (fact is in The Netherlands you can travle anything by public transport).
That leaves me net 900 euros to spend on whatever I want (taking into consideration some birthdays as well of course).

Conclusion I usually don't set aside money for concerts (most INTERESTING gigs here cost 15 max) or cd's. But for coming April I am setting aside money because of the Officium Triste 15th anniversary gig, a week later3 days Germany for Doom Shall Rise loads of vinyl cd and other merch there plus three nights hotel and the ticket) and a week after that Roadburn (ticket has been paid but loads of vinyl cd's and other merch there as well)

I don't buy CDs or vinyl so my metal budget goes to concerts and swag...I try to see as many shows a month and buy swag at shows...

I try to goto 1 show a month, however if there are more decent shows, I'll spenda bit extra and go to all that interest me. CD wise i usually pick up 3-4 a month, so theres not much expense there.

Written by Ascendant187 on 19.12.2008 at 14:40
We're conscious of trying not to buy the same thing and instead pooling our efforts to own every good metal album out there.

Depending on how one thinks of a good or bad album, GOOD luck with that! EVERY good metal out there, thats a great goal to have in life.

In one magazine I read about some kid who wants to learn EVERY metal band. Even more luck to him, lol.

What about bands you've already seen live? Would you see them over and over if they played in you're area?

Well, now when I'm still young I am trying to attend all interesting and possibly great concerts, so I don't save money on this Of course I try to get/buy all certain albums too, but in this case I have to be more carefuly with spending...so I try to have a limit on a month
(well, there are exceptions, when I have a little bit more money for buying this staff - birthday and special occasions ).

T-shirts or other bands staff I mostly buy on the concerts/festivals...

Since I was born in poorest country in EU (we can say poorest) my income isnt, huge, old days and generaly I got all metal thinks because parents sponore me and specely and all my CD are in Sweden (think more before go there by car and beck by plain) so , now I earn lil but and maybe by 2-3 CD in month or order in i net or buy used from people who try sell,

Hmmm I dunno how is normal sellery in Europa but image I own 10 000 euros in month, 4-5 keep others try pay bills and rest spend on CD , but we will see when I find real job

Written by TheBigRossowski on 19.12.2008 at 18:48

Written by Ascendant187 on 19.12.2008 at 14:40
We're conscious of trying not to buy the same thing and instead pooling our efforts to own every good metal album out there.

Depending on how one thinks of a good or bad album, GOOD luck with that! EVERY good metal out there, thats a great goal to have in life.

In one magazine I read about some kid who wants to learn EVERY metal band. Even more luck to him, lol.

What about bands you've already seen live? Would you see them over and over if they played in you're area?

Yeah, I'm more or less music mad. It's a huge part of my life, as it is for my girlfriend. My personal collection tends to tower over hers at the moment but that's okay. With a combined effort it makes it easier to pick up CDs on a regular basis - and that's never a bad thing!

I'm not really the elitist type and I generally love something from every sub-genre of metal, so there's a lot of albums out there I'd like to get my hands on.

As for live shows I haven't been to too many as of yet. I live in a rural area, which has made it very difficult to see bands. I live in Western Australia and, while a lot of good bands come to Perth (which is a decent drive from me; I'm moving there soon), not every band I'd like to see makes a stop here.

Written by Guest on 19.12.2008 at 16:45

I don't buy CDs or vinyl so my metal budget goes to concerts and swag...I try to see as many shows a month and buy swag at shows...

yup, same here. though i've only been to two shows as of now(the ones in my profile i listed as attended gigs) i plan on going to see Manowar this year in Bucharest, Hammerfall and Saxon with Iced Earth in Milan(found some incredibly cheap plane tickets) and possibly even Priest with Megadeth in Madrid(with double the price of the aforementioned plane tickets, but still enormously cheap stuff)

all this would cost me about hmmmm... 1400 RON(about 340-350 euros). might not sound like much to you people in western european countries but that kind of money is quite a payload over here(2 months salary where i worked in september)

Pretty much all my money goes between food, CDs, concerts, cigarettes, booze, and merch. Then also helping the family out with rent. I generally try to go to as many shows as possible, which usually works out to 2 or 3 a month, so I'll do the math here:

I make around $1400 a month:

$100 for rent
$120 for cigarettes
$100 for lunches at work
$300 for bar nights and other various outings

So my metal budget would be:

$90 for concert tickets (averaged at $30 a ticket X3)
$35 for an average of 1 t-shirt every 3 concerts
That leaves about $655 for CDs.....hmmm, that seems a little too high, oh yeah, I have a girlfriend...right.

