Music Executives Enjoyed Pay Rises Last Year

In a year that saw the music industry steady itself (read: its profits didn't decrease as much as they have in the few years before last) executives from some of the biggest music companies enjoyed significant pay rises.

According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter Live Nation's chairman Irving Azoff enjoyed the biggest pay packet with $34.6m US last year, up 52 percent from 2010's pay check of $22.6m. It is believed that his sale of his stake in management company Front Line (to Live Nation) helped boost his bank account. Live Nation's revenue was up to $5.38 billion while its operating loss was only $83m last year.

The biggest increase by percentage belonged to Universal Music Group's chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge, who enjoyed a 114.5 percent rise in his pay to $16.3m last year and Universal's profit grew 7.8 percent to $671.1m (although overall revenue fell.

Sirius XM Radio head Mel Karamzin enjoyed a 8.1 percent pay rise to $10.7m and streaming service Pandora's CEO Joe Kennedy's pay jumped 45.5 percent to a (mere) $732,000.

The Reporterlooked at "disclosed compensation for leadership of public traded companies" in the music sector. Warner and EMI are private companies and do not disclose executive pay.