Record deals come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the genre of music. Generally, record deals have become smaller due to illegal downloading, piracy, etc. Regardless, pop music is still an expensive business, especially with the cost of making a record and marketing to an audience. The above chart shows a breakdown of costs thanks to DMN. In summary, it costs approximately $1 million to break a new pop artist and roughly $4,650,000 is spent making and promoting a superstar album.