So I guess in actuality my metal budget is somewhere around $450 a month.

I would say it is about 500 to 2000 czech crowns pro month, while one USD is about 22 crowns (recount it if you whant, me does not )

Written by Bad English on 19.12.2008 at 18:53

Since I was born in poorest country in EU (we can say poorest) my income isnt, huge, old days and generaly I got all metal thinks because parents sponore me and specely and all my CD are in Sweden (think more before go there by car and beck by plain) so , now I earn lil but and maybe by 2-3 CD in month or order in i net or buy used from people who try sell,

Hmmm I dunno how is normal sellery in Europa but image I own 10 000 euros in month, 4-5 keep others try pay bills and rest spend on CD , but we will see when I find real job

You make 10 000? per month? You realize how much money that is? That's something like 107 000 Swedish crowns, which will get you a nice new car... You sure you don't mean some other currency than euros? Like Swedish crowns? Especially if you don't have a real job....

One expensive CD costs 200 Swedish crowns here, so even a small part of 107 000 Swedish crowns would get you a lot of CDs. I don't even think all the CDs I own put together are worth that much...

I'm a student with no job, so I have pretty much no income whatsoever. All I get is a weak 1050 Swedish crowns a month (about 100?). I still live with my parents though, as living in Sweden on that amount would be completely impossible, and as such I don't have a lot of expenses either. When it comes to my expenses, the most regularily occurring ones are booze, cannabis, smokes, chips, soda and metal CDs. On metal CDs I spend about 600 Swedish crowns (I don't know hom many ? that is exactly, but less than 100, somewhere around 60) on metal CDs every two months.

I actually spent money on many other things. Games, Art stuff, Drinks, Food, Taxes, Goth Clothing, Books.
It's still a miracle that I have enough money for going to concerts and CD's and I don't always buy Metal cd's.

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 08.02.2009 at 13:47

Written by Bad English on 19.12.2008 at 18:53

Since I was born in poorest country in EU (we can say poorest) my income isnt, huge, old days and generaly I got all metal thinks because parents sponore me and specely and all my CD are in Sweden (think more before go there by car and beck by plain) so , now I earn lil but and maybe by 2-3 CD in month or order in i net or buy used from people who try sell,

Hmmm I dunno how is normal sellery in Europa but image I own 10 000 euros in month, 4-5 keep others try pay bills and rest spend on CD , but we will see when I find real job

You make 10 000? per month? You realize how much money that is? That's something like 107 000 Swedish crowns, which will get you a nice new car... You sure you don't mean some other currency than euros? Like Swedish crowns? Especially if you don't have a real job....

NOOOOOOOOOOOO you missunderstood me, I dont have such money man maybe 100-300 crowns in month it was example what would I do if i have such money, so i have no

I'll be screwed next month. I move out of home and have to fend for myself. I don't think I'll be buying anything for a while but when I do I might limit it to one CD every two weeks. If I'm left with a little extra money to play with, I might increase my buying.

Written by Ascendant187 on 08.02.2009 at 15:22

I'll be screwed next month. I move out of home and have to fend for myself. I don't think I'll be buying anything for a while but when I do I might limit it to one CD every two weeks. If I'm left with a little extra money to play with, I might increase my buying.

Good luck dude! I think one concert in a month isn't such a big deal. When I think about it, my wife spends more money than I do on random shit, lol. Better to have a direction with the crap you buy!

And let's not forget the money for Tattoos! Well...for some. I think I'm getting my last one done soon, but that's a suprise. A few lucky Smurfs will have the honor of seeing it

Anyways, I've got a good thing going:
-One concert a month
-One CD....or two
*Exception- I wait three months, than buy four awesome albums!

But now I have another problem, getting the time off to go to concerts, lol. I work on the weekends and I hate having to ask for the time off.

Written by TheBigRossowski on 08.02.2009 at 17:05

Written by Ascendant187 on 08.02.2009 at 15:22

I'll be screwed next month. I move out of home and have to fend for myself. I don't think I'll be buying anything for a while but when I do I might limit it to one CD every two weeks. If I'm left with a little extra money to play with, I might increase my buying.

Good luck dude! I think one concert in a month isn't such a big deal. When I think about it, my wife spends more money than I do on random shit, lol. Better to have a direction with the crap you buy!

And let's not forget the money for Tattoos! Well...for some. I think I'm getting my last one done soon, but that's a suprise. A few lucky Smurfs will have the honor of seeing it

Anyways, I've got a good thing going:
-One concert a month
-One CD....or two
*Exception- I wait three months, than buy four awesome albums!

But now I have another problem, getting the time off to go to concerts, lol. I work on the weekends and I hate having to ask for the time off.

Cheers, man.

Concerts tend to be on a Thursday night over here, though I'm not sure why. It isn't everyday that there's a worthwhile concert either so spending money on concerts should be okay. I'm not a tattoo type either so that helps. I'm sure my situation wont be dire and I'll be able to afford more CDs than originally thought but I want to play it safe first.

I don't even go to shows anymore because I don't have the time...now none of my money goes to metal...I think I see a show once every few months...

Well I think most metalheads, prob most of you guys posting here have it way easier than me when it comes to affording anything metal - I live in Africa.

So firstly I never see the bands I like unless I go to Europe, last show was December 2005!! And when it comes to metal cd's - our metal stores are retarded and only order the obvious NOT SO METAL albums so obviously I have to import. Buying albums on Amazon for about $10 is cool, but then you double that to make up for the shipping cost and you pay a nice hefty $20 for a cd.

Same goes for metal shirts - I have to scratch out at least $25 for a regular shirt.....havent bought anything new for quite a long time. Last year was pretty dire actually, didnt buy any shirts and only got a handfull of cds: Tyr - Ragnarok; Amorphis - Silent Waters and Mercenary - Architect of Lies.

So guess I will have to wait until end of this year when I visit my parents in the UK

Written by Guest on 09.02.2009 at 00:14

I live in Africa.

That sounds like a diagnosis.

About myself - I just don't know how to economy my money, so it always disappears when I need it. Especially now, when I have to save it a bit more. But luckily I have almost two birthdays in a year which most of you probably don't have (that's right, countries where you celebrate your name day are much cooler ), so they're like pay-days.
Oh, forget to mention - there's no way that I could get a job, because I'm not 18 years old and it's a period of crisis, so the government doesn't want to employ youth even in summer, not to mention other months.

And I'm very lazy on attending gigs. I'm not a fan of halls full of drunk metalheads.

I don't do anything to budget. I only spend my money on two things: alcohol and music. I give my mom some money every month, in exchange I get a place to live and food. 3/4 of my clothes are band clothes, that's the only thing I buy. My jeans are trashy and my shoes leak. Now and then my mom buys me new pants or shoes because she knows I'd never do it. In about a year or so I probably have to budget since I'm getting my own place.
I've been buying CD:s since I was 13, I'm up in 310 CD:s/DVD:s/LP:s. I seriously have no idea how I found the money for that... I mean... I must've spend around 30000-50000 SEK at it. Let's say 30000 since some have been for sale and some are presents.

I spend most of my money on drugs and alcohol and the remainder is allocated to either food or concert tickets LOL.

My metal budget would be mostly concentrated on cds and dvds. We don't have original copies here, so ill settle for a near-original licensed Chinese published cds.

Interesting.

I usually buy at least 1 or 2 CDs per month. That's what I can basically afford. And I always have money to go to concerts because if I don't have the money at the time I'll just get it (not by stealing it of course).

On a good month I can buy 5 CDs but those don't come bery often. As far as DVD goes, it's the same, but since they are more expensive I probably have to wait more to get them because I'll have to save money.

I don't have a lot to spend these days, I had a better life before, but I live with what I got and I'm building my collection as I go.

Written by Guest on 09.02.2009 at 00:14

Well I think most metalheads, prob most of you guys posting here have it way easier than me when it comes to affording anything metal - I live in Africa.

May the Dark Lord bless you my child, lol. Let African metal rain down upon you....or download a bit more :/

Written by Guest on 09.02.2009 at 00:14

Well I think most metalheads, prob most of you guys posting here have it way easier than me when it comes to affording anything metal - I live in Africa.

So firstly I never see the bands I like unless I go to Europe, last show was December 2005!! And when it comes to metal cd's - our metal stores are retarded and only order the obvious NOT SO METAL albums so obviously I have to import. Buying albums on Amazon for about $10 is cool, but then you double that to make up for the shipping cost and you pay a nice hefty $20 for a cd.

Same goes for metal shirts - I have to scratch out at least $25 for a regular shirt.....havent bought anything new for quite a long time. Last year was pretty dire actually, didnt buy any shirts and only got a handfull of cds: Tyr - Ragnarok; Amorphis - Silent Waters and Mercenary - Architect of Lies.

So guess I will have to wait until end of this year when I visit my parents in the UK

It's not that great over here either. Quite often it's better to order something in (otherwise you aren't going to be able to get it).

The only thing I really spend money on are CD's, and I get my girlfriend to help me out with that from time to time as well. When I lived with my parents I bought at least twice as many albums as I do now. I have over $1000 in bills -_